Metropolis Records

Terminal: Blacken the Skies (Metropolis)

A strong debut from Thomas Mark Anthony, aka Terminal.

The CD stands out from many in this rage-filled genre in that the songs are markedly shorter than usual, delivering their messages like a sledgehammer to a suddenly stain of brain. Screaming guitar chords mingle with spectral synthetics (any wonder he credits both Killing Joke and Gary Numan as influences), with vocals snarled and sometimes requiring the lyric booklet to understand.

The rhyming pattern of the songs, especially on songs like “Crackdown” and “Fault Line” is exquisite, better (and I mean MUCH better) than most in the industrial punk genre, and I think they deserved to be mixed up a bit higher so they could be understood without the booklet. His lyrics speak of the snare of despotism, where autocrats shut down thought and hope and lead their leagues to overthrow democracy, leaving militaristic dictatorships in their wake.  Words such as these deserve to be heard!

The CD comes in at only 35 minutes, although it feels longer. I felt the shorter song format worked for Terminal, but I wish there were more tracks on this recording to extend the work out to 45-50 minutes. But that is because I enjoyed the 35 minutes so much, I wanted more.

This is a voice that deserved to be played at maximum volume, and screw the neighbors. A tremendous piece of work, even more so considering this is his first album.

(5 stars out of 5)