Rating: 8.6

Country: Japan

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: World Chaos Production

Track list:
1. Chaosdragon Rising
2. Helldozer
3. Sonicriot
4. Tokyo Metal Anarchy
5. Metal Psycho Machine
6. Fight Forever
7. We Bite
8. Gimme Fire
9. Hellbound Deathboogie
10. Soma
11. Yami Yori Fukaku

Total playing time 43:18

Band Website: Terror Squad

Terror Squad - Chaosdragon Rising

Kouichi Udagawa : Vocals
Keiji Ohzeki : Guitars
Hiroyuki Maekawa : Bass
Hirofumi "Joker" Fujioka : Drums

“Migoto to Araarashii”

Throughout much of my life, I've been interested in Japanese anime, along with all of the controversy and corny Otaku that comes with it. With past experience, I have found that anime is rife with beautiful character designs, over the top emotional displays, and storylines that can captivate and immerse you in an ethereal paradise one minute, and drag you screaming through the bowels of the abyss of Hell the very next. All of this from a country that prides itself on rigid conformity and a near sociopathic drive to succeed in a macroeconomic habitat surrounded by ocean. Much like the master painter that transpires from the broken home, it is within these tense and judgmental surroundings that tremendous beauty blossoms. We have found this through anime, we have found this through kabuki, and today we find this through a band named Terror Squad. Taking a glance at the cover of their sophomore album Chaosdragon Rising, the anime influence rears its lovely head in a picture of a bloodstained and world-weary nude anime woman nestling a high caliber assault rifle at her side while she rests from a day of killing. If that doesn't turn you on to this album, all hope is lost.

Looking back through our title phrase, roughly translated to crude English it means “Beautiful and Wild” in the language of the People of the Rising Sun. I could not have thought of two more appropriate adjectives to sum up the music of Terror Squad. The songwriting has become immensely more complex, if that were even possible, from their last album The Wild Stream of Eternal Sin. While the previous album thrived on well placed upsweeps and scale traversals interspersed with torpid fret patterns, the new album uses almost no visible pattern, yet conveys every stray riff into a brilliant mesh of aural diversity. During this 43 minute long journey through the epic cosmos of our minds, we are propelled to the very border betwixt sane and insane by way of neck snapping riffs, technical chord variations and belligerent death yells. Though, at this border we seem to lose track of the drums as the guitar heavy production seems to drive them into a pit.

The album kicks off with the title track and a phenomenal opening guitar display by Keiji Ohzeki, the mad axe man, which reeks of heavy D.R.I. influence. The riffage throughout this song defies any set fret or scale assignment as it ascends and descends at will, uplifting your spirit into a divine heaven before plummeting you back down to your mortal life on earth. You'll see this chaotic and sporadic guitar variation on a few of their other songs on this album which bears analogous to technical thrash bands like Toxik and Arcane. Though mostly dwelling in the realm of the unconventionally unique, we see spots of old school thrash mayhem ala Overkill or Evildead, particularly in the song “We Bite” which plots out a nice thrash section that wouldn't look at all out of place on “Horrorscope”. It would have been great to hear this with prevalent drumming, but eh, what are you going to do.

Scorching vitriolic vocals and frenzied guitars on “Gimme Fire” gives us a distinct correlation between this band and Dim Mak.  An off key yet plausible sound is something that Terror Squad prides themselves on, and where Dim Mak failed in it's attempts at harnessing a decent thrashcore sound, we see success in this Japanese band's attempts. Perhaps it was the punk elements siphoned so eloquently in, but something about the carefree angst in Terror Squad's music appeals to the unfamiliar listener much more than the attempts of a certain ex-Ripping Corpse band which I shall not name again. Now, should you ever wonder what life is all about, and whether your inferior reality is merely a conjuncture of a monolithic macrocosm of void thought and zero emotion, with no hope for individual bliss. Please, look no further than the brilliant instrumental “Soma” which offers a tranquil otherworldly melody so tremendously out of place that I could compare it to Gorelord‘s “Outback“.. Not unlike our anime maiden on the cover, this song is a testament that there is true calming beauty to be found in the midst of unending chaos.

While most likely not an album for the ages, Chaosdragon Rising provides us with ten new reasons why we love the genre of thrash metal, along with one more reason why instrumentals rule. Taking uncouth malfeasance and mixing this with punkish songwriting and seldom rivaled musicianship, Terror Squad make us well aware that complexity and originality are two very good components. In producing Chaosdragon Rising these Japanese thrashsters have assured themselves a mention whenever the topic of outstanding punkish thrash metal albums is discussed.

August 12th, 2007