Review Summary: Terrible Universal
Imagine a world where your frustrated maths teacher sings for Lacuna Coil, only he’s bored and just as uninspiring…
I wish I could be optimistic about an Ill Nino/ex- Machine Head “supergroup” and then hide my hesitancy about another mask toting, stage-named group that’s built its hype on the back of (other bands) past works and not much else. Regardless, my high expectations are not only met by run of the mill musicianship, but also by the lyricism that could have been written by a sixteen year old pubescent teen anywhere.
Spread the violence, f*ck the world
With that said there is a positive note to take away from Terror Universal’s debut full-length; with each track title the listener is being pre-warned to
Make Them Bleed’s quality content. ‘Passage Of Pain’ opens the record with a pummeling display of groove-based metal set for the live show. Sure, it sets the scene for a head-banging good time, if only until the vocals start. ‘Dig You A Hole’ and ‘Dead On Arrival’ are redundant tracks that simply echo the formulaic structure found on the rest of the record. The macho Five Finger Death Punch worship is evident throughout, and somehow diminishes at every beat. Terror Universal has taken the “How To Make A Tough Guy Album” book and copied it word for word leaving listeners to wonder; why the hell was this actually released in the first place?
At
Make Them Bleed’s core is a recycled, samey sound that familiarises itself too deeply with acts like Mushroomhead, Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch and the likes of Slipknot that render the album completely unneeded circa 2018. Add to the fact that Terror Universal has the potential to fill out “the worst vocal delivery of the year” (especially considering were only in January) and their likelihood of being simply forgotten as the year rolls by (one can only hope) increases there is only to wonder whether there’ll be a follow up record in a few years or a disbandment in a matter of months. The likelihood of the matter is that nobody will or should care at all.
Unfortunately, there’s not too much saving this album from being the complete write-off it is. Dave Chavarri offers the usual efforts behind the kit, hampered by a lack of originality from the string department and whenever catchy riff work pops up it is soon overshadowed by a bored, lack-lustre vocal effort. It seems making a gimmick off the shadows of other successful acts just isn’t enough to automatically make great metal… who figured?
