Teras – ‘Broken, Frayed Ends’

A quartet, from Belgium, Teras is a thrash band, with hints of death and black metal inspirations. Founded in 2016, their debut album, ‘Pandora’ was co-signed and released by Sideburn Records (Bark, Onmens, Your Highness) and Consouling Agency (Vonnis, Carneia, Brutus, Hedonist).

The band has so far received successful acclaim and can count supporting Voivod and performing at Antwerp Metal Fest 2018 amongst their achievements.

‘Broken, Frayed Ends’ is their 2nd album, representing their progress and ability to break through genre barriers. Recorded at Much Luv Studio, by Tim De Gieter, June 2019, mastered at West West Side Music (Every Time I Die, Mastodon, Clutch, Nile), by Alan Douches.

‘BFE’ symbolises endings, grief and bereavement, in all their forms. It highlights the faces we show in public and what lies beneath them. The latter being further illustrated by the cover art.

Teras make a point of obliterating the lines between thrash, black and death metal.

Broken, Frayed Ends – Solid, heavy, pumping intro. Good strong cohesive sound. Stoner vibes, coupled with thrash vocals. The drums are the power behind this track, with those loose, grungy riffs a close second. Sharpened vocals add the zest and energy. A sudden end, but definitely a memorable beat, with a workable rhythm.

Follow The Herd – Faster paced, instantly hard-hitting intro. Great speed riffs, delivered in a thrash style. Powerful vocals, darkly heavy and clearly impassioned. Cymbals just audible, in the background. It’s a driven track, with plenty of feeling. Lots of strength in this. Screaming his lungs out, as the pace grows more frantic and the volume more pronounced. Leading into a better outro.

Waiting For The End Of March – Sparking into life, setting the scene for a heavily metallic melody. Blending with those raw, throaty vocals, in a melo-death delivery. Certainly can’t fault that vocal execution. It’s extreme, gravel-soaked and aggressive. One thing that can be said for this track is that it’s hyper- fuelled by heightened energy. There’s good band chemistry here, with the accompaniments and vocals growing more frenetic and enraged, as it goes on. Fading out with harsh, serrated edges.

Enter The Void – Pt 1 – Deeper intro here, utilising a gentler guitar and a clearer bass presence. Soon moving into another edgy, razor sharp vocal, working seamlessly, with the heavier, more metallic riffs and drum rolls. Taking it up a gear, the speed picks up and the melody kicks in. Fading out beautifully, on a soft, acoustic riff.

Enter The Void – Pt 2 – Gorgeous intro. Physically palpable, doom riffs seep into your skin. Quite Metallica-esque, in nature, echoing the ‘Master Of Puppets’ era. Similar can be said for those drum hits. The power picks it up and runs with it. Speed riffs, soaked in thrash essence dictate the flow now, intermingling with those harsh, coarsened vocals. The blacker aspects hit and the drums chase the rhythm, in menacing, blackened form. Moving, smoothly, to the end, it’s a clean fade-out, with heavy tones.

Lost Souls I Hope You Linger – Straight out attack intro! Complete confidence and heaviness leads. Still rhythmic and piling on the aggression. A strong drum presence again, with thrash energy reigning. The melodic sections are always smooth, yet ominous. Gaining speed, as it ends, on a final throat-destroying scream.

Lucifer The Devil In Me – Tastefully delivered intro, both sinister and smooth. Mired in darkness, a catchy rhythm comes in, with an edge of Viking metal. Hostile-esque, in style, taking it up a bit, in pitch. Consistently death-laced vocals give it the edge. Gorgeous riff melodies hit, in perfect unison with the spaced out drums, before they get harder and heavier. Quickened pace again and keeping it going, brilliantly. So cohesive and full to the brim with attitude.

This Is Where We Part – Heavy forceful drum and riff intro, right into a fast-paced rhythm. Vocals entering at just the right point. A deeper groove to this one. Moving in exactly the right direction of natural flow. Some tasty riffs in there and again, the vocals are just as intense. A bit of an abrupt end, but otherwise, faultless.

Charon’s Obol – Introing on a gentler, more melodic slide riff. Soon unveiling a creepy, Gothic sound, evoking immediate visuals. Rough vocals enter here. A well blended track, with well sustained energy. Drums hitting their peak there, before fading beautifully, into the background, with the riffs following.

Overall – An impressive album, with its top strengths being consistency of delivery, rhythmic momentum and suitably jagged vocals. ‘BFE’ has many things going for it, revealing a band rapidly moving towards peak performance level.

9/10 *********

For fans of Bull Riff Stampede, Carcass, Iron Monkey, Centrilia, Death Blooms, Skreamer, Hostile.

http://vi.be/teras