“Have Mercy”…and I don’t mean “have mercy” like that faux rocker Uncle Jessie’s cheesy catch phrase from that horribly great sit-com I watched as a kid in the late ’80’s. I mean “have mercy”, as in the new Sacrificial Slaughter EP, Generation of Terror , is going  to rip your ears a new asshole (yeah, I know that doesn’t make sense) but maybe a little mercy from the metal gods will help those holes in the side of your head after what will undoubtedly, be many gluttonous listenings to this twenty minute aural annihilator. Ya know how some albums require a plethora of time and/or a fortnight’s worth of listening  to appreciate? Albums that can blur brilliance and banality into spacious beauty or esoteric brutality, making one question their understanding of this thing we call  extreme metal. Well friends, Generation of Terror is not one of those albums. What it is, is an immediate throat grabber that takes mere seconds to satisfy. It’s compact, extremely tight, and blissfully rages, igniting the fire that draws us to metal in the first place.

EP opener, “Systematic Genocide”, tears out of the gates with a blasting semi-tech death thrashing providing a bit of d-beat/punkish feeling, damn near falling into grind territory, before just rocking the fuck out at the 1:51 mark. I can definitely see this track being a fun, pit inducing rager, especially with the low and slow death blow the band veers into that is so awesomely reminiscent of the mighty Internal Bleeding and their slam brethren. “Bodies in the Basement” is a more straight forward death metal number that just ratchets up in intensity throughout the mostly instrumental track. Its grind-y and has some horror metal vibe amongst it, as well as some Cannibal Corpse type of flair within the riffing. Throw in a little slam and groove and this track will leave you dismembered in just under three minutes. Continued bits of grind and d-beat influence merge with groovy death-thrash in “Meticulous Abomination”. The song flawlessly shifting to chords of death metal excellence at 1:34, eventually making its way back to its thrash metal inkling laced beginning to close it out.

Beginning with siren warnings, title track, “Generation of Terror”, quickly dives into the quick of things. The song is a fast paced, thrash based deathster. A monster of intense, driving, pulsating beatdowns, fluidly ripping and chock full of fun. Like Solstice (the one from Florida) and Strapping Young Lad (City era) merged together for no other reason but to erase your face. “Bare Knuckle Beat Down” chimes in next, though I’ve personally taken the liberty to rename this song “Slammy Davis Jr.”; the track is 1/3 parts classic thrash and 2/3 part brutal slams, like a divine mix of Broken Hope and Exodus. The song makes you proud to sport your denim battle vest and your camo cargo shorts (it’s okay, I wear that stuff too). Generation of Terror closes things out with an extremely good cover of Carnivore‘s “Race War”. What can I say, this cover not only captures the integrity of the original, it even enhances it. The addition of none other than the legendary Paul Speckmann (Master) to do co-vocals on the track simply takes this cover to stratospheric levels, making it one of the most metal duets you’re ever gonna hear. Truthfully though, I have a soft spot for anything off Carnivore‘s Retaliation album. That record was extremely important to me when I was about eighteen years old and the song is a personal favorite of mine out of their catalog; and I’m also an unabashed Speckmann/Master fan to boot. Not only is this cover pure enjoyment, but I found Speckmann’s performance over the work of guitarists, Necro Nick and Aaron T. Whitesides, to be more preferable than his work in Johansson & Speckmann, and even the last few Master releases.

I’ve got to hand it to the guys in Sacrificial Slaughter,  they’ve created one hell of an enjoyable listen and put in some damn impressive performances as well. The drum work of Jake De Los Santos is simply awesome. The man drives much of the album’s blistering intensity and proves to be an all out savage of the most controlled kind. Vocalist, Steve Worley, also deserves a nod, as his performance ranges from rasps to gutturals and everything in between. His vocals akin to some of the best in the business, yet with enough uniqueness and individuality to stand out amongst the masses. If I had any gripe, it would be that bassist, Jorge Dominquez, could be turned up in the mix, but granted this doesn’t harm the material in any way.

As I’ve stated before, Generation of Terror is an EP that you are going to listen to many times over. With the material being this catchy and every song containing a “Fuck yeah!” moment or two, or three; combined with the aforementioned twenty minute running time and a clear, punchy production, Generation of Terror pretty much guarantees that you are going to wear out the play button on whatever device you consume your metal on.  It gets in. It kicks the shit out of you. It gets out. All while providing nothing short of a blistering good time. As fellow Teeth of the Divine cohort, the esteemed Mr. Frank Rini would say, “this is a buy or die release”.

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