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██▌ Artist...: Terrahsphere ░▐██▌
░▐██ Album....: Third in Order from the Sun ░██▌░
▓▐██ Year.....: 1991 ▓▐██▓
▓▐██ Rel.Date.: 2020-05-23 ░▐██▓
▐██ Genre....: Thrash Metal ██▌░
░ ██▌ Label....: New Renaissance Records ██▌
▐██ Source...: CD ▐██
░▐██▌ Type.....: Album ▐██▌░
▓▄████ Quality..: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo ████▌░
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1. Re-Emergence of Atlantis 3:45
2. Under the Black Moon 4:00
3. Plan of Observation 5:47
4. New Clear Day 4:39
5. Inheritance 5:45
6. Time Corridors of the Planetterrah 6:53
7. Scigoreality 4:26
8. What Was and Will Be Again 5:59
------
41:14
Ripper's note: "Intro: Terracoustic / I the Beast" is listed as the
fifth track on the inlay and disc, but does not appear due to a pressing
issue.
I had, and still do, a friend who was a big fan of technical/progressive
thrash metal once upon a time, and who gave me a lot of bands in the
late-80Æs. He gave me Mekong Delta, Target, Juggernaut, Living Death,
Realmà Back in those days I was much more interested in the more
immediate, bashing side of the genre so all these acts I dismissed after
just one listen as the only album I really dug was Living DeathÆs
ôProtected from Realityö largely due to the extraordinary instrumental
ôWood of Necrophiliacö, and of course Mr. Thorsten BergmannÆs inimitable
over-the-top vocals. I remember listening to Mekong DeltaÆs ôThe Music
of Erich Zannö thinking ôWhat the hell is that!?ö, being certain, beyond
the shadow of any doubt, that this was never going to amount to anything
save for this isolated burst of bizarre musical eccentricityà
So this friend of mine went to study overseas later, and we lost
contact. We got reunited some time in the late-90Æs under different
circumstances since I was already an avid fan of all things technical
and progressive. Naturally, I asked him if he had managed to dig out
other gems from the more serious side of the metal spectre during those
years. He immediately passed me the band under scrutiny here; this was
like his first choice. Naturally, I gave them a listen instantly, and I
have to admit I couldnÆt quite get into this effort on a first, and even
a second listen. Later it naturally made more sense to me although I
still consider it one of the most chaotic, charmingly dishevelled
interpretations of the thrash/death metal hybrid that had become quite
fashionable at the wake of the 90Æs.
Terrahsphere are more thrash-fixated than other representatives of that
blend like Vicious Circle, Nocturnus, Revenant, and Incubus. The moment
the ultra-hectic, jarring riffs of ôRe-Emergence of Atlantisö hit the
listener, he/she will instantly recall WatchtowerÆs legendary debut: the
nervy rushed delivery is very similar to the one of ôEnergetic
Disassemblyö the latter title a most perfect description of the style on
display here. Another effort this over-the-top busy-ness may also remind
of would be the beginning of Midas TouchÆs ôPresage of Disasterö, but
while the Swedes exercise tighter control over the proceedings later,
things here remain within the ôlunatic geniusö dimensions. ThereÆs so
much happening on said opener that dizziness is guaranteed not without
the assistance of the full-blown drama unleashed by the vocalist who
shouts, screams and plainly sings alternating all these aspects of his
performance without any particular logic. ôUnder the Black Moonö is only
marginally more sensible the guys managing to execute a few more regular
thrashy segments amongst the scattered hyper-active rifforamas. ôPlan of
Observationö sounds like something more serious and more meditative
title-wise, and indeed it begins with a sprawling, nearly 2-min long,
ambient intro which may stretch the nerves a bit, but the band
compensate with a portion of dazzling technical chops taken straight
from Sieges EvenÆs ôLife Cycleö, and things really take off from there;
the guys turn this track into a compelling progressive thrasher with the
strange time-signatures, the sudden tempo shifts, and the enchanting
twisted leads.
The less tamed manic shredding returns for ôNew Clear Dayö, but expect
smattering intricate crescendos as well as more intriguing dramatic
build-ups backed up by a thundering bass bottom. ôIntro-Terracousticö
says it all with its title being an acoustic instrumental interlude
after which the ômadnessö resumes with ôI the Beastö, another notable
progressive thrash saga which has no secrets from the bashing
department, either, the band successful in achieving very good balance
between the speedy melees and the more labyrinthine passages, the bass
taking a central position again on a couple of strokes. ôInheritanceö
also spends some time in the beginning to bemuse the fan with meditative
bass-driven breaks, but the insane shredding later will largely
compensate for any such aberrations as this is a wild spastic fest
worthy of Atheist also due to the more brutal death metal-ish dashes.
The more aggressive death-prone ways of execution stay around till the
end, ôSciorealityö being a masterpiece of overlapping, hyper-active
technicality the riff vortexes reaching a fever pitch.
The band are more convincing on the longer compositions in the second
half where the guys donÆt sound like theyÆre chasing an impossible
deadline as the more sprawling progressive passages dullen the impact of
the brutal more direct ones, and take care of the chaos to some extent.
The interaction between the quieter and the more intense sections on
said numbers is really intriguing still retaining the sense of urgency,
but the frequent change of times and tempos is smoother, and this is
where the guys can really display both their musical and compositional
skills. IÆm using the word chaos over and over again, but in
TerrahsphereÆs case it doesnÆt signify a total lack of coherence and
vision; itÆs rather used to describe their approach to song-writing and
their accumulation of too much music at times, to the point that the
listener gets overwhelmed failing to see the underlying order holding
everything together. In the long run, itÆs up to the fan to decide
whether he/she will want to put up with this interesting ôcacophonyö, or
will dismiss it as not worth it after the first outburst of ôdisorderö
and ôrandomnessö that is the opener.
Well, I decided to give this peaceà sorry, piece of metal a chance, and
it has managed to win me over with its unpredictable leaps and bounds.
After all, itÆs from chaos that everything came to be, including our
mother Terra.
---
Being that I grew up in the Massachusetts end of the Merrimack Valley,
the name Terrahsphere was one passed around quite often in my later high
school years, since they had landed a deal with New Renaissance Records,
a small time metal label that had a colorful if ultimately ineffective
roster. I had been in heat over a few of their bands, like Hellion, At
War and Indestroy, so it was great to see a local band joining the fold,
and since the band were from nearby in New Hampshire, there were several
local connections that insured access to their demos. What's more,
Terrahsphere performed a pretty interesting take on technical
thrash/speed metal which I had been a major proponent of for years,
delving into the beautiful works of Realm, Mekong Delta, Toxik,
Artillery, Watchtower, Deathrow, and others.
Well, I'm sad to say that Terrahsphere had nothing on any of these
bands, but they gave it their best when it finally came around to the
release of Third in Order of the Sun. This is frenetic, insane thrash
metal with technical riff patterns that weave up and down the fretboard
in accordance with the schizoid vocals of Frank Sarcia. Sarcia would
shift between early Slayer or King Diamond screams and then a mid
ranged, barking asylum escapee, and while I can't say it works 100%, it
definitely made them fun to experience. The musicianship of the band, on
the other hand, is far more consistent, and though the production of the
guitars doesn't do the record much justice, Kevin Kelly was clearly
adept at formulating busy passages that drew the listener into the
vortex of paranoia the band created through their heavily sci-fi lyrics.
Yes, I was very pleased that the band included all the material from
their 1989 Portrait of Kaos demo here, since these were songs I had been
listening to for years. They're also remarkably the best on the album,
led off by the hustling "Inheritance" with its mad flights of bass
guitar and some of Scarcia's most incredible vocals. "Time Corridors of
Planetterrah" begins with an alien ambient intro, before the sporadic
battery begins, start/stop verses and more of those freakout vocals that
made Atheist seem tame by comparison. "Scigoreality" feels like a swarm
of extra terrestrial insects dancing across your face while they impale
you and draw samples from your liquid essence, and "What Was And Will Be
Again" provides an epic closure. Unfortunately, the newer material on
the album was just not that great. "Re-Emergence of Atlantis" and "Plan
of Observation" continue the technical bass and guitar lines you would
expect, but they feel more restrained, at times almost relaxed by
comparison to the demo material. I'd say the rush of the anthem "New
Clear Day" was the best of these.
Terrahsphere never amounted to much, which was pretty depressing, as
they had been plugging away for years, and clearly had a crazed approach
to the style that we all would have enjoyed if they had taken time to
hone their chops, acquire a better budget sound and perhaps a few more
memorable individual riffs. Intensity was not the issue, and I feel like
fans of the first Watchtower album Energetic Disassembly, or the obscure
Russians Aspid would do well to track it down and give it a listen.
Their label folded and this is no longer easy to attain, so use whatever
means are available. Surprisingly, this was not the only local band
doing the tech thrash style, we had a Massachusetts group called
Atomicaust, who were pretty spectacular and also never got very far. But
despite its flaws, Third in Order of the Sun is an album I'll not soon
forget, thanks to the manic composition, geek friendly subject matter,
and most of all, the bipolar, frenzied phonetics of its frontman (who,
might I add, still loves metal).
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