Terror is one of the hardest bands ever. Not that being hard makes a band good, but it definitely adds a sense of credibility and relativity when listening to Scott Vogel's lyrics. In a scene, no, a world full of "pussy ass fronters" (Vogelism - 6/14/2005 - West Dundee, IL), it's nice to know there is a band that describes their feelings in the most visceral and basic way possible. Terror is the band everyone can relate to. Some are just too pretentious to get past the fact Terror still play hardcore while on an almost-major label.
As much as I can relate to or appreciate Vogel's anger, I unfortunately cannot be angry with him for once. Always the Hard Way is everything one would expect from a Terror album: one-way conversations with a pissed off white man and plenty of mosh parts for maximum output. The loss of Frank "3 Gun" Novinec to Hatebreed and Carl Schwartz doing First Blood full-time may have had an effect on this. It may not. But no tracks from this album stand out in my mind. For once, I'm completely indifferent to Terror. There is no "Spit My Rage," "Push It Away," or "What Have We Done" on this album, the standout songs that distinctly belonged to Terror and made a good album great. "Survival Crashes In" comes close, but it's too much Cro-Mags worship for the song to stand out in my mind. In short, I just can't motivate myself to show my basement drywall just who the real homeowner is by means of wall-to-wall slam-dancing violence.
Bands like Terror shouldn't be judged on their creativity or their originality in their genre, but rather how well they can motivate someone to mosh. In this aspect, Terror succeeds. This album will definitely open up pits, generate pile-ons, and create countless situations of maximum stagedive output where all people holding Slushies in the back will be crushed. Unfortunately, if I attended an entire set with the songs from this album, I think I'd be one of the people in the back bobbing my head drinking a Slushie.
5.0 stagedives, 5 windmills, 5 creepy crawls, 5 floorpunches, 5 gorilla punches, 5 Murdario Stomps/ 10 German Edge Warlords Wall of Death
