The Damned, the Shamed

Album Review

Terror sounds like the name of a death metal or black metal band, but you won't find any references to Satanism, the Occult, paganism, Vikings or Nordic mythology on The Damned, The Shamed. What you will find is the thing that Terror does enjoyably well: old-school hardcore — not outright metalcore, not screamo, but infectious, anthemic, fist-pumping hardcore that recalls the hookiness of bands like the Cro-Mags, Sick of It All and Agnostic Front. No one will accuse stompers like "March to Redemption," "Rise of the Poisoned Youth," "Voice of the Damned" and "Feel the Pain" of pointing hardcore in any new directions, but if The Damned, The Shamed is derivative, it is derivative in the best sense of the word. And while this 2008 release falls short of being full-fledged metalcore, there is no denying that it packs a heavy, decidedly metallic punch and is quite appropriate for a metal-oriented label like Century Media. The energy of metal and the energy of punk are both crucial ingredients on The Damned, The Shamed, although this disc is really the sound of metal coming into punk as opposed to punk coming into metal; in that sense, The Damned, The Shamed clearly has an old-school hardcore mentality. Back in the '80s, thrash and hardcore were the first fusions of punk and metal. But while thrash was metal crossing over to punk, early hardcore was punk crossing over to metal, and Terror's heritage is obviously the latter rather than the former. The Damned, The Shamed is a solid example of a CD that isn't big on originality but definitely comes through in terms of quality.