Revolver has teamed with Terror for an exclusive "royal blue & blue jay" colored vinyl variant of Pain Into Power — limited to 300 copies. Order yours now!
Terror are 20 years, eight albums and god knows how many shows into their career, and they've literally never sounded heavier or more energized than they do on Pain Into Power. For their first album of new material since 2018's Total Retaliation, the metallic hardcore mainstays reuinited with original guitarist/songwriter/visionary Todd Jones, who co-founded the band in 2002 and played on their crucial early material before departing and eventually forming Nails, the grindy, Japanese-hardcore-influenced powerhouse that set the bar for hardcore heaviness in the 2010s.
Finding themselves waylaid in L.A. throughout 2020's pandemic dog days, frontman Scott Vogel and his Terror bandmates decided it was the right time to bring Jones back into the fold and tapped him to produce Pain Into Power, which also meant that he'd have a hand in writing the material itself. Known for being one of the most intense and goal-oriented men in contemporary heavy music, Jones' plan for this iteration of Terror was, according to Vogel, "just all brutal, aggressive, go for the throat from the minute the record starts until the end."
The plan came to fruition. While Terror has always always maintained a singular identity — two-minute hardcore comets that blaze forward before ultimately erupting in a bouncy, late-Eighties NYHC-influenced mosh part, often paired with a Californian chant — their sound has ebbed and flowed between catchier and harder eras. Generally, their 2003 EP, Lowest of the Low, and 2004 LP, One with the Underdogs, both of which involved Jones, are considered their most ferocious affairs. Until now.
Despite Vogel pushing 50, Pain Into Power is a tremendously vigorous set of songs, with standouts like "Unashamed," "Can't Let Go" and "On the Verge of Violence" that channel the level of aggression Jones harnesses in Nails — mixing up Vogel's snarling vocals until they hit with percussive force, and then matching that with the clobbering guitar tones — through a distinctly Terror-ian lens. It's an astonishingly angry, eruptive, gigantic-sounding hardcore album that serves as yet another mile marker in Terror's impressively durable, routinely surprising career.
It's out today (May 6th) via Pure Noise Records, and we had an extensive conversation with Vogel about reuniting with Jones, the "fucking cesspool" of a world that inspired these lyrics, the state of hardcore, the highs and lows of Terror's history and much more.
THIS NEW ALBUM IS EXTREMELY HEAVY. I THINK, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE HEAVIEST RECORD YOU'VE PUT OUT IN 15 YEARS. WHERE DID THAT URGE TO COME IN WITH ALL GUNS BLAZING COME FROM?
Well, there's two thoughts that come to my head. The world being in such an explosive negative, ugly place in the last couple years is undeniable. So I think that led to the overall vibe of the record. Although I did try to incorporate a few positive things in the lyrics and the title's kind of positive, it would be hard to have a smile on your face right now. And that leans to really aggressive music and hardcore, in general. But another huge factor is getting Todd Jones to produce this.
ABSOLUTELY.
I think his go-to method or M.O. is just ... all the bands he's done, whether it was the early stages of Terror or Nails or even Carry On. He always just trims any fat and kind of just writes short, perfect bursts of energy. So I think that's a huge factor. A lot of the things on this record were his vision. We knew asking him to produce was going to get a lot of his traits and personality involved in this. And I think [the heaviness is] a huge nod to what he brought to the record.
DID HE HAVE ANY WRITING INFLUENCE ON HERE OR WAS IT MOSTLY JUST PRODUCTION?
Every aspect of this record he had a hand in. He's such an intense person and he really analyzes and thinks. [We took] a year, because we really had no rush with this record. We were locked down and in the middle of a pandemic with no shows in sight, so we really took our time. So for a good year, I think he had his mind wrapped around Terror in this record as much as any of us did, if not more to be honest because for me, this is record [number] whatever, eight, nine, 10, whatever. This is my life, I've given everything I can to this band but for him, he stepped away from the band for so long so this was maybe his first chance to ...
He definitely created this band and this sound and everything, and then he stepped away from it but he's always been a friend to us and ally. Me and him over the years always talk about Terror and he's always kept his eye on us, so this was his chance to like get his hands around his creation and give his input to it again. So he was fully hands on but to answer your question, he helped write, he produced, he helped with lyrics. He had some say in the artwork and stuff. In the end, every decision at the end is the bands', but he was involved in everything.
ONCE YOU GOT TOGETHER WITH TODD, WHAT WAS YOUR GUYS' COLLECTIVE VISION FOR PAIN INTO POWER?
When we bring in a producer, like Chad Gilbert was a prime example from New Found Glory, when we got him [for 2010's Keepers of the Faith], he had a plan where we would do pre-production for a week before and flush out all the songs. And he brought more melodic things to the band and he was very hands on. He didn't play in the studio but with writing, he would pick up the guitar and share his ideas and he was amazing. And a lot of the arrangements, he really had a fingerprint on.
So the point I'm bringing this up is when we get a producer, it's kind of saying, All right, there's five members of Terror. We know who we are. We do what we do. Each of us has a role in this band but it would be great to bring in a sixth person who we believe in. Who we believe gets us and will enhance us.And we kind of let them have their vision and see what they love about Terror — mistakes we've made in the past, things on records that didn't work, but what our strong points are and so on.
So Todd's vision was 10 songs, very short, but an LP, I think it's like 18 minutes and some seconds. Having it 10 songs, and I believe the term was, zero groove. So all the stuff we do, that's kind of like inspired by Madball and stuff, very groovy stuff. Zero groove, just all brutal, aggressive, go for the throat from the minute the record starts until the end.
YOU GUYS HAVE MADE A LOT OF RECORDS AT THIS POINT. ARE YOUR OUTSIDE REFERENCES STILL THE SAME AS WHEN YOU STARTED, OR ARE YOU MOSTLY DRAWING FROM THE DEEP TERROR WELL AT THIS POINT?
When we're writing, definitely words like Madball, Leeway, Killing Time, Judge, those words always come up, "Oh, we need a cool intro like Judge has on this song." Or a really cool open noted part like Leeway has on this track on Born to Expire. And going back to the groove thing, I think we were getting close to the end of the record and I think I was like, "I know we're not going to have any groove but we got to have one song that starts with a very Madballish part." Those names always come up.
And to be honest, with Nick [Jett] and Jordan [Posner] writing stuff, they'll pull from Turbonegro or Exhorder, bands that I don't even really know too much about. I think it's important to have outside influences other than Madball and Hatebreed, those things are always going to be in our music but when you can do something outside, that's cool, too.
LYRICALLY, YOU WERE SAYING THE RECORD'S QUITE NEGATIVE. WERE THERE ANY SPECIFIC EXPERIENCES OR THINGS YOU'VE BEEN SUPER PISSED ABOUT THAT YOU GOT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM ON HERE?
I think the song "On the Verge of Violence," if someone wanted to look into my mind and heart and see where my head was at in the midst of the ugliest part of 2020, 2021, I would urge them to look at that song. Because I think it touches on a lot of things I was seeing and feeling in the most basic way, spelled out really directly. So that's just the reality of what I was seeing around me and seeing people I care about being so divided and so hurt and so hopeless. And I just think that the world still is, as soon as you think, okay, maybe we're getting a grip on coronavirus and we're coming out of this, then you see what starts happening in the Ukraine.
Everyone has their personal issues, whether it's mental health or physical ailments or someone they love that just got lab results and has cancer or losing their jobs or any of the million personal things that we're all going through. And then on top of this, just the outside world, just with so much shit going on, and racial tension in the U.S. in 2020 was at such a height. That's the song I would direct people to.
But then, when we came up with the title, Pain Into Power, that's a very positive thing in trying to find a way to take all of this terrible stuff and make you stronger out of it. That's very cliché. I don't think Pain Into Power is too cliché, but making something positive out of the negative is. It's just trying to find some sort of hope is really hard, but if you don't, you gave up and you're fucking doomed.
AFTER YOU MAKE A RECORD LIKE THIS, DO YOU FEEL CATHARSIS AFTERWARDS? OR DOES IT NOT EVEN MANAGE TO CHANNEL THE TRUE EXTENT OF YOUR ANGER AND FRUSTRATION?
When the record was done, I would go take a walk and put the record on for those 20 minutes, and it does feel good. The music's so vicious and the lyrics are pretty, especially because they've come from my brain — it's a great release to scream with such aggression about things that matter to you. But once it's off and you're back in the world, it doesn't change what's going on around you. So it is an escape and it may change how you feel inside and give you some hope, but the world around you is still a fucking cesspool.
THERE'S BEEN SOME BIG MOMENTS IN HARDCORE IN 2021 AND 2022. THE TURNSTILE ALBUM BLOWING UP, SHOWS COMING BACK LAST YEAR AND BEING SO WILD, THERE'S A LOT OF NEW BLOOD IN THE SCENE. WHAT'S YOUR ASSESSMENT OF WHERE HARDCORE IS AT RIGHT NOW, MUSICALLY AND CULTURALLY?
I think really, really good. Like, Pain of Truth, who we're going on tour with in a month, I've seen them live and they've got such an energy. Every video I see of them, it looks like kids are just loving it. Like next week we're doing shows, until record release, shows in California with Mindforce, whose [frontman isn't] the youngest dude, but a newer band and they just have such a great energy. And then at the same time, we're doing shows with Outburst. I bought their seven-inch in, like, 1988 so that's a band that raised me and showed me how to do this. And to have them and Mindforce on the same show is just such a mental trip for me.
So I think the youth is doing it right now. The shows are great. The energy is great. I think more than ever, people are very open-minded to music and everybody is accepted in the scene and there's so many different — this band doesn't sound like this band and that band doesn't look like that band. There's such a beautiful open-mindedness and I just think it's really cool.
YOU'VE BEEN AROUND TO SEE THE SCENE GO THROUGH MANY PHASES. HOW DOES IT COMPARE NOW TO 2010, 2005, 1995?
There's always highs and lows and it's just weird. Sometimes you go to a city, like any random city, and if they have the right venue and the right local band that's really pushing things, the scene can be on fire. But the minute that venue gets shut down or that local band breaks up, it kind of fizzles and things are down and out.
I think that's one of the reasons why Terror has lasted so long, we never let those high moments get to our heads and let us think like, "This is the way it should be always." We kind of know that there's going to be ups and downs and times we put out records where it doesn't completely land and other times where it's like Keepers of the Faith, where it's this resurgence and this new total movement. But if you let those highs and lows get to you, you're not going to last.
So I think right now, hardcore is like in an amazing place with the bands, with the energy, and with the mind state of hardcore. I think it's great. But again, if certain bands that are doing great right now, what's the right word? When you're a new band and you're a fresh face and you got that initial burst of energy, that can't last forever so you just can't expect everything to stay like that because new bands are going to come and you're going to put out records and you're going to kind of just have to plateau out. So I just really hope that people enjoy the whole ride and don't expect everything to be perfect because bands have ups and downs. The scene has ups and downs.
WAS THAT SOMETHING THAT WAS HARD FOR YOU TO SWALLOW AT SOME POINT DURING TERROR'S CAREER, OR SOME OF YOUR OTHER BANDS' CAREERS?
No. Obviously Terror's the most well established, played the biggest shows, and done the most, but from the bands before, like Despair and Buried Alive, we would always play small shows to 50 people and then once in a while you get on a huge show or you go over to Europe and you play a festival and you're playing to a thousand people.
So I've always been OK with that. And right now, if you told me tomorrow, Terror was playing in a basement with 50 people, I'd be so excited for that. That's just who I am. I don't need much as long as it's like a good energy and a good vibe, that's all I really need.
I'VE ALWAYS ADMIRED THAT TERROR HAS BEEN ABLE TO TOUR WITH DEATHCORE, METALCORE, DEATH METAL BANDS AND ALWAYS REMAIN FIRMLY IN HARDCORE. SOME BANDS TRY THAT AND IT DOESN'T WORK OUT, BUT YOU GUYS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO STRADDLE THOSE TWO LANES. WHAT'S THAT BEEN LIKE?
It's an interesting thing because you want to play to different people. You don't want to just play to the people that know exactly who you are, whether they love you or hate you. You want to expand and play to different crowds, especially if you tour as much as we do. You got to kind of look for different angles. And we've done everything from tours with Suicidal Tendencies to tours with Behemoth to tours with Chimaira, all sorts of things. And that's beautiful. It's given us different looks at how bands work, how tours work, different scenes, and that's great.
But at the same time, I feel like in maybe, right before Keepers of the Faith, so 2008 and 2009, I feel like we kind of went a little too far with doing tours with Emmure and then a tour with Chimaira, and maybe kind of stepped a little too far away from hardcore where we said to ourselves, "Man, we're touring with a lot of bands."
Not that we don't like the bands as people but that maybe musically isn't really what we love. And it's just becoming a little less fun. And I think that's why Keepers of the Faith really drew us 100 percent back into re-determining what's important to us. And from that time forward, we'll still do an outside the box tour here and there but we kind of just said, "We're more comfortable and we have more fun and it's going to keep the band together longer if we kind of stay a little bit closer to the scene that we come from."
KEEPERS OF THE FAITH WAS A BIG MILESTONE IN TERROR'S CAREER, A BIG RECHARGING POINT. IT'S BEEN ABOUT 10 YEARS NOW SINCE THAT CAME OUT, WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT TIME AND THE IMPACT THAT ALBUM HAD?
That was the first record we had Jordan from No Warning and David Wood from Down to Nothing on base. Jordan on guitar so we had this really cool lineup at that time. And I think really, it was kind of what I was just describing, we just kind of had some internal talks where it's like, "OK, it was cool. We did all this stuff but on the other hand, maybe it isn't exactly what we want. Let's really lay down what we want." And getting Chad Gilbert, he comes from Shai Hulud, he comes from the hardcore scene, but has a really great songwriting talent. And he saw something in us and agreed to work with us.
And a lot of it was just the title. I remember I thought of the title when we were playing in Korea, which is just crazy in the first place. We're over in Korea and I saw someone had written "Keep the Faith" on the wall, which is a nod to the band Warzone, who's my favorite band ever in hardcore. And I don't know, it just struck me that people in Korea are into Warzone and we're so lucky to be here. And I just came up with the title, Keepers of the Faith, and I think that really spoke to people so it was just really cool.
WAS THERE EVER A TIME WHERE YOU WISH YOU DID SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY IN YOUR TERROR CAREER?
Oh yeah, lots of things. One would be not drinking so much on tour. Touring as much as we did. It just lends yourself to getting fucked up too often so that's something I definitely regret. There were periods in Terror where I was like, "Man, I wasted so much time being a drunk idiot." Other things, too, like I really beat my body up with as much as we tour and stuff so I've had issues with my back and neck. I guess that comes with a territory but I probably could have taken better care of myself.
And early times in Terror when, I don't know if temper is the right word, but more of a negative attitude where I would kind of lash out at people sometimes, just being a general dick. But with time you grow up and hopefully you handle situations better.
HARDCORE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A YOUTH CULTURE AND IT STILL IS. WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO STILL BE VERY ACTIVE IN THIS GENRE WHERE MANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS ARE HALF YOUR AGE?
It's interesting because I definitely still love going to shows. I still love buying fanzines. I still pick up demos and check out new bands in hopes that they fucking blow me away and that I have something new that really, really keeps me excited and in tune. And for the most part, I'm always seeing new bands and being around hardcore, but at the same time, I've been doing it for so long so that the excitement has diminished a tiny bit.
But in Buffalo, if there's a show, nine times out of 10, if I'm in town, I'm going to go to it just because it's not even like an effort. Like, "Do I have to go? Do I have to stay involved? Do I have to check out these new bands?" It's just literally who I am and what I do. It's like second nature now.
So, I do realize that I'm not 20 and I can't fucking get in the sick mosh pit and go crazy like I used to for every single band. And I do step back sometimes when I have had shows and I'm like, "I'm old enough to be these kids' fucking parents." That stuff's all apparent to me. But I just still believe, I still think it's great, and I still care, and I'm just still genuinely interested. And when I get that energy of seeing a live band or hearing a new band that really does it right, it's super exciting to me still.
WHAT WAS THE LAST BAND THAT BLEW YOU AWAY?
Seeing Pain of Truth is really cool. DARE is another younger band, they're a little bit older now but when I first saw and heard them, I was really psyched on them. That new Gridiron record — it's almost E-Town Concrete-y. I'm really starting to like that. Who else? Combust, the new Combust LP, the New York band is fucking great. And there's cool shit in Buffalo, Exhibition, Violent Way, Smash N' Grab. There's really cool stuff in Buffalo so that's always cool, to be the place I was born and the scene that raised me, still has cool bands doing it.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE HARDCORE TRENDS THAT YOU'VE LIVED THROUGH?
My favorite trend would be ... Oh geez, it's a hard question. It never really died but I think printed fanzines are super cool. So, anyone that keeps alive printed fanzines, I don't know if it's a trend but it has upswings, but anyone that keeps that going is my favorite.
My least favorite thing is when people analyze and review and judge hardcore exclusively from the internet. Unless you're at a show and seeing the shit firsthand, it's really hard for me to take your judgment of the energy, or the vibe of the room, or the band as an accurate account.
I get the feeling that people talk more about hardcore than actually going to shows and being involved in hardcore, and that's the exact opposite of what it should be. Less talking and typing and just fucking involved. And if the energy's low, make it high. Set that shit off.
