Terminal – Blacken The Skies (Album – Metropolis Records)

Genre/Influences: Industrial-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Thomas Mark Anthony is a South-African artist who last year self-released a few singles. This debut album released by Metropolis Records looks like a consecration for his efforts. Terminal is meant as ‘the soundtrack to a world unbalanced, reeling and spinning out of control, running out of time’.

Content: I honestly never heard of Terminal before and discovered a heavy, overwhelming instrumental debut track featuring Industrial sound treatments. This influence runs through the entire work, but has been joined by a kind of Electro-Pop approach. Bombastic parts and crushing passages are emerging at the surface while other cuts have been achieved with guitar sounds.

+ + + : What I respect in the approach of Terminal is the will to create a very own sound identity. It’s not a band you can compare with any other, but an album resulting from a mix of influences that have been mixed in a personal way. I like the bombast running through “Fault Line” and the overwhelming production emerging at “Needle Park (Time To Die)”, “Riot Shields” and “TRMNL”. I also like the colder approach feature at “TRMNL”.

– – – : Terminal is hard to label, which is not always easy to reach a specific audience. There are several cool and noticeable songs featured, but no absolute hits. I’m also convinced the vocals’ production can be improved.

Conclusion: “Blacken The Skies” is an honest debut album; nothing less nothing more!

Best songs: “Needle Park (Time To Die)”, “TRMNL”, “Fault Line”, “Riot Shields”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.terminalnoise.com / www.facebook.com/terminal.industrial

Label: www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords

Since you’re here …

… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The donations are safely powered by Paypal.