Review by Dominik on November 11, 2024.

After tackling Abattoir and Agent Steel, it feels like a natural progression, like a certain “incestuous logic”, to turn to Holy Terror—a band born from the same rough-and-tumble speed and thrash scene, with former Agent Steel guitarist Kurt Kilfelt at the helm. This band, though as short-lived as Abattoir, had a slightly different approach. Kilfelt took his blistering riff arsenal to Holy Terror and created something more intense and relentless. Where Abattoir and early Agent Steel burned out fast and both shot their powder with having released their debut albums, Holy Terror managed to pack a lot more firepower into their sophomore effort “Mind Wars”, their ultimate—and sadly final—statement. A statement that even his former bandmates probably had to listen to sitting down.

Looking back, Holy Terror’s (ambiguous) moniker seems almost prophetic. Their name, chosen in 1985, has only become more loaded when religious extremism casts long shadows. Though atrocities performed in the name of religion are as old as any religion, we all understand that in today´s world holy terror in the name of misunderstood religions seems to be ever-present. (That reminds me that I still need to send the complete Fearless Iranians from Hell discography to Teheran.). But believing in the good of humans, I am quite sure that Kurt was only referring to the child he once was, behaving extremely badly (I admit that this second meaning of “holy terror” I had to look up).

Maybe the band tried to solve the psychological struggle of man versus society. Or they wanted to prove that they could shove more riffs into 40 minutes than Agent Steel. Truthfully, it could be any of these and possibly all of them at once. So, before I lose myself in “Mind Wars”, and the mental battles within, let us dive into the album.

Released in 1988, “Mind Wars” presents fast metal at its best—and its most unhinged. This album is pure adrenaline, yet also to a certain extent unpredictable in a way only true thrash believers will fully understand. “Mind Wars” is a masterpiece that mixes thrash and speed metal, peppered with wild tempo changes and of course riff after blistering riff. Keith Deen’s vocals are – well – another story that needs to be told here. Though sometimes a bit buried in the mix, he is delivering a rapid-fire assault that’s almost theatrical in its fury. His vocals aren’t just fast—they’re almost maniacal, like he’s sprinting through a thrash sermon on borrowed time, coming straight from the Don Doty school of disturbed individuals. Songs like “Do Unto Others” capture this intensity perfectly, with Deen cramming in what feels like a book’s worth of apocalyptic proclamations into just a few minutes. He firehoses you with words, an unholy blend of preacher, prophet, and metal’s answer to a doomsday street preacher on a caffeine binge.

Despite the recurring vocal madness, there is enough restraint to ensure that “Mind Wars” isn’t one-dimensional; Holy Terror managed to weave in underlying melodies and tempo shifts that give the album depth and, let´s say, a sense of craft. Behind the relentless and memorable riffs, there’s a clever structure, and plenty of melodic hooks to remind you that this isn’t just speed for speed’s sake. Whatever tricks Agent Steel kept hidden in their mystic black box when releasing “Unstoppable Force”, Holy Terror decided to unleash on mankind. Songs like “Debt of Pain”, which comes as an unrecognizable re-recording of “Back to Reign” from Agent Steel´s debut album, cram in more ideas than some bands have in their entire catalog, with Kilfelt and Alvord shredding their way through soli that Agent Steel might have thought too reckless.

Even the album’s slower, atmospheric track “The Immoral Wasteland” manages to feel like a breather that’s been a bit corrupted. It shows the band´s range and pacing and is this rare moment to catch your breath before getting sucked back into the speed vortex. There’s no throwaway song here—every track has something distinctly and deliciously chaotic to offer (and be it just the memorable introduction to “Damned by Judges”). But instead of spending more time reading about the obvious, go and get yourself a copy of “Mind Wars”, should you belong to those people not in possession of this classic yet.

Rating: 8.9/10 – because here riffs go to war and leave no survivor. Holy Terror left us with a singular blast of pure, aggressive, yet melodic energy that even now, decades later, is almost impossible to ignore.

N.B. My version of “Mind Wars” is to be found on the “Terror and Submission” / “Mind Wars” compilation, released in 1998.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Review by Felix on February 25, 2020.

In times of religiously motivated assassinations, the name Holy Terror sounds pretty dubious to me. Honestly speaking, the choice of this moniker was questionable right from the beginning. However, the good news is that the music gave no reason to think about better alternatives. Given this situation, it is one of the tragic moments in the history of metal that Holy Terror never recorded further albums after Mind Wars. So, all we can do is keeping the memory alive, for example by writing a review for the aforementioned full-length.

Holy Terror treated the scene with work that stood with both feet on the territory of thrash / speed metal while simultaneously surprising with a pretty broad portfolio. The track that stands out in terms of style is the dignified 'The Immoral Wasteland', amid-paced number with much room for the relatively melodic guitar leads. They reveal their full strength during the instrumental part after the second chorus where they create a wistful yet mighty mood. This song is one of the rare examples of a powerful yet airy (more or less extreme) metal tracks. Maybe it rather falls into the category of power metal, but who cares? No doubt, this number is among the highlights of the album – and the same applies for the three-tracks-in-one-piece 'A Fool’s Gold / Terminal Humour / Mind Wars'. Holy Terror accelerate speed and 'A Fool’s Gold' has an almost punk-like touch. The second part varies the velocity, before the title track strikes back mercilessly. A great trilogy, indeed...

...with a minor flaw – the vocals of Keith Deen (R.I.P.) have to struggle to be heard. The production of the album is not bad, but it becomes obvious that a guitarist of the band, namely Kurt Kilfelt, was responsible for the sound. The guitars dominate the mix without accepting another element on an equal footing. That’s a pity, because Deen convinced with a strong performance. His voice reflects many moods, he does not lack charisma and he has his own style. Sometimes he reminds me of Onslaught’s Sy Keeler, but maybe that’s just because the riffing of songs such as 'Do Unto Others' is not far away from that of albums like "The Force".

Speaking of this song, it shows the somersaulting side of the band. It is one of two tracks which have not been composed by Kilfelt, but of the second guitarist Mike Alvord. Either this dude was a little bit lazy or Kilfelt suffered from dictatorial tendencies, because both songs from Alvord (the other one is the opener) storm the gates in a matter of seconds. Well, I don’t think that it was Kilfelt’s guilt after having heard the second album of Alvord’s Mindwars, a quite mediocre output – and it surely no coincidence that their third work is called, well, 'Du Unto Others'. But living in the past is probably not the best idea if one wants to reach success in 2020. Be that as it may, Mind Wars has nothing in common with mediocrity. The album fascinates in both categories: it has fascinating tracks and it works as a whole. To put it pretty casually expressed, the best songs are 'Judas Reward', 'Christian Resistance' and everything between them. The rest is shit… but the two aforementioned numbers are the opener and closer. On a more serious note, 'Debt of Pain' is slightly weaker than the remaining material, but maybe it just had the handicap that the song was already known from the Agent Steel debut. It doesn’t matter; Mind Wars has stood the test of time with great ease. The underground is full of gems and this is one of them.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10