Review by: Norrie Sills
Nice to see this LP released on CD after all this time. Terminus were an anarcho punk band who were knocking about in the 90s. At a time when the British punk scene had been swamped with Napalm Death copyists and audience numbers had vastly diminished. Words of warning records (who originally released this LP) were releasing a ton of stuff at this time, some of whom became very well known, The Blaggers, Therapy?, Cowboy Killers, Oi Polloi. This LP was a classic from this time and deserves another listen by anyone interested into anarcho / political punk, maybe you missed Terminus the first time round. Terminus play rock influenced punk with powerful riffs and distinctive vocals. Lyrically they go out to challenge their listeners. Rather than preach to the converted of the anarcho punk ghetto, they point out how insignificant, conceited and grandiose the converted really are. Though coming off somewhat po-faced and depressed at times there is stuff to smile at here. Hey little girl never fails to make me laugh, “You think your cool and trendy? You’ll soon be just dead meat” the lyrics are angry and bleak and I have no doubt completely sincere and serious. Musically it’s pretty varied, from 77 punk rock (opium for the people) Free to be slaves sounds like killing joke doing California uber alles. Very little filler here. The LP art work has been touched up by one of the band, slightly green tinge infiltrating the stark black and white, cd booklet has lyrics, I would love it if these releases gave a bio of the band and what they’re up to now, would allow us to know how time has effected them. This is an excellent album, I’m off to see if I can score it on vinyl off eBay.