Los Angeles hardcore heavyweights Terror tear up Karl Hall in Wilkes-Barre on Jan. 4
From a press release:
After nearly two years, Karl Hall is finally ready to bring concerts back inside.
The pandemic closed the intimate all-ages venue in March of 2020, and while it hosted online shows as well as a massive drive-in concert with the Mohegan Sun Arena, the downtown Wilkes-Barre building remained closed into 2021, instead opting to hold a special outdoor concert series in its back parking lot over the summer, including an acoustic show by Tigers Jaw.
This month, Karl Hall (57 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre) has started announcing its first indoor shows for 2022, starting with Los Angeles hardcore titans Terror and Long Island natives Pain of Truth on Tuesday, Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.
Wilkes-Barre’s own Choice to Make and Ripped Away from Scranton will open for the touring acts.
Tickets, which are $20, are on sale now via Brown Paper Tickets.
On March 5, Terror issued their latest album, “Trapped in a World,” a special LP recorded live in the studio, revisiting their earliest records with former guitarist Todd Jones, who will also be producing the band’s next LP.
Since their 2002 inception, Terror has held their own at the forefront of hardcore through nonstop international touring, an incredible discography, and deep roots in the hardcore community. While their full-time touring was halted during the ongoing pandemic, the band revisited material from some of their prior incarnations, so the current lineup met up to recapture songs from their earliest days, joined by former guitarist Todd Jones, who formed Nails upon his exit from the band in 2004, at drummer Nick Jett’s studio.
The band recorded a brutal set of songs from their seminal first two records, 2003’s “Lowest of the Low” (Bridge 9 Records) and 2004’s “One with the Underdogs” (Trustkill). This session also served as a precursor for their upcoming studio album.
“As the world locked down and Terror went on a full pause with the pandemic hitting the USA hard, somehow this created a perfect opportunity with Nick, Todd, and myself to start writing Terror songs 20 years after we started this band,” vocalist Scott Vogel recalled.
“Of course, all the other members are involved in this process, but with travel restrictions and us being so spread out location-wise, a lot of weekends the three of us were just getting in a room and creating new Terror songs and it’s been a pretty insane experience. Todd is a deep-thinking maniac that can write hardcore songs like no one I have seen before, and the three of us fell right back into our early mindset and the energy and aggression felt just like it did on day one.”
With 12 of their most seminal and foundational tracks brutally delivered in less than 24 minutes, “Trapped in a World” was recorded with the band all playing together at once to capture a more raw and “rehearsal tape” type of energy in July of 2020 at Jet to Mars Studios in California, engineered and mixed by Jett, with additional engineering by Ryan Marr. Mastered by Will Putney, the record was completed with cover art by Rico Pakun with additional art by Chase Mason, handwritten elements by Tyler Mullen, and layout and design by Martin Stewart.
“Got together with the Terror Crew (in a creative sense) for the first time since recording ‘One with the Underdogs.’ The ideas, guitars, lyrics/vocals, songs came pouring out. Locked in with Nick and Scott as if it hasn’t been 16 years since we played together,” Jones said at the time.
“There’s no shortage of songwriters in Terror, and the stuff we’ve collectively come up with so far… I can’t stop listening to these tracks. Magic via musical chemistry. It’s our aim to deliver to you a visceral and explosive hardcore record, and I really hope you enjoy it.”
This record shows the long-running hardcore kingpins playing at their hardest and most relentless. Decibel Magazine, which streamed the album before its release, wrote, “‘Trapped in a World’ recaptures the spirit of ‘One with the Underdogs’ and ‘Always the Hard Way’ but gives the songs a more punk feel. It’s invigorating to hear classics like ‘One with the Underdogs’ in a new light, more than 15 years after their original release. ‘Trapped in a World’ captures Terror’s live energy, minus the crowd surfers and Vogel’s frequent calls for stage divers.”
