VILLAINIZER — Reign in Terror (review)

VILLAINIZER — Reign in Terror album cover Album · 2013 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
Rob Abinader (a.k.a. RAV) loved eighties thrash metal and Man-O-War. Rob was also Arab Canadian. Throughout the 2000's he kept hearing much hatred against Arabs thanks to people's responses to the terrorist attacks perpetrated by fundamentalist Muslims. It was tough on him to be indirectly villainized by the villainization of all Arabs by a lot of western people. So, he hit upon the idea to parody this stereotype of Arabic people in a thrash metal band.

His nickname was expanded to Rob "the Arab Villain" as he said to his friend, "If I'm an Arab, then I too must be a villain." At first, it was just him and Sam "The Jewish Villain" Levitt recording in Rob's bedroom, with lead guitar contributions from fellow Edmontonian, John Saturley (The Order of Chaos). But by the second album, Villainizer had become a full band.

Villainizer play traditional thrash metal with lyrics typically being about terrorism from the view of the terrorists. There's a very strong tongue-in-cheek attitude to the lyrics as Rob's intention is to parody the western view of the Arab terrorist rather than parody terrorism itself.

The music is thrash-blazing fast in the vein of early Metallica, Exodus, and other California bands. For fans of the early days of thrash metal, the music is spot on! But the lyrics and song titles are what make Villainizer stand out.

"Turbanator", for example, is a song about the Terminator movie story theme but altered a little.

"Turbanate! / Turbanator (our time has finally come) / Face eradication / Targeted for turbanation / Now you know the time has come to..."

"Twin Tower Two-Step" - "Get your friends to stand tall and straight / Then knock 'em to the floor with a headbutt to the face / Speak broken English with a towel on your head / and mosh to Villainizer as if up from the dead"

The album wraps up with a parody of "Reign in Blood" that's been titled "Raining Bombs" (which also influenced the choice of cover art). Then there are three songs dedicated to a love for metal music ("I Wanna Play Metal All Night" no doubt a play on the KISS song "I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night"). Then two more parody covers: "Metal Depression" based on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Manic Depression" and "Jihad" parodying Metallica's "Whiplash".

"The aeroplanes start to fly / We'll crash them all around / Acting like a terrorist / Jihad!

For entertainment value, this album is pretty darn good. The lyrics are often very violent as many thrash lyrics are, but knowing the background of the band's theme, there is an ironic twist of dark humour.

Sadly, Rob destroyed all unsold Villainizer CDs when he dissolved the band in 2015, but all three albums with bonus tracks from the singles and EPs can be purchased as a download from Bandcamp for $7.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

OPETH`S Epic Headline Show at Bloodstock 2024 | YouTube Premiere | Full Set | August 9th, 2024
OPETH
666sharon666· 3 hours ago
Opeth '§4' Visualizer/Lyrics Video
OPETH
666sharon666· 3 hours ago
Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed