"Terror and Submission" was recorded at this studio located in the Santa Monica Mountains in Southern California. The setting was beautiful. I can't remember the name of the studio.
During this month in 1986, HOLY TERROR entered Skyline Studios in Topanga Canyon to record their classic debut Terror and Submission.
Unfortunately the setting was so relaxed, that I am afraid the record shows the comfort we had there. "Terror and Submission" is too polished. We were much rawer then the album at our shows. Plus the studio engineer did not have any Thrash (or even Heavy Metal) experience. As a result the music sounds slower and more passive than we really wanted.
A promo / demo was circulated earlier in the year to tape traders and zines. The demo coupled with members previously being in AGENT STEEL, DARK ANGEL and BLACK WIDOW (from Metal Massacre III) led to this being a highly anticipated record!
Kurt [Kilfelt] wrote all of the songs except for one. I wrote the music and lyrics for 'Tomorrow's End'. I believe that Kurt had much of the music written even before HOLY TERROR was a band. "Mind Wars" was a completely different story. It was much more of a band collaboration even though Kurt wrote most of the music. Keith wrote lyrics for several of the songs including both songs that I wrote the music for. The music was much faster which mirrors our live shows. We recorded it at Music Grinder Studios in Hollywood. The studio was more state of the art, but the location was more commercial. We were very determined to produce a better record than the first. It's not that we didn't like "Terror and Submission", it's just we felt it didn't adequately represent the band. We actually considered ourselves as a more diverse band then your average Thrash band.
- Mike Alvord / Holy Terror interview, Voices from the Darkside