Israeli-based musician, Denis Tereschenko, is a veteran of the studio and the art of writing albums. Indeed, Worldwide Terror is his eleventh album under the Die Entweihung moniker. He was once immersed in black metal, but now he prefers to fight his battles in a hard rocking environment.
The opening power chord of ‘Worldwide Terror’ warns you this’ll be a greasy piece of heavy metal, like Guns ‘N Roses colliding with the music of Venom. Tereschenko’s vocals move between the tenor snarl and the operatic as the filthy pentatonic guitars go wild on the down-picking. It would be easy to enjoy it and never bother with it again, but the snatches of Middle Eastern experimentation in the middle eight give it a unique feel when you’re ready to dismiss it as Megadeth worship. Likewise, ‘Warriors of the Lie’ reminds you of a time when metal was as dangerous as the first wave of punk. Tereschenko is a veteran of the microphone after more than ten studio recordings to his name, and he barks like a power metal maestro here shorn of the absurd theatrics. His bass playing is just as confident in this song, though never straying far from the root notes that provide the guitars with a solid low-end foundation. The only surprise is the lack of more prominent symphonic keyboard arrangements to complement the dynamics.
‘Generation of Pawns’ seems determined to stretch a thrash riff beyond sixteen bars. The cameo woodwind melodies are a welcome shade of colour in this flamboyance. It stops the mind from wandering for most of side A. By contrast, Black Sabbath’s Volume 4 receives a fitting tribute in the opening to ‘Newborn’ before it switches to a pseudo-reggae verse and leaps into a traditional metal chorus befitting of a high-range warrior. Listen to the keyboard presets sail through the pentatonic hard rock in the horn setting. Tereschenko writes with such skill; you can almost overlook its obsession with the 1970s. There are enough surprises here if the latter leaves you bored, many of them led by the bass and willing to step outside the metal paradigm.
Unfortunately, you can’t escape the knowledge that you’ve heard much of this before in the early Mercyful Fate records. Those hammer-on and pull-off guitar techniques are thrilling, but they’re also trapped in the early 1980s. Even the heroic drum fills are predictable. A few snippets of folk guitar in ‘Eight Billion Headed Whore’ help you recall at least one part from the riff salad, though you can grab onto the chorus after multiple listens if you want another avenue of focus.
Closing track, ‘The Blackest Morning’, is unashamed to embrace the mood of a ballad in the verse part before it reaches for the heights of a stadium metal chorus. At least this music is ambitious enough to aim for a larger audience. Observe how Tereschenko uses galloping rhythms to retain the emotions at the right level of agitation. Can you resist pretending to play along on guitar here when the vocals pull you in the opposite direction? The double-timing drums and black metal tremolo action towards the end will raise your eyebrows while you ponder this question for over a minute.
The plucky multi-instrumentalist is a devalued commodity in music these days. We’re in an age where everybody has access to software that can recreate the efforts of a full band, and it’ll proliferate with the rise of Suno and other AI apps. Denis Tereschenko can remind us that individuals still exist who master their instruments and spend every day of their lives creating ideas with their own hands rather than through their keyboard commands.
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 07/08/2026
Record Label: Self-released
Standout tracks: Worldwide Terror; Newborn; The Blackest Morning
Suggested Further Listening: Gatecloser – From the Wasteland (2020), Subterranean Masquerade – Mountain Fever (2021), Borrower – Killerdemons (2026)