TERROR ROCK

By TERRY HAND

The only real mystery in Adam’s decision to go to bat for Team Jihad is which side of his upbringing pushed him over the edge. As somebody on the Terminal Boredom message boards just reminded us, Adam’s dad was originally Phil Pearlman, by all accounts a groovy-enough dude who fronted several decent psych-folk groups in the late 60s and early 70s. But then he found God, changed his last name to a shoddy attempt at “Gideon,” and dragged his family to the country.

The music he put out with Beat of the Earth, Electronic Hole, and Relatively Clean Rivers is extremely chill and pretty much right up our alley these days (especially this rainy cocksucker of a morning), but can you imagine it as the soundtrack to a ten-year onslaught of pie-eyed West Coat Jesus Freaking? You’d be so unmellow it would feel like your eyes were being operated by stick bugs.

Adam responded to his dad’s abuse the same way we all would: Growing his hair long and unflatteringly, reviewing Death Metal demos for his buddy’s zine, and recording a harsh noise album under the name Aphasia (ours would have been called Valknaut 23). Again, not saying that owning a couple Whitehouse records means you automatically support indiscriminately blowing up women and children, but come on. We’re all adults here.

Take a listen to both Azzam’s and his dad’s work and see if you can figure out which group was the straw that put him on a camel’s back. It’s got to be one of them.

The Beat of the Earth
The Beat of the Earth – Our Standard Three Minute Tune
The Electronic Hole
Relatively Clean Rivers

Aphasia (1993)
Delirium pt. 1
Broken
Aphasia
Delirium pt. 2
Cerebral Malfunction
Regression Relapse
Insanity