'Reign of Terror' was to be the final release for little known US Metallers 'Wild Dogs' and is generally regarded as their finest offering, although this is the only album I have heard from them. There's plenty of promise shown however and the style is pretty uncompromising, forget ballads this is borderline Power / Speed Metal from start to finish, with glimpses of 'Metallica', 'Armoured Saint' and heavier 'Riot'. Regrettably the production does them no favours, as there's a lack of clarity and crispness throughout, but overlooking this there is still some decent content.

The hard hitting 'Metal Fuel' opens in rigorous fashion and while 'Michael Furlong's' vocals seem a little inconsistent at times the production which places him too distant in the mix is largely at fault, overlooking this still a solid opener. Following in fine form is the galloping 'Man Against Machine', which is propelled by some punishing rhythm work, lyrically it's all a bit predictable but 'Jeff Mark's' screaming guitar more than makes up for this. Heavier still but perhaps at the cost of more than a little refinement is 'Call of the Dark', vocally this comes across pretty poorly, in fact the instrumentation is so good this would have worked better as an instrumental. Less hell-bent but slightly crude is 'Siberian Vacation', the mid track slow down is fitting and timely but ultimately ends up repetitive and dull. Next up is 'Psychoradio' which promises plenty with it's thunderous Power Metal intro, but fails to live up to early expectations and ends up repetitive, despite instrumentally being a rigorous workout. The second half kicks off on a more mature footing with the mid tempo 'Streets of Berlin' which introduces more melody, that is perhaps lacking from some of the other material, vocally 'Michael Furlong' gives it's plenty, but I'm not totally convinced by him- still a strong song however. 'Spellshock' follows in solid fashion, but is possibly let down by the dull chorus, while the title track 'Reign of Terror' hits right back in pulsating style and features another fine 'Jeff Mark' solo. Last up is 'We Rule the Night' a brooding darker song which sadly is a bit of a let down for the closing track, the guitaring is as always impressive, but this just seems to drag, especially the tiresome chorus.

There's the bare bones of a very good album here, the intros are consistently very good as is 'Jeff Mark's' guitar work, but too many tracks loose their direction and fall by the wayside, while the production takes the edge of the majority of the material.