Enforcer

Safe in the knowledge that Enforcer are a kick ass band and the quality of their releases seems to get better with each one recorded, I had very high hopes for their fourth effort ‘From Beyond’. It’s even better than expected. The high octane opener ‘Destroyer’ made me do something I have not done in a few years, that’s ride the motorway at full volume with the windows down. This is great music, fist pumping near speed metal with the usual excellent NWOTHM influences. Rather than new wave, I would expect Enforcer to be in the established act category by now of course.

‘Undying Evil’ continues the pleasure, I am not going to lie, its damn infectious and exactly what I would expect from Enforcer. The curveball is the haunting nature of the title track ‘From Beyond’. The main riff reminds me of Sword (Can) ‘F.T.W’ with more than a classic Swedish and Danish heavy metal influence from around 1982. The vocal tone has an eerie older feel and ambience that keeps hold of you and doesn’t relent until you submit to this darker vision of the band. The darker side also inflicts you on the closing tune ‘Mask of Red Death’ which is another well-crafted slab of music. Thankfully this is not going intensely dark wave, like that of recent releases by others and it maybe a pointer of the direction they will follow in the future, I hope not, I’m still a sucker for the opening metal essential track ‘Destroyer’ and the two instrumentals that appear on this release also.

Safe in the knowledge that this is another stellar release, ‘From Beyond’ is a further improvement on Enforcer’s metal credentials. This is one of the releases of the year, this will feature in many lists no doubt, it has a touch of old speed metal influenced Enforcer, recent Enforcer and what is to come from Enforcer with the addition of more mature sounds that develop throughout this album whilst they genuinely remain true to their roots and really does hit the mark in terms of an essential heavy/speed metal album that shows a band at the top of their game.

(9.5/10 Paul Maddison)

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