Album Review: ENFORCED

War Remains

Review Score: 8.0

Reviewed by Blake Mossey

All you need to do is listen to the first 15 seconds of this album to know what your in for. It starts out on full speed. No cute little intro just straight ahead in your face thrash and riffing madness.

Out April 28th on Century Media Records.

ENFORCED with their 3rd studio album. Hailing from the home of Lamb of God, Richmond, VA. And they are just as heavy with their thrash/cross over attack. The whole album clocks in at just 32 minutes. No surprises on this release. They just whip through the 10 tracks with the classic heavy riffing thrash style. They would definitely fit along sides of the Exodus and Kreators of the world. So if your a thrash fan you will not be disappointed. Each track has a distinctive sound and feel to it but your not going to not know each song is a thrash fans delight.

Produced by Richmond, VA based Ricky Olson. The band looked to capture their live energy and rawness and they did just that. They barely let the foot off the gas for a breath. 10 songs that just rip right through you. Stand out tracks are AVARICE, crushing opener Aggressive Menace and Nation Of Fear.

Lyrics stick with the aggressive nature of the music. Title track WAR REMAINS about the difference between War and Peach and how they’re ultimately the same. MERCY KILLING FIELDS deals with singer Knox Colby’s personal experiences dealing with the death of a cousin. And the dilema of deciding if they should of ended her pain earlier. Not your partying type of thrash metal.

So in summary if your a thrash fun you will love it and it will fit right into your collection. My only wish would be that it was longer.

Enforced line-up:
Knox Colby – Vocals
Will Wagstaff – Guitars
Zach Monahan – Guitars
Ethan Gensurowsky – Bass
Alex Bishop – Drums

Enforced online:
https://www.facebook.com/enforcedrva
https://www.instagram.com/enforcedrva/
https://twitter.com/enforcedrva
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vZV2UPiXQMVesiAxQmvBp?si=-BraWuN_R_e8Pabl52jlDA

Album Review: ARCHON ANGEL

II

Review Score: 9

Reviewed By: Jason Deaville

Formed in 2019 by former Savatage and Circle II Circle frontman, Zak Stevens, and guitarist Aldo Lonobile from the Italian power metal band, Secret Sphere, Archon Angel has quickly established a reputation as one the most exciting acts in progressive metal. Having worked together on Zak’s solo album, Circle of the Seven Serpents, it was immediately telling that the two musicians shared a musical vision that they wished to explore further with Archon Angel.

The band’s name was inspired by the concept of archangels in Judeo-Christian theology. The band took this theological idea and incorporated it into their music using creative expression with complex arrangements, heavy riffs, and soaring vocals that explore the multi-faceted spectrum of heavy metal and progressive rock. This culminated in Archon Angel‘s debut album, Fallen, which was released in 2021 to overwhelming critical praise. The album featured guest appearances from notable musicians such as Jeff Plate (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Savatage) and Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen, Ring Of Fire).

Wasting no time, the band’s most recent album, II, further establishes Archon Angel‘s reputation as one of the most exciting new acts to emerge on the progressive metal scene in quite some time. The guys explore a wide range of genres that again includes progressive rock and traditional heavy metal, and everything in between.

The superb production quality of this record immediately leaps out. The sophisticated instrumentation and vocals are delivered with a clarity, strength, and a crispness you would expect with musicianship of this caliber. In fact, this thing is so clean and concise, that the individual skills of each band member are highlighted in equal fashion, with no one instrument being the star of the show. As such, the band have forged a seamless and captivating musical journey, showcasing the group’s chemistry and expertise in the process.

The album highlight comes in the form of ‘Fortress’, showcasing a ridiculously powerful rhythm and one of the most memorable riffs I’ve heard from a band of this ilk. Arguably, it also features perhaps one of the best progressive metal guitar solos I’ve heard in a very long time. The grandiose and atmospheric ‘Lake of Fire’ and ‘Afterburn’ demonstrate the band’s innate ability at crafting engrossing and theatrical soundscapes that catapult the listener to fantastical, sprawling, mythical realms.

Overall, II is a fantastic sophomore album that effortlessly displays Archon Angel‘s extraordinary compositional ability. It exudes a synergy from every single note that is palpable and incredibly infectious. In fact, you’ll likely find yourself subconsciously humming riffs days, even weeks later. Highly recommended.

Album review: ROTTEN SOUND

Apocalypse

Review Score: 10

Reviewed by: Johnny Ibay

Oldschool Finnish grindcore legends Rotten Sound are back with Apocalypse, their first newly recorded material in over 5 years and MAN DOES IT SLAP! To people familiar with the genre this band needs no introduction; they’ve been around since ’93 and are one of the big bands that popularized the HM-2 impenetrable wall-of-sound grind style (along with Swedish legends Nasum and a few others) that has been massively popular over the past 10+ years. This new record delivers in spades with 18 tracks of suffocating blasts and gnarly walls of distorted animosity that will scratch the itch of old fans and earn a lot of new ones.

This record rages hard right out of the gate like a sucker punch to the face. It has a lot of the classic grindcore “blastbeat/d-beat/blastbeat” structure, a groundwork laid by genre pioneers Napalm Death, but adds a modern spin to the formula with some choice mosh riffs, mid-tempo breaks and sludgy filth to keep it interesting. The mosh riff in “Fight Back” is one of several highlights for me and I imagine will induce a full room sized circle pit when played live. The mid-tempo riffs in the title track and “Empowered” are also exceedingly moshtastic and give a bit of a FETO era Napalm Death vibe. The hard ass sludge parts at the end of “Sharing” and the beginning of “Denialist” are so god damned heavy, they make me feel like I’m being slowly crushed in a human sized hydraulic press.

Lyrically Rotten Sound deals with socially conscious themes typical of the genre. The lyrics “Mortgage of tomorrow; Reason to wake up; Must work to pay; Too many square meters” in the song “Suburban Bliss” are a commentary on the societal expectation to work hard and accumulate debt to buy property, which is unfulfilling and leads to normalized slavery, resulting in the fake promise of perfect living. The lyrics “Energy sources are to be built; Materials are to be mined again; Batteries for charging storage are not sustainable” in the song “Renewables” criticize the paradox of renewable energy sources that require non-sustainable materials to be built, pollute in new ways, and rely on non-sustainable batteries. The song questions the sustainability of renewable energy and the “insanity of creativity“ in our current system.

Overall, this record delivers exactly what most fans want from a Rotten Sound record. They managed to put out a somewhat dynamic record without straying too far away from the standard grind formula. There seems to be an endless sea of bands playing this style of grind nowadays but not only are Rotten Sound among the originators of it, they prove on this record that they are still among the best to play it.

Album Review: ROSS THE BOSS

Legacy of Blood, Fire and Steel

Review Score: 8.0

Reviewed by Tom Elke

You know what? I’m really not sure how one is to Review a Compilation album. After all, every song on a Compilation Album is supposed to be good right from the start, right? So, what do you say?

Well, I do have some things to say. So let’s start from the beginning.

Ross The Boss has a new album – “Legacy of Blood, Fire & Steel,” with a Release Date of April 28^th, 2023. It is indeed a Compilation Album. It’s 12 total Tracks, and features 3 Songs from each of the Ross The Boss Albums, 2008’s “New Metal Leader,” 2010’s “Hailstorm,” “By Blood Sworn” from 2018 and “Born of Fire,” which came out in 2020. I love that there are Tracks from those first 2 albums. It gives the people who aren’t overly familiar with them, a taste of what they’re about… and they’re real good songs!

There’s a good flow in the sequence of the Songs, with mid tempo to up tempo Selections. And the Musicianship is top notch all the way through. It’s a very strong, straight-up Metal Album, with Tracks like “Blood Of Knives,” Kingdom Arise,” This Is Vengeance,” and “Maiden Of Shadows.”

It’s always interesting to see what Songs are selected to be part of a Compilation Album, or a Best Of/Greatest Hits Album. Many times there’s acrimony & questioning of the reasoning. With “Legacy of Blood, Fire & Steel,” that is not the case. Each Track is worthy to be included.

If you can come away from a Compilation Album thinking –“I’m ok with the Track Listing,” then it is all good. And I am ok with the Track Listing. Job well done!

Track Listing:

1 – Blood Of Knives
2 – I Got The Right
3 – We Will Kill
4 – Kingdom Arise
5 – Hailstorm
6 – Great Gods Glorious
7 – By Blood Sworn
8 – This Is Vengeance
9 – We Are The Night
10 – Maiden Of Shadows
11 – Born Of Fire
12 – Denied By The Cross

But I’ll forge ahead…

An interesting challenge to…

If you can come away from listening to Compilation Album thinking, I’m ok with the Track Listing, then all is ok… and I’m ok with the Track Listing. Well done.

ENSLAVED, INSOMNIUM, BLACK ANVIL

April 8th, 2023

Toronto, ON @ The Opera House

Photos By: Kim Baarda

Words By: Jason Deaville

BLACK ANVIL

What better way to start a night of extreme metal in Toronto than with some dirty, raunchy, New York City-styled black metal! Hitting the stage with corpsepaint, the guys pummeled the audience with a set of songs torn from the pages of the blackened thrash bible. After experiencing this set, I can see why the hype around Black Anvil is as strong as ever!

INSOMNIUM

The melodic death metal stylings of Finland’s Insomnium could not have been a better fit for this particular night of extreme metal in Toronto. The beautiful, morose intro of the song ‘1696’ reverberated like faraway thunder… exploding into a double-bass assault as the storm of Finnish death metal rained on fans like a torrent of blood.

The guys delivered an incredibly evocative performance that was comprised mostly of songs from their latest album, Anno 1696. That said, they did bust out a collection of songs from previous masterpieces such as Heart Like A Grave, Shadows Of The Dying Sun, and Above The Weeping World.

The organizers of the tour couldn’t have picked a better band to co-headline this tour. A masterful performance from one of the best melodic death metal bands to ever have existed.

ENSLAVED

Fittingly, a chill permeated the crisp Toronto night just as the gods of Nordic progressive black metal took to the stage. As the lights dimmed, the disturbing sounds of the Clockwork Orange theme music filled the venue, creating an eerie-yet-appropriate vibe as we waited excitedly. Then, with a rumble from the halls of Valhalla, the opening riff of ‘Jettegryta’ hit like the weight of an iron-cast sword to the head.

Immediately, it was telling that the band was short one member. It was later learned that founding guitarist, Ivar Bjornson, was unable to make the tour to do a personal issue back home in Norway. As the night progressed, Ivar’s absence was only discernible from a visual perspective. Sonically, you would never know Ivar was missing. The songs sounded as full and functional as they do on record. Of course, Ivar’s presence would have been very much welcomed, but the guys did their best to give fans the authentic Enslaved experience. Newest drummer, Iver Sandøy, did an incredible job filling out the lineup with an energized and magnetic performance behind the kit, as well as delivering a passionate vocal performance, particularly on the song ‘Homebound’.

Enslaved are one band that needs to be experienced live to truly appreciate their incredible sonic soundscape. Having seen Enslaved previously, it goes without saying that tonight’s venue, The Opera House, was an absolutely perfect home for the band. The sound and lighting were both top-notch, projecting the journey of the Enslaved sound throughout the venue’s century-old interior. In fact, this was the very first venue that I photographed at, and remains one of my favorites to this day.