Enforced – A Leap Into The Dark
Release Date: 25th October 2024
Label: Century Media
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore, Thrash, Crossover.
FFO: Megadeth, Power Trip, Regional Justice Centre.
Review By: Ross Bowie
Enforced are back with a brand-new EP which features 3 new tracks, a re-recording of their 2023 single Casket and 2 covers, as the band continue on with their ferocious blend of hardcore and thrash metal and bring producer Arthur Rizk along for the ride.
A Leap Into The Dark opens with the band’s 3 new tracks and wastes no time in getting things off to a flying start. Betting On The End opens with chugs that only thrash metal can deliver before busting into a meaty on the beat stomp through its verses. This is a release for the guitar lover because guitarists Will Wagstaff and Zach Monahan attack these songs like they have been turbocharged and thrusted a guitar into their hands. The EP is filled with dive-bombs and guitar solos that take off at every opportunity while constantly locking back in to deliver a thick slab of riffage. The lead guitar work is exceptional, with every solo feeling vital to take the song to the next level, with a variety of different techniques on show. While a lot of thrash can often feel samey if not done to a high enough standard, the guitar leads on here constantly keep the songs feeling fresh and don’t stick in one place for any extended period of time.
The EP hits that sweet spot between thrash and hardcore and while the riffs and vocals lean more on the thrash side of things, every drum part is attacked like you’re in a basement hardcore venue trying to dodge spin kicks to the face. The hardcore approach is felt most on the band’s re-recording of Casket, where the vocals have a real grab the mic hardcore approach as vocalist Knox Colby spits the lyrics at you like venom as he screams all over the track. Casket has that late 80s speed metal approach to the riffs as it flies out the speakers as soon as you hit play on it and doesn’t stop to take a breath the entire time it’s on.
While A Leap Into The Dark, for the most part, feels like a train that could come off the tracks at any moment, the band utilise slowing down perfectly. The title track does the age-old trick of slowing the riff down but, it hits like a piano has landed on you from the sky, and then they have the audacity to slow the riff down even more, leaving your stink face contorting in ways you didn’t know possible. The song has the best straight up thrash riff on the EP before throwing you into the effort’s heaviest section. It truly is filthy in the best possible way.
A regular complaint about a lot of heavy music at the moment is in production, especially with drums sounding more and more processed, but Arthur Rizk shows that organic sounding instruments is always the best approach. Every time the double bass drums come in on this, it feels like it could fall apart at any moment, while the vocals have a great clarity to them, making it easy to chant along and latch on to every word being screamed at you. The production has the right level of tightness while making everything sound huge and in its own lane. Nothing is fighting for space because every detail has room to breathe but, every component fits perfectly together.
Overall, A Leap Into The Dark is a perfect reminder of why Enforced have been held in such a high regard since their debut back in 2019. The band waste no time with a constant string of new music, and the band constantly are adding new things while tweaking and perfecting elements of their sound they have dabbled in before. The only criticism is that there’s not more of it. Who doesn’t love an Obituary cover, but when the band are on form this good, why not churn out another barrage of riffs and thrown on an extra song? Enforced continue to get better and this EP shows no signs of a band slowing down anytime soon.
(4.5 / 5)
