Enforcer
Death by Fire
Nuclear Blast
2013
I’ve said several things about that 80s revival movement that we’re facing during the last few years, but I’ll say one thing that’s important about the whole thing. We all love the 80s heavy metal… but seeing young bands copying the looks and the music of that era is not appealing at all. Of course, there are a number of bands which have something to say, like Enforcer, but their whole attitude and music approach do not flatter them at all.
“Death by Fire” is a completely “retro” 80s heavy/speed metal release, not in the good sense of the term though. This isn’t something that we haven’t heard better from many 80s metal bands back in the day and of course, it’s not as classy as the 80s metal releases. I remember seeing the video for “Mesmerized by Fire” a few weeks ago, before the release of the album, and I liked it… although I wasn’t impressed by their whole “retro approach”. I thought it would be a good band to keep an eye for. Hence, now after I have listened to their third full-length release I can say that even though it’s better than most of the similar “retro 80s metal albums” of our time, it doesn’t have what it takes so as to take it more seriously at the end of the day. The production is rather powerful but “old-fashioned” as well. All those bands are 80s wannabes… but what’s gonna be when this “dated-trend” is over? At times, I think it’s better to be an 80s metal tribute band rather than say that you’re doing something “new” and “individual”.
Anyhow, as I said earlier Enforce are a good band and I’d like to see them evolve, change this 80s-style and add personal & today elements to their music. They can do it. All these trends will be over in a while. Take Reverence for instance; they have musicians on their line-up that lived in the 80s and were part of some exceptional bands of that time, but they didn’t try to do things as they did back then. Instead they took the good features of the 80s metal music and brought them to our time. If you listen to them you will totally get my point of view. As, for “Death by Fire”, no matter how “good” a release such as this might be, it will never get more than a decent level, for it will always lack inspiration, creativity & personality…
“Death by Fire” is a completely “retro” 80s heavy/speed metal release, not in the good sense of the term though. This isn’t something that we haven’t heard better from many 80s metal bands back in the day and of course, it’s not as classy as the 80s metal releases. I remember seeing the video for “Mesmerized by Fire” a few weeks ago, before the release of the album, and I liked it… although I wasn’t impressed by their whole “retro approach”. I thought it would be a good band to keep an eye for. Hence, now after I have listened to their third full-length release I can say that even though it’s better than most of the similar “retro 80s metal albums” of our time, it doesn’t have what it takes so as to take it more seriously at the end of the day. The production is rather powerful but “old-fashioned” as well. All those bands are 80s wannabes… but what’s gonna be when this “dated-trend” is over? At times, I think it’s better to be an 80s metal tribute band rather than say that you’re doing something “new” and “individual”.
Anyhow, as I said earlier Enforce are a good band and I’d like to see them evolve, change this 80s-style and add personal & today elements to their music. They can do it. All these trends will be over in a while. Take Reverence for instance; they have musicians on their line-up that lived in the 80s and were part of some exceptional bands of that time, but they didn’t try to do things as they did back then. Instead they took the good features of the 80s metal music and brought them to our time. If you listen to them you will totally get my point of view. As, for “Death by Fire”, no matter how “good” a release such as this might be, it will never get more than a decent level, for it will always lack inspiration, creativity & personality…