ALBUM REVIEW: My Enemies Look And Sound Like Me – Werewolves

Although 2019 is only four short years in the rear view mirror, a lot can, and indeed has, happened in that brief amount of time. In the four years since their inception, WEREWOLVES have managed to churn out one fantastic album after another with a speed and reliability that many bands would struggle to do. Each of their first three albums has been stronger than the last, with little, if anything, in the way of filler contained on any of them, serving as a testament to the Australian trio’s undeniable musical chemistry and song-writing talents and making the art of creating monstrous and technical blackened death metal seem almost easy. The band’s fourth album, My Enemies Look And Sound Like Me, comes just 14 months since the release of its predecessor From The Cave To The Grave, and is yet another impressive effort full of exceptionally tight and ferocious death metal.

Under The Ground is a short sharp shock of a track that kicks things off in aggressive fashion, with angular guitars, punishing drums and domineering gutturals all creating a fast and feral sound that goes straight for the jugular as opposed to easing the listener in. The title track again combines intensity and precision, making this an extremely rabid slab of death metal with impressive, technical flourishes, with Sam Bean‘s caustic vocal barbs carving through the mix and adding a sinister edge to this incredibly focused and punchy offering. Bring To Me The Kill continues in a similar vein to the first two tracks, albeit with an emphasis placed upon weighty rhythms, although this song isn’t without its slick melodies which punctuate the muscular aural assault and provide lots of memorable moments, striking the perfect balance between catchiness and ferocity.

Brace For Impact leans heavily into the virtuosic prowess of Matt Willcock‘s leads, showing just how impressive he is as a riff writer. As the song progresses, the rest of the music rises to match the dizzying, unhinged guitars, embracing the band’s more chaotic side that feels completely unpredictable. Destroyer Of Worlds departs significantly from the established formula, with mid-paced thunderous drumming and ponderous, bleaker guitars crafting a dramatic, unnerving sound, with the subdued, whispering quality of the vocals likewise being a world removed in tone from the bellicose barks of the preceding numbers. Although the music does lurch gradually back towards bestial, meaty death metal, it never fully shakes off the brooding, eerie guitar work, making this a magnificently slow-burning affair.

Neanderhell reverts to the biting hooks and powerful style of the album’s earliest songs, with the energetic, frenetic bent coupled with visceral vocal performances to further cement this as a brutal juggernaut that pushes the unflinching speed and precision to new heights. I Hate Therefore I Am is one of the album’s highlights, with the chunky melodicism and machine gun battery of the drums developing a monstrous undercurrent upon which to apply searing vocals that take in acidic snarls and throaty growls. It’s not only one of the catchiest offerings on the album, but also its most eclectic within the confines of pure death metal.

I Knew Nothing Then And I Know Less Now embraces the rhythmic, grating style that made Bring To Me The Kill such an impactful song, peppering in jarring dissonance and again allowing the vocals to come to the fore, tempering one of the album’s more discordant efforts with a huge, rumbling focal point. Do Not Hold Me Back possesses a stringent sound, with everything from the vocals to the guitars having a leaner, sharper sound that discards the thicker, rhythmic guitars almost entirely and opts for a demented, feral style that manages to be incredibly focused without sacrificing the over-arching intensity. It’s a track that concludes matters on a note every bit as noxious as the one this album began on.

It’s very hard to think of a single band in recent memory that have been putting out top tier extreme metal with the frequency that WEREWOLVES have, and those in the know about the band might very well view the idea that the band’s newest album is yet another modern classic as an almost foregone conclusion. Each of their albums, this one included, lacks even one single bad song, and even their “weakest” tracks are merely not quite as good as the rest. The fact that the three men behind WEREWOLVES have featured in some of the most celebrated black and death metal acts of the last 20 years perhaps provides some explanation as to how this band are able to craft world class music so quickly, but the strength of their body of work even this early on is truly impressive to behold, with the musicianship on all fronts being magnificent. Will WEREWOLVES be able to keep this hot streak going with album number five? Well, it’s unlikely, but if the band’s prodigious output so far is anything to go by, we’ll only have to wait until next year to find out.

Rating: 9/10

My Enemies Look And Sound Like Me is set for release on August 11th via Prosthetic Records.

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