ALBUM REVIEW: War Remains – Enforced
Having blown down the door with 2021’s Kill Grid, Virginian crossover thrashers ENFORCED have been touted as one of the frontrunners to fill the void following the tragic loss of POWER TRIP‘s Riley Gale. The Texans’ potency for blending blistering thrash with the snarling bite of hardcore was a lethal cocktail on 2021’s effort, and now, intending to keep the pit surging comes War Remains.
Picking up right where Kill Grid left off, War Remains wastes no time in throwing down the gauntlet as a blistering salvo of thrashing riffs from Will Wagstaff and Zach Monahan inject adrenaline right from the get-go and Knox Colby‘s vocals sound as vicious as ever. It’s a frantic start and sets an immediate precedent for what you’re going to hear over the next thirty minutes: aural bedlam.
The Quickening lives up to its a namesake with riffs that swirl like a tornado and leave utter devastation in their wake; Hanged By My Hand is a head-banging good time as the chugging riffs intertwine with Colby‘s rapid-fire vocal snarls like a match made in heaven; and Mercy Killing Fields pulls straight from the SLAYER blueprint with some truly sinister-leading leads which helps cement the dark subject matter as Colby opens up to a personal trauma. This all feels like a more refined ENFORCED, utilising the template of their last studio outing to forge something just as thunderous.
Even in War Remains‘ latter stages, the intensity rarely dips as ENFORCED keep the punches flying, removing any notion of you catching your breath. Nation Of Fear boasts some hefty mid-tempo chug that just commands you to bang your head; Ultra-Violence is utterly thrashtastic as the band unleash a cacophony of scorching riffs and Alex Bishop pounds the drums to within an inch of their life; and album closer Empire croons with splendid grooves to end the record on a euphoric high. Whilst there is an argument here that what ENFORCED show across War Remains isn’t particularly breaking the mould, when it’s this good, we certainly aren’t complaining. Not. One. Bit.
Lean, mean and jam-packed full of killer moments, War Remains matches the stupidly high quality set by its predecessor and showcases a band that are really finding their groove. Their amalgamation of hardcore and thrash is as slick as it is utterly heavy and you can only imagine the pit surging when these songs are unleashed in a live setting. Granted, what ENFORCED do is not exactly revolutionary, but when the riffs are this good, there are few complaints. If you want to show someone a textbook example of heavy fucking metal, hand them this record.
Rating: 9/10
War Remains is set for release on April 28th via Century Media Records.
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