After my previous post I became fully committed to writing on here again and one of the first things I did once that blog entry went live was checking out the big box I used for the storage of physical submissions that were sent to me. Lots of work ahead!
Enemies - Framing Choices To Silence Our Voices (bandcamp page)
On today's repertoire we have "Enemies", a 5-piece hailing from Tampere, Finland. The band formed way back in 2011, "Framing Choices To Silence Our Voices" being their first recorded material in the following year. When I was introduced to the band I was told that they play "metallic hardcore" with other influences ranging from sludge, black metal and even grind.
Right off the bat, the band wastes no time on gentle introductions. The first track "Collar" grabs you with a choking start-stop rhythm which gives hints of something dystopian looming ahead. It tricks you with an impression that it will be a moody mid tempo song with a gradual buildup, but instead it takes an extreme turn that dramatically increases the speed. The rushing sounds hit you so hard and you instantly find yourself with increased blood pressure. I was hooked to their sound and I ended up listening to the opening track at least ten times before I finally moved to the rest of the album. This was going to be a great ride.
The following two songs keep you in this rushing vortex of angry sound. During all this I noticed how the instruments and the vocals compliment each other, since all the while it seemed to me like the screaming is just the perfect pitch and somehow overflows the instrumental section and ties it all together. This harmony changes a bit with "Set Back", the track stopping the previously mentioned rush and introduces a more sluggish, atmospheric tone where the vocals seem to be literally set back into the distance. It changes from an angry scream into a wail of sorts. The instrumental ambiance evolves and it paints a completely different kind of image in your head.
This whole release continually bounces between these two states, being superbly aggressive and fast, yet at other times brooding and ambiental. They manage to do an excellent job at both these incarnations and I like the fact that they manage to paint a clear picture of what they are about in the first half of the record. Even the dystopian elements previously mentioned turned out to be correct, since the band tackles some pretty bleak themes of the human condition in their lyrics. With all this in mind I completely let go and enjoyed the rest of the ride until the final tones of "In Ruins" died. That song is an utterly great finisher as it perfectly summarizes the entirety of the record, as if it compressed everything you heard previously into one epic 8 minute beast which trails off in the end and leaves you wanting more.
In terms of production, the album has a perfect combination of being both technical and raw, not too clean and not too dirty. "Framing Choices..." came out on CD and, aside of the awesome cover, the insert features more excellent artwork (all done by one of the band members, Veli) which sets an appropriate mood before you press play.
The years following this release saw "Enemies" put out several other recordings. I gave them a brief listen just to get an idea what is going on with their sound and you can almost instantly hear evolution in the way they play. I will definitely be checking out the rest of their discography and I would recommend the same to you. You can also get in touch with them via their Facebook page found here.
Last but not least, I'd like to thank Vesa and the rest of "Enemies" for being kind enough to send their CD towards me and for initially expressing interest in being featured on this blog. Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoyed the read!
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