Coerced Into Battle

Enemy Mine

Written by: PP on 08/12/2008 21:09:57

34 minutes of ear-piercing metalcore/thrash fusion is what Coerced Into Battle offers on their debut album "Enemy Mine", and while that definitely isn't anything new under the sun, it certainly isn't bad at all. The record as a whole is as brutal as it's enjoyable, it's just the type of record you'd wanna put on at late night to get that much needed energy boost for another hour of low limit online poker (at least to the undersigned).

Coerced Into Battle comes with an unusually coarse vocalist whose lungs sound like they're about to be punctured any minute now from his reckless bark, the type that's barely decipherable but doesn't really fall under the growl category either. There's only so much of his vampire-like voice you can take at a time though, and the band realizes this as well, hence the instrumental interludes about every two or three songs or so ("The Addictions Dirge" parts 1 and 2) to give the listener a slight pause. It's not that he's a bad vocalist, because I enjoy his thoroughly punishing style of delivery, but he certainly contributes to the homogeneous sound of the record overall. One could argue that there are numerous styles present here--hardcore in the form of the vocalist's yelled bark, thrash in the speed bursts, and deathcore in the pummeling bass and drums--but since that fusionist approach is present on more or less every song, it's hard to point out the excellent on more than a couple of tracks overall. While the expression is thick, solid and all that sort of words (though not necessarily creative), and the riffs and leads are great in places, it's difficult to identify with most of the songs, but should I mention a few examples of highlights, I'd have to go for the screechy opening yell of "Erase The Mind" or the catchy "THE SYSTEM WILL NOT SAVE US" screams, which stand out as a genuine surprise in the second last song on the record, the one carrying the same title.

As is almost always the case with these type of albums, it's been done before, and it's been done better. Disregarding the previous sentence though, "Enemy Mine" still is by no means a bad record. It triumphs in it's coarse vocal delivery and melodic (but not catchy) deathcore/death metal guitar lines, but not enough to warrant a higher rating than

Download: Erase The Mind, The System Will Not Save Us
For the fans of: Demise Of Eros, The Abandonment, The Black Dahlia Murder
Listen: Myspace

Release date 07.11.2008
Rising Records

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