Enforced - War Remains (2023)

In many ways, War Remains just feels like a Part II of Kill Grid from 2021. The black & white cover artwork from Joe Petagno, which is cool but not as amazing as what he came up with for the previous album. The overall aesthetics continue to explore a more purely brutal thrash sound, although I think there are a couple moments here which offer a slight throwback to the awesome crossover of the debut. The lyrics aren't all warlike, as the title might imply, but you get that same impression of battlefield thrash that reminds one of Sodom, or maybe war/death metal bands like Frozen Soul and Bolt Thrower, despite the difference in genre. One difference here, that nudges this ahead of Kill Grid, is that the production feels a more more powerful, dynamic and vibrant, losing some of the dryness and bleakness I felt there.

Same crew, they just really get a mix here that fleshes out the guitars and gives Knox Colby's vocals a lot more of a gut punch. The drums sound heavier, the riffs all have much more impact even though they're not structured with any more nuance or technicality than those from a few years before. War Remains sounds like a blend of Exodus mid-paced material, sans their guitar tone, Sodom's speed and those viral evil melodic Slayer breakdowns that turned Reign in Blood into a household name. When they roil out some faster tremolo picked riffs you get a little more death/thrash ("Avarice", or the grown in the title track), and the leads are well written and more memorable here than on the sophomore. Everything is performed with pinpoint accuracy, but it by no means sounds technical or over-polished, just written and delivered for maximum neckbreaking impact, and if you're just newly getting into thrash or seeking out an example of contemporary production and effectiveness, this is one to track down.

But while I think it's a very good album, a little better than Kill Grid, Enforced still doesn't have the same distinct qualities that so many my favorite 80s thrash acts did. Whether you were just into the 'Big Four' or 'Big Three' of that era, or even exploring the second and third tiers of the genre, there were scores of bands that really stood out vocally and musically. Like a lot of their peers, this just comes off a gestalt of repurposed ideas performed and recorded at a highly professional level. The execution is unquestionable, but the personality isn't quite as present as their more hybrid debut album, and although you'll catch me nodding if not outright banging my head throughout the runtime experience of this, it's not one where I can pick out a lot of songs of riffs after its over. Now that they've established this sound so well, it wouldn't hurt to hear some progression or ideas out of left field.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (Olive branches build the arrows)

https://enforced.bandcamp.com/