ENFORCER "Zenith"

ENFORCER

“Zenith”

ENFORCER has been leading the charge for classic 80’s metal longer than most. They should know by now that their strength is in fast, snappy speed metal with screaming leads. That’s when they’re at their best. On "Zenith", we get too much other material and not all of it is good. The album resembles their second effort "Diamonds" where they tried to diversify but didn’t make the mark.

This album opens with the anthemic ‘Die For The Devil’ and not only does the song title sound like it belongs on a STRYPER album, but the music does, too. Punchy hair metal riffs and melodic verses. Olof Wikstrand’s vocals are sweeter and more saccharine than ever. Despite this, the song is still kind of fun. But when ENFORCER hits the gas on ‘Searching For You’ and ‘Thunder and Hell’, they blow the roof off. These are speed metal scorchers that will fry your eyebrows off and definitely show where the band excels.

The other tunes are a very mixed bag. “Sail On” is kind of a cool melodic rocker while ‘End of the Universe’ is a pounding mid-paced tune. ‘Regrets’ is a pure AOR ballad that is pretty embarrassing. Believe me, guys, nobody picks up ENFORCER hoping to hear this kind of material. Other songs like ‘One Thousand Years in Darkness’, ‘Forever We Worship The Dark’ and ‘Ode to Death’ are average and uninvolving.

These guys are still capable of great albums and I’m hoping we get some in the future, but "Zenith" is not what I’d call killer unless you like middle of the road metal.

NUCLEAR BLAST

ENFORCER