Can you find the hidden Enemy?
Double bass drum beats, grunting vocals, thrash riffs! Finally there is something fresh in the UK metal scene. Surrey metallers, Enemy Unknown are a group a youngsters blending inspiration from bands like Slayer, Metallica, Iron Maiden and even Joe Satriani, at times. With a slowly rising UK metal scene formed of bands like Panic Cell, Fourwaykill and Forever Never, could Enemy Unknown become as well established as these acts? I think so.
The album itself which is titled 'Alert Status : RED' is a prime example of modern thrash metal, it almost sounds like the bastard child of metal legends Slayer or Testament but with added complexity to the music, even occasionally sounding like Death. The album itself is quite varied, one minute we are falling headfirst into a deadly collision of brutal thrash metal and the next we are listening to a ballad that wouldn't sound out of place on Metallica's 'The Black Album'. From the brutality of 'Feel the Burn' to the emotional intro of 'Hatred Of Youth', to 'Terrorista' which has obviously been influenced by Napalm Death's 'You Suffer' which clocks in at just 1 second, this album is quite solid all the way through.
This writer does however, have a few bones to pick with this album. It seems as though the band have trouble keeping time occasionally on the more complex tracks, especially drummer Steve Ebsworth, who may be trying too hard to sound complex. It also sounds like the band has gone for the cheap deal at the local studio and therefore the production is pretty poor, however the album content manages to make up for this.
'Alert Status: Red' is to put it simply is a good album, nothing more, nothing less. It's not amazing but it certainly is not bad, if you are a fan of Metallica, Annihilator, Slayer, Nuclear Assault and more, and are searching low and high to find some new Thrash metal, then Enemy Unknown are certainly the band for you.