By Jason Wellwood
Enforcer, Sweden’s NWOBHM contenders have returned with their third album, Death By Fire. Enforcer have moved out of the hard rock/glam feel of the previous albums into speed metal, which suits them very well. It’s tricky to do ‘old school’ with modern production but Enforcer manage to pull it off without falling for the ‘Just make everything as loud as possible’ mistakes of modern music. You can hear the little nuances in the bass playing, the intricacies of the guitar duels (seriously, just listen to that battle in the middle of ‘Run For Your Life’ with headphones on!) and there is a lot of breathing room in the songs. That is thanks in part to the production but it definitely has a lot to do with the abilities of the players. Olof taking over on guitar has definitely added something and his vocals this time around hit an upper range many of his 70’s heroes could only dream of! Maybe having to play and sing has also forced the band to speed up? Whatever it is, it definitely works!
The song writing on Death By Fire is good, but not stellar however the band is so damn fun and enthusiastic that they more than make up for it. This is a great record to listen to loud over your speakers or even better, on vinyl with your headphones on.
(Nuclear Blast)
