By Andrew Bansal
Stepping into the second decade of their career, Swedish traditional heavy metal warriors Enforcer are ready with the follow-up to their captivating third studio full-length ‘Death By Fire’ which was released in 2013. The new creation ‘From Beyond’ has already been unveiled in Europe and the UK via Nuclear Blast, and awaits its April 7 US release on the same label. ‘Death By Fire’ is undeniably one of the finest efforts to have graced the genre in recent times and counts as a crucial contribution to the revival and conservation of the continuously diminishing realm of clean-singing heavy metal. Enforcer had a task-and-a-half on their hands, carrying the burden of their own creative achievements. But fans and followers had a feeling they would live up to the standards they’ve set, and with ‘From Beyond’, it appears that they have done so.
The vocal delivery, the guitar riffs, the harmonies, and the rhythmic variations from song to song as well as within each song, have been components of Enforcer’s strong suit from day one. On ‘From Beyond’, these qualities are even further refined, as frontman Olof Wikstrand leads the quartet with exemplary delivery on vocals and guitar. The catchiness of the melodies is supreme, as is evident straightaway on the opening tune ‘Destroyer’ (whose YouTube version with the compressed audio quality definitely does not do it full justice), the gold-like second track ‘Undying Evil’, and perhaps the catchiest of them all, the title track itself. The speed aspect is certainly maintained throughout the album, but in addition, tracks like ‘Below The Slumber’, ‘Farewell’ and ‘Mask Of Red Death’ with their dark undertones and well-orchestrated tempo changes showcase the variety in Enforcer’s songwriting and can be deemed as the best efforts on ‘From Beyond’. With that said, there truly is no dull or filler moment on this 42-minute slab of heavy delight, whether it be the instrumental ‘Hungry They Will Come’ which serves as a continuation of Enforcer’s throwback and salute to Iron Maiden’s early days of incorportaing an instrumental track on every album, or headbanger gasoline containers like ‘One With Fire’, ‘The Banshee’ and ‘Hell Will Follow’.
The previous album ‘Death By Fire’ set the standard in terms of production, stood tall as the best-produced metal album of recent years, and ‘From Beyond’ follows the same ethos. The clarity of the vocals, the power of the drums and bass, the lucidity of the guitar arrangements, and most importantly, the prominence of the mid-range at high volumes which is so commonly missing from most modern-day albums, makes ‘From Beyond’ second to none for its listenability. The album achieves maximum output on all formats mp3, CD and vinyl, and for true connoisseurs of the genre, is best listened to with headphones on.
The world of heavy metal will be extremely hard-pressed to come up with an album better than Enforcer’s ‘From Beyond’, in 2015 or any time in the near future.
Rating: 10/10
Related: Interview: Enforcer Frontman Talks About New Album ‘From Beyond’ & More
Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Dates:
February 27th 2015 (Europe)
March 2nd 2015 (UK)
April 7th 2015 (USA)
Track Listing:
01. Destroyer
02. Undying Evil
03. From Beyond
04. One With Fire
05. Below The Slumber
06. Hungry They Will Come
07. The Banshee
08. Farewell
09. Hell Will Follow
10. Mask Of Red Death
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