Enforcer - Diamonds

April 25, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Release Date: May 24th, 2010   
Label: Heavy Artillery Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Midnight Vice
2.  Roll the Dice
3.  Katana
4.  Running in Menace
5.  High Roller
6.  Diamonds
7.  Live for the Night
8.  Nightmares
9.  Walk With Me
10.  Take Me to Hell

Total playing time: 39:28

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*Comments:

Stepping away from the black/thrash/death arenas is sometimes a welcome release, especially when you’re taken back to your extreme youth (in my case that would be the years between 1977-81 when Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Rainbow, Ozzy and Sabbath ruled my musical roost). I’m immediately taken back to where it all began for me, when melody and high vocals reigned supreme. When done without penchant for over-dramatization, that early heavy metal can be a fun trip back in time.

Sweden’s Enforcer issues its second full-length titled Diamonds, which immediately assaults our memory bank with the opening track “Midnight Vice,” which sounds like it was right off the first Maiden album. For a newer band, these guys must have some pretty diverse backgrounds and influences, because everything from Maiden to Diamond Head to the obscure Paralex is represented here. If you were to pop this music on at some gathering of old-timers like myself and ask the collective what NWOBHM outfit this was, the rambling and guessing would most likely never end and garner some intricate, interesting answers; the music is so indicative and reminiscent of that period I’d never have guessed they were a current outfit creating such great music. Now this is old-school!

Vocalist Olof Wikstrand might well resemble a youthful Sean Harris or a Kevin Heybourne (Angel Witch); he has the perfect melodic delivery for such an undertaking, and the amazing thing is these guys are from Sweden, where in recent years nothing but black metal seems to get the attention of the metal underground. It’s refreshing to see a band step out from under that dark mesh veil and play some good old-fashioned metal music that you can groove to and enjoy like a fine Tygers of Pan Tang reissue. Sweden is proving to be known for much more than ABBA, Opeth and the black metal movement, and this is proof-positive in nearly forty-minutes of excellent heavy metal.

Some of the standouts here include “Roll the Dice,” “High Roller,” and “Live for the Night,” an especially Diamond Head-heavy track. I’m sure you’ll not find fault anywhere on this CD; the production is top-notch, leaps above the primitive sound of the NWOBHM era we’re used to and love. Of course the technology we have some thirty years post-invasion is leaps-and-bounds over what was available then, but the charm is not lost in the updating and polishing. The passion and fun melodies throughout these tracks are welcome additions to my personal subconscious after an endless sea of death and black metal to sedate me over the last few weeks.

Though I love my caustic black and death metal, the steps back in time, however current the band, makes for a fine Sunday afternoon jaunt backwards. Diamonds is a great vehicle for that trip, so I urge you to take it.