Some of you are probably looking at the headline of this review and thinking, “it’s 2010, why in the world are they posting a review of an EP that originally came out in 2008.” The answer is quite simple, really. Enemy Reign flat-out slays, and their self-financed debut Means to a Dead End deserves the undivided attention of extreme metal fans regardless of what year it was released in. If you’re looking for a short, sharp, shock of unmitigated brutality, look no further than this sleeper release.
Featuring ex-Skinless throat-shredder Sherwood Webber as well as Sick Drummer Magazine co-creator Andon Guenther behind the skins, Enemy Reign has metallic cred in spades and are more than able to back it up throughout Means to a Dead End’s all-too-brief twenty minute duration. Elements of Webber’s former outfit can be heard within Enemy Reign’s ultra-violent attack, (particularly the From Sacrifice to Survival era) a pummelling, razor-sharp all-out assault to the senses. Although there is plenty of down-tuned chugging, as well as a few neck-snapping breakdowns, don’t be fooled into thinking that Means to a Dead End even remotely resembles what’s being labeled as deathcore by the metal media at large. What we have here is head-crushing, face-smashing, slamming death metal in the vein of Dying Fetus, Devourment and early Suffocation.
In fact, the music here is basically the audial equivalent of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket kicking the living crap out of you, all the while hurling an endless stream of verbal abuse. Every track on this EP is begging for bruised ribs, black eyes and broken limbs. If you’re looking to wage war in the mosh pit, you could do a hell of a lot worse than songs like “Command” and “Throw Myself to the Wolves”. There is a sense of visceral physicality coursing through the musical veins of Means to Dead End that most bands attempting to ply this style either sorely lack, or simply don’t have the songwriting chops to replicate.
When I wrote the rough draft of this review, I thought it a crime that this band remains without a recording contract, while a seemingly endless stream of undeserving toddlers who don’t know the meaning of “paying the dues” are running around touring the world and headlining over hardworking veteran acts. However, a few days later I got an e-mail that the band had signed to Neurotic Records (who will be re-issuing Means to a Dead End in 2010), which means hopefully Enemy Reign will be putting their musical fists in a lot more faces very soon.
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