Enlow
The Recovery
4.2
Here’s generic and underwhelming example of the sort of Hot Topic, punk clashes with metalcore and screamo, undecided metal in the vein of Bullet For my Valentine, Calico System, A Day to Remember, Above This Fire, He Is Legend, Twentyinchburial and countless others. So that means some screaming, some semi-singing, some gang chants, some melodies, verse/chorus structures, some breakdowns and some eyeliner or maybe a sweater.
The thing is, while they do their thing within the expected catchy vices of the genre, the production kills this and limits its already hindered sound. Even as tolerant as I am of this kind of stuff, Oklahoma’s Enlow just are not as polished or memorable as their peers.
There’s just not enough high quality moments of each genre cliché to make this album very enjoyable; the breakdowns are weakly rendered, the melodies are generic and the vocals are pained hardcore shouts and the expected whines, even for a tired, clichéd genre I’ve heard much better. At least the bands mentioned in the first paragraph have a few lively, memorable riffs or tracks to warrant listening, with Enlow, I just can’t say anything too positive to take away from it. If forced to pick a standout, “Taking Chances” has a decent main riff but is ruined by the vocals, while “In the Face on Uncertainty” seems to be the album’s burliest track, but truth be told, I wish the singer and indeed the band would follow their own advice of the chorus for the more screamo whine of “Confronting the Malice Tongue” (“Just Shut your Mouth”).
To their credit though, there’s no ballad or interludes and acoustics, as the band pretty much spin kick and gyrate through 9 songs of their chosen style with admitted energy and conviction, but little or no lasting effect. The weak production takes a lot of the blame, and though I can see the plausibility of going for a non-cookie cutter sound, the song writing doesn’t make up for a rough and ready, more raw sound.
This is a resounding miss from a band that had three years from their debut to improve.
