Enemy of Thought
Self Titled
3.8
Man, sometimes a review drops itself right into your lap. Here we have a band hailing from one of metal’s ancestral seats—Liverpool—who’ve tagged themselves with a name that perfectly summarizes their sound. They describe their style as “the flesh of the seventies, the bones of the eighties, the blood of the nineties, and the skin of right now,” which apparently translates to a mass of hardrock clichés that does indeed cover the promised thirty-year span. This self-titled EP-type release sounds like it could’ve been jammed out in an hour by four completely average butt rockers devoid of concern for originality or charm. It is, in short, thoughtless.
The band’s name? Enemy of Thought. Hah. This shit is too easy.
Well, the singer’s on key and there aren’t really any huge technical failings that I noticed, but other than that this disc is a completely joyless listen. From the sub-Bon Jovi ‘anthems’ (“I Am,” “Ever Again,” “Who the Hell Are You”) to the sub-Scorpions ballads (“MGI,” “Purest Form”) to vocalist Chris Adams’ often-hilarious lyrics to the stock guitar lines and lifeless rhythm section, everything about Enemy of Thought is below average. “I Am” features an incredibly out-of-date arena rock riff and then pairs it with a chorus that tries so hard to soar that I can virtually see Adams hopping up and down and flapping his arms during the recording, and it’s one of the album’s stronger cuts. Enemy of Thought’s attempts at more modern aggression are even less inspired; “You Don’t Hear” kicks off with a afterthought electronica squiggle before launching into a lovely high-school-Staind-cover-band chord progression, all while Adams caterwauls about the ending drawing near or whatever other vaguely apocalyptic garbage. Bleh. Even the drummer sounds bored.
I could continue, but I don’t have any interest in punishing this band further. Enemy of Thought indeed.
