Full Album Stream: Enforcer: Death By Fire – new album

 

The new ENFORCER album, ‘Death By Fire’, out February 1st, 2013 through Nuclear Blast Records, can be streamed in its (dare I write speed metal?) early heavy metal entirety here, exclusively at Terrorizer's. ‘Death By Fire’ art was created by illustrator and graphic designer as well as guitarist Jonathan Hultèn (“Necromantic Art”). Get yourselves a free ‘Mesmerized By Fire’ MP3 here (courtesy Nuclear Blast), watch ‘Mesmerized By Fire’ video, directed by Gustav Öhman Spjuth and produced by Barth Production, below and buy the album here (Nuclear Blast store):

“We write all music for the vinyl format and a normal LP can never be longer than 19 minutes on each side without losing sound quality,” [explained the less than 40-minute long record guitarist and vocalist Olof Wikstrand] None of my favorite records are longer than 39 minutes anyway. It’s the perfect length both in that sense as well as keeping up an interest from the listener throughout the whole record. The record is made for listening to as an entirety and when it’s over the listener should be craving for more, not less. We don’t write any fillers. We decided to do the ultimate ENFORCER record rather than trying to break new grounds. Take all elements [strong melodies, outstanding riffs and powerful voice] that make us stand out from all other bands of today  and exaggerate it 1000 times.”

Formed in 2004 “while the rest of the metal world was busy trying to reinvent the wheel” (by Gregory Heaney, AllMusic – more here) , in “far away from everything” Arvika, Sweden, ENFORCER embraced heavy metal's past first with ‘Evil Attacker’ demo they issued in 2005 and then with debut album ‘Into The Night’ which came out in 2008:

“They’ve got energy and talent to spare - their songs have catchy melodies, memorable choruses, fluid guitar solos, and dynamics. There’s even a churning instrumental for when vocalist Olof Wikstran's piercing wail gets tiring. And it’s easy to argue that metal, being one of rock's most formalist genres, doesn’t require bands to bring anything genuinely new to the table. They just have to do what they do well, and they can be as retro as the STRAY CATS [early-'80s rockabilly revival group] - fans will headbang wildly nonetheless. So taken at face value, and not as some kind of ironic joke at the expense of early-'80s metal (which they’re clearly not), yeah, ENFORCER kinda kill it. And while it’s easy to hope young listeners will encounter their work and be tempted to investigate the bands that pioneered this sound decades earlier, ‘Into The Night’ stands on its own,” [wrote Phil Freeman, AllMusic – more here]

Their pure metal record, standing in the tradition of acts such as EXCITER, AGENT STEEL and ANVIL, took ENFORCER on tours through Europe and the United States and brought invitations to perform at festivals such as Sweden Rock festival. ENFORCER wrote the follow up record in 2009, and recorded it with renowned Swedish producer Rikard Lofgren. Described as “pure escapist pleasure” by Phil Freeman, AllMusic (more here), ‘Diamonds’ was released in 2010 on Earache Records in Europe and Heavy Artillery Records in North America.

ENFORCER features: Olof Wikstrand – vocals and guitar, Jonas Wikstrand – drums, Joseph Tholl – guitar and Tobias Lindkvist – bass