Enabler

All Hail The Void

While it might seem like Beard Rock has become the official mouthpiece for Southern Lord, we're actually just more of an obsessed fan. With Greg Anderson's face tattooed on our collective chest, we await each SL offering and coo over it pathetically - and unfortunately this review isn't about to break that cycle. Enabler have arrived with their debut 'All Hail The Void', twelve tracks of crusty orgasmic fury straight from the USA. It's so good that you'd almost think it was Scandinavian, almost - think Skitsystem (supporting the band on the Swedish dates of their upcoming tour), Kvelertak, or Martyrdod; any band comfortable with the hurried ringing riffs of black metal piercing through hissing drums, blast beats and occasional breakdowns; third track 'Fuck Today' will raise the hairs on the seam of your balls with its sudden and stomach-churning change in tempo.

The title track has a wonderfully persistent riff that is precision engineered to resonate at optimum headbanging frequency, and the whole album has been precisely engineered to deliver the greatest thrills live. The song itself comes into its own when the tempo picks up for the sing-along chorus, showing some definite hardcore roots as it does so. At times they sound a lot like criminally underrated (and unexpected stars of last year's Supersonic Festival) Brummie crust band Selfless.

'No Deliverance' changes tack slightly, pushing the band into a thrashier direction, like a less party-orientated Municipal Waste or the now-defunct zombie-thrash legends Send More Paramedics. It's hammering riff is Dick Dale on bath salts, and is all the better for it. Another strong point is the lyrics, which is rare for crusty hardcore. 'Save Yourself's refrain of "I have nothing to offer/you should save yourself" is a perfect ending to the track, and 'Funeral Dirge' ends the album with a brutal two-and-a-bit minute blast of helter-skelter riffs that suddenly, without warning, just end. Fantastic.

#Albums #Crust #Enabler #Hardcore #Metal #Southern Lord #Rob Batchelor