Nostalgic For Enforcer

Ten years or so ago, the New Wave Of Traditional Metal was riding high, and near the top of it all was Enforcer. That band was melting faces all over the place, and I felt lucky to catch them on their From Beyond tour when they came through Massachusetts with Warbringer in 2016. By 2019, however, some fans turned on the band when they released their Zenith album. Enforcer were trying some new sounds and injecting a bit more melody, and while some people weren't having it, I still liked the record... although it does sit at the bottom of my album ranking for them and I could have done without the Regrets ballad. Enforcer felt the backlash and with the release of Nostalgia, and word from the band was that they were going to give the fans what they wanted with their new album this year.

I'm not going to lie, when I heard the first single for Nostalgia, my faith in this band was shook. It isn't a bad song, but for a record that was hailed as a return to form, I wanted them to come out of the gates storming, and the first single is a ballad? It did not inspire a lot of confidence. Still, I preordered the album, because it is fucking Enforcer and with their second single, Metal Supremacia, the band showed they could still bring the heat. Goddamn, that song fires me up and makes me hope they do another US tour because I would love to see this band again. Nostalgia is such a great record, and it is cool to see the band back and doing what they do best. You can bet that this record will be near the top of my favorites for 2023.

With the rainbow on the front cover, I took a chance on the multicolored splatter vinyl. As I expected, it didn't come out as nice as I'd hoped, but that's okay, it is still better than the metallic gold option. 800 pressed.

Die For The Devil

Next to the new Magic Circle record, I was damn excited for the new Enforcer. Enforcer are probably my favorite new metal band from the past 10 years, so I was beyond excited for a new record.

Just like the Magic Circle record, I had some high expectations with the new Enforcer album...and also like the Magic Circle album, I was underwhelmed when I first heard the new Enforcer. It wasn't terrible, but there were a few songs that really seemed to suck the energy and life out of it. Still, I loved the band so much, I wasn't going to give up on it that easily, and I kept going back to it. With repeat listens, there are some really great songs that stand out on this record, and while there are still a couple of clunkers on here, it isn't nearly as bad as I initially thought.

300 pressed on blue vinyl, which is obviously the way to go here, instead of that shitty looking silver vinyl.

Enforcer Live

In a couple of weeks, I should be making a roadtrip to see Enforcer play live. They are one of my favorite newer Metal bands, so I'm pretty excited to see them play. As a little taste of what's to come, I figured that I'd grab the new live album.

Let's not go cheap though, might as well dive in head first with the limited box set edition.

If this album is an accurate representation of what Enforcer can deliver live, that show in January is going to be a blast. So many fist-in-the-air anthems.

Blue colored vinyl is limited to the box set.

One of the big reasons that I was drawn to the box set edition of Live By Fire, was the exclusive 10 inch. What was I supposed to do, just get the regular vinyl pressing, and miss out on these three new songs? Get the fuck out of here with that nonsense.

Enforcer deliver once again. Heavy Metal...loud and proud.

In addition to the vinyl, this box set also includes a huge poster, a booklet with tons of photos spanning Enforcer's career, a hand numbered certificate, CD that includes a few extra songs that couldn't fit onto the vinyl pressing, plus a DVD of a show from Japan. Solid.

From Beyond

When I heard that there was going to be a new Enforcer record this year, I was beyond stoked. The band's last album, Death By Fire, quickly became one of my favorite records from 2013, and I was looking forward to the follow up this year.

I was prepared to dig into the savings account and waste my money on overseas shipping to get my hands on the more limited pressing, but thankfully Nuclear Blast has woken up to the fact that US dudes buy vinyl as well, and they had the clear vinyl available to preorder as an import from their North American disto. Awesome.

300 pressed on clear vinyl.

I was a little slow to warm up to this new album, but it has it's hooks in me now, and I can't get enough of it. Now, I listen to songs like Destroyer or Undying Evil, and I'm wondering what the hell took me so long to get into it. Absolutely killer.

Death By Enforcer

I started listening to Heavy Metal around '82, with AC/DC's For Those About To Rock being my first serious vinyl purchase. From there, things got heavier with Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance and Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind, and Metal music became my life through High School...in fact, my senior quote in our school's yearbook reads "If you're not a metalhead, you might as well be dead". I was rocking Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica t-shirts every day, and covering my books with band logos and angry Metal lyrics. I lived and breathed this music.

By the time the 90's came around, I was discovering bands like Judge and Insted, and I pretty much kicked Metal to the curb for the entire 90's decade. Around 2005, I decided to clean out my CD collection and toss out some of the crap that I'd managed to collect over the years. To help separate the trash from treasures, I came up with the "brilliant" idea to listen to every CD that I had in my collection. Given that I had a couple thousand of them, it was quite the undertaking, and it took me a couple of years to complete the project. During that time, and dusting off those old Metal CDs, I fell in love with that music from my youth all over again. From there I was inspired to dig into what the Metal scene was up to. Here we are in 2013...30 years after Metal music first took over my life...and while many people thought that this was just a fad, and something that I'd grow out of, I still get a bit of an adrenaline rush when I discover a great new Metal band. Long Live Heavy Metal.

Enforcer are from Sweden, but their new album, Death By Fire, sounds like it could have come out of Los Angeles back in 1985, and you would have found it in the vinyl bin alongside bands like Malice, Laaz Rockit and Lizzy Borden. Goddamn, I love this music.

I'm giving serious thought to placing this album at the number one spot on my Best of 2013 list. This album is a blast to listen to, and makes me want to dig out the denim and create a battle vest like Doug.

Sure, I had less expensive options on buying this album, and could have picked up the black vinyl from a US distro, but I felt that this album was worth the extra effort. Overseas shipping be damned...I ordered the limited version from Nuclear Blast Germany.

Hand numbered and limited to 150 on blue vinyl.