Enabler’s sophomore release All Hail The Void should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the band as an upping of the ante for the Hardcore/Metal crossover genre. Given the band’s collection of previous efforts including Trap Them, Today is the day, Shai Hulud and Fall Out Boy (I don’t reference this ironically ((I actually like them (((OH, WHATEVER)))))) Enabler have always had a lot to live up to in order to surpass even the least cynical of critics. Laying down what would be the foundations of their sound with 2011’s Year One the prolific band are back a year later with 12 more songs of furious punk sentiment and heavy production.
Steaming straight in, after a brief moment of acoustic guitars, the record lays comfortably between the early crossover efforts of the 80’s and the more technical aspects commonly found in the 90’s staple, invoking touches from bands such as Deadguy, Converge and Coalesce, leaving behind the more predictable and often draining restrictions offered by the punk/trash genre. “Fath”’s inventive use of the one chord breakdown earns Enabler smoke signals early into the record as a warning that this won’t be a simple journey and as the tracks progress, mixing the southern rock riffery of “Speechless” whilst offsetting with the uber-melodic “True Love” the band’s scope continues to keep anyone simply breezing through the album engaged throughout.
Whilst the songs reach a longer length than their debut Enabler have learnt some lessons in pace, ostensibly scaling back on the spectrum of influences and focussing on producing a far more tight and hermetic record of sharp-bladed hardcore with no threat of them dragging their feet. Giving only the listener a fighting chance of a breath during the album’s mid-point “They Live, We Sleep” bringing their sound back down to sludge pace before accelerating into screams of “You have no respect for living life. You’re never wrong; you’re always right”. Clocking in at just less than 35 minutes All Hail The Void’s attention to detail in both ferocity and dynamic are what keep the album from lapsing into mundane monotony.
Although the band has just returned from an all star cast of a tour with fellow Southern Lord-ers Black Breath as well as Swedish crust lords Martyrdöd expect to see Enabler thrashing through your neck of the woods soon.
All Hail The Void is currently available on Halo Of Flies Records, Creator Destructor and Southern Lord in the US and Phobiact in Europe.
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