St. Louis-based alt-metal outfit Inimical Drive drops a new EP today, August 21, entitled Enemy. Enemy is the band’s first album since 2012’s Signal of Sirens, and their first new material since 2017.
The band’s lack of productivity came about inadvertently, through a confluence of unforeseen variables.
Vocalist Joel Colby told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Kevin C. Johnson, “We had so many complications since we started the EP: the passing of the first producer (Matt Amelung of Encapsulated Studios) and two band changes. We started teasing the EP around Christmas, saying new music was coming. Then, boom, 2020 comes, and it’s, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”
After a couple of shake-ups, the band’s lineup includes: Joel Colby (vocals), Nick Blackburn(guitar), Dan Winter (baass), Rich Kriete (guitar), and Zach Moiser (drums).
Talking about the EP, Colby shares, “While there’s no particular theme to this EP, it is incredibly relatable and I think the listener will feel the emotion in each song. The heavy is all there on Enemy, but we also wanted to make the music accessible without thinking too hard about the process. Everything on the EP was written amongst close friends, hanging out in the studio, with zero agenda and all just before the pandemic hit. The time is right to release this into the world; this is a reminder of how heavy music connects us all.”
Enemy encompasses five tracks, of which two were produced and mixed by Matt Amelung, prior to his passing, with the rest produced by Jack C. Daniels.
The EP begins with “Reckoning,” opening on blistering guitars atop a pummeling rhythm, while Colby’s snarling voice rages overhead, infusing the lyrics with ferocious energy. The chorus mousses up to include powerful harmonies projecting a wall of surging coloration.
“Sacrifice” delivers dark searing textures of alt-metal riding Moiser’s finessed, yet Jovian drums, propelling the harmonics relentlessly forward. The title track slows things down, featuring a gleaming guitar-filled intro rolling into a melodic, almost orchestral melody, before adding hefty guitars,, launching the song into deliciously thick, glistening layers of sound.
“From The Ground” travels on a rumbling, muscular melody chock-full of growling guitars, vaguely reminiscent of FFDP. Colby struts his tasty vocals, melodic and rich, on this track. The final track, “Nothing Less,” hits hard, centering on viciously stuttering guitars topping an attacking rhythm.
On Enemy, Inimical Drive turns it loose! This is a grand EP, rife with brawny, weighty dynamics on all five tracks. Definitely one of the best EPs of the year.
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