Enemy Inside - ‘Seven’ - album review.
Enemy Inside – Seven (ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records)
I’m always a sucker for a female fronted band and this new release from Enemy Inside is no exception to the rule. Seven is the first release since their debut album in 2018 and it was definitely worth the three-year wait to get some new content from the German five-piece. The album opens with Crystallize, which was the first taste we got of this new sound. It incorporates heavy guitar with electronic elements seamlessly. The next track Alien has an unbelievably bouncy riff at its core, and it builds up to a breakdown with aggressive vocals, yet again incorporating electronic sounds to enhance the driving beat. The vocal harmonies throughout this album create an unusually haunting and eerie atmosphere in what’s otherwise upbeat instrumentals.
Nastassja Giulia’s vocals remind me an awful lot of Evanescence’s Amy Lee. A prime example of this is Break Through; a slower piano ballad that seems oddly placed within the album, but it shows us the range of their skills as musicians and songwriters. For me, I don’t particularly believe that it belongs as a part of this album, yet I can appreciate why they may have included it. In My Blood sounds an awful lot like Hybrid Theory era Linkin Park, in the absolute best way. Something about it makes me feel oddly nostalgic and was a nice surprise after the previous song. Bulletproof and Dynamite show the band’s skill set within electronic music. The synths that carry both intros don’t seem out of place, no matter how much of an odd choice they may seem during your first listen.
The title track, Seven, is my immediate favourite. It has all the best elements of the album and their entire sound melded into one. Haunting melodies, chunky guitar riffs, and an aggressive breakdown that made me go ‘oooooooooh’. It’s a song that instantly made me nod my head along to the beat with its bouncy opening riff and use of a guitar scale most people would just describe as ‘exotic’ - you’ll see exactly what I mean when you hear it – that enhances the entire instrumental. The next track, Black And Gold, is also a slow one. I’m glad they split up the softer songs - even if this one doesn’t stay soft for very long with the addition of distorted guitar. Still though, I think it doesn’t really have a place within the album – wherever they put the slower songs, they would seem completely out of place because of the sound of the rest of the album, but again I can appreciate what they were trying to do.
Seven finishes off with a cover of Jennifer Paige’s Crush. Its oddly satisfying to hear what was originally an upbeat pop song become its much darker, depressed younger sibling. It's one of the best ‘rock’ covers I've heard in recent years and should be the leading example to show those ‘Pop Goes Punk’ albums exactly what they should be going for. They’ve completely reworked the song and made it their own, and still left it recognisable as a version of the original – exactly what a cover should be. It’s the perfect end to a near-perfect album.
8/10
