Enabler
War Begins With You EP
(Volatile Recordings)
www.myspace.com/volatilerecordings
Enabler hails out of the winter wonderland that is Milwaukee, Wisconsin and I had a chance to catch their set last week at Churchill's after Steven Blush's presentation on his book, American Hardcore: A Tribal History at Sweat Records. And while I'm not entirely sure as to what it is these young men are enabling (perhaps the continued consumption of cheese with a blind eye towards cholesterol levels?) I do know that their brand of power-violence, tinged with thrash-metal and hardcore comes straight out of the mid-90's. That's a good thing.
Opener "The Fury Inside" does enough in its minute and change to open the window into the fury that drives these guys, imagine the gloomy atmosphere of Doom, the rage of Assfort and the Devil-may-care attitude of Code 13. This is followed by "No Love No Hope No Fear" before ending the A-side with the political title track. On the flip they go completely off the reservation with a sped-up cover of the Beastie Boys' "Heart Attack Man" that does all parties involved justice. The EP closes with the epic "Symbiosis" (at 2:23, their longest track!) and there's a feeling of satisfaction for fans of the genre.
Comprised of Jeff Lohrber on vocals and guitar, Brian Serzynski on drums, Bubba on bass and Ben Willkommen on guitar, there will be a likely comparison to His Hero is Gone and Laceration though these dudes take the prize in smelling infinitely better than the aforementioned outfits. I could very easily see this having come out on HG Fact, 625 or even Satan's Pimp Records back in the day but I'm glad to see that power-violence flag still waving. They have a full-length out on Fuck City Records (LP) and Halo of Flies Records (cassette) that I'll pick up soon.
It will be keen to note that the EP comes in an attractive sleeve, delicious marbled purple wax and contained a sticker and button as well as a download card for the whiny bitches that insist on having this on an iPod and not a turntable. Good effort. Let 'em continue enabling.
