ENEMY LOGIC - review added 26th August 2010
Album Review: Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind (2010)
For fans of: Metalcore... and scary blokes in suits
Enemy Logic - James on bass and vocals, Dan on drums, Sean on guitar and keyboard, and Des on guitar - is a four-piece metalcore act from Cork in Ireland. The band started in 2002, initially with the name Windfall. Back then they played more of a hard rock style.
The debut Enemy Logic album “Bones As Armour” came out in August 2009. "Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind" is the follow-up, and really builds upon and improves the benchmarks set by that first release. Where the debut was thunderously heavy and perhaps a tad muggy, BOTBM is more thoughtful in its approach, still heavy but with the anger being applied more sparingly. It makes for a much more accessible album.
Enemy Logic compare their sound not only with European metalcore acts such as The Sorrow, Caliban, and Heaven Shall Burn...and melodic death metal acts like Arch Enemy and Soilwork...but other genres like modern American deathcore, hardcore, and old school thrash. That sums them up pretty well. Their style has plenty of variety in it, and they certainly don't get stuck repeating the same tired breakdown or clichéd vocal splurge again and again.
Performance-wise, BOTBM is more than competent. There's little that had me falling off my chair with amazement, but the consistency of the vocals, rhythms and guitar trickery puts many supposedly big bands to shame. Unfortunately the album doesn't have that many massive standout tracks, but as a whole it's a surprisingly cohesive monster. If I was forced at knifepoint to pick a best entry, I'd go for the semi-symphonic 'Dual Diagnosis', but only for fear of body-holes.
"Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind" has a suspicious album cover and few individual great tracks, but taken in one hit it's very easy to love. Enemy Logic could definitely do with a beastly anthem to get themselves properly noticed, but as far as albums go this ain't 'alf bad.
Check out... The album cover. Great or not...?
Track List:
01. The Iron Law
02. Final Movement
03. Heart of Stone
04. The Savage Mind
05. Distorted Process
06. Dual Diagnosis
07. Fall of the Sun
08. Hostile Hallucination
09. Vengeance Served Cold
10. Endless Life
Artist's website(s): Enemy Logic | MySpace
