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Album Reviews : Enabler – La Fin Absolue Du Monde

By on July 2, 2014

a4265604240_2Enabler are beautifully crusty, melodically noisy and delicately brutal. For all the appearance of grime and fuzz, there’s just the perfect hint of thoughtful song writing underneath, like the bad guy with a heart of gold from that movie I saw that time.

The album is “fucking unrelenting” (that’s a technical term), with each song and the album overall not overstaying its welcome. It’s full of d-beats and big riffs, but manages to break up the monotony with some good ol’ down-tempo headbangers like ‘Balance Of Terror’ and ‘Sickened By The Wake’. It’s all heavy, just different types of heavy, and they’re perfectly spaced out to never let you get bored.

The production isn’t wonderful, but that’s part of the positives. The band sound like they knew their limitations and wrote every song to make the most of it. It’s not supposed to be pristine; it’s supposed to sound like the musical equivalent of a bar fight..

My only complaint is that the constant, constant, quick snare can start to sound the same way a word does when you say it too much. It loses all meaning and makes your tongue numb. Thankfully Enabler know what they’re doing and never allow it to become an album-ruining quirk, but boy did they cut it fucking close.

I’d also like to hear the vocals more. They’re a stand out for this genre, with a great mix of rage, clarity, and not-being-a-wankerness (again, sorry for all the technical jargon). I don’t know how they write, but there was never a section where the music clashed with the vocals (which is an odd thing to say about this genre of music).

Please don’t misconstrue what I’m saying – this still sounds exactly like a construction site being hit with artillery, and you probably already know if you’ll like it or not. I, personally, love it. Within the confines of this genre, Enabler do what they do well. I get the feeling they could do a lot more, but it doesn’t seem like they want to. And nor do they need to. This crusty, noisey mess isn’t everyone’s favourite denim vest, but if you’re already into it you’ll probably like La Fin Absolue Du Monde a lot. Or you’ll be some sort of elitist twat bitching about how mainstream it is, but that’s ok because everyone you know secretly hopes you drink Draino.

Band:  Enabler
Album: La Fin Absolue Du Monde
Year: 2014
Genre:  Hardcore/Rock/Metal
Label: Creator-Destructor
Origin: Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

1. Close My Eyes
2. New Life
3. Neglect
4. I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This
5. Information Overload
6. Balance of Terror
7. World Sterilization
8. The Exile
9. Prey
10. Sickened By The Wake
11. Rain Darkness
12. Felony
13. Linear Existence
14. Consequence

About

Mitch is a 26 year old vegan, socialist, atheist, utilitarian, reductionist metalhead, stand up comedian and philosophy major that hates labels. When he isn't being politely ignored at dinner parties he's being politely ignored on comedy nights around the country.