ENFORCER – Nostalgia (2023)
Towards the end of the 2000s, the world of all things hard and heavy saw the emergence of a slew of bands intent on bringing back the classic, twin lead sound of the 1980s but with a 21st century feel; The New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal had arrived.
Comprising bands mainly from Canada and Sweden, the trajectory of the wave has remained relatively underground, but bands like Scandinavian outfit ENFORCER continue to bear the torch and ensure that, when the old guard have all hung up their guitars, the sound of yesteryear won’t die with them.
One of the foremost bands in the movement, Friday May 5th sees their sixth album ”Nostalgia” unleashed.
Given how some of their scene companions didn’t make it through the first few years – British upstarts White Wizzard being a prime example – ENFORCER have clearly proven themselves one of the best of the bunch.
Indeed, this shows throughout ”Nostalgia”, which is a perfect name for the record given how stuffed with throwback moments it has, from the SAXON and UFO tinges of ‘Unshackle Me’, the MOTÖRHEAD-esque metal in’ Coming Alive’ and ‘Demon’ and – perhaps the best song on the album – the hard hitting, turn-of-the-80s sound of ‘At The End Of The Rainbow’, which could have been an IRON MAIDEN song around the time of the self-titled debut record.
Elsewhere, ‘Kiss Of Death’ is a lot of campy fun with its lyrics about the Grim Reaper taking souls and ‘Keep The Flame Alive’ pushes ENFORCER more into the present day than any other track; it’s a bit of an outlier, but the jaunty guitars evoking thoughts of fellow countrymen ROYAL REPUBLIC and THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA isn’t a drawback in the slightest considering how popular those acts are.
‘Heartbeats’ is a song which harks back to something more in line with the mid-80s stadium anthems of DEF LEPPARD and WHITESNAKE, then we find a great midtempo on the title track.
With their excellent songwriting and production, ENFORCER do an incredible job of capturing the sound and the feel of the time period when Metal / Hard Rock ruled the world. So many songs feel like a musical montage of that time period. At times it may feel silly or even a little cheesy but you’ll have a smile across your face the entire time.
Highly Recommended
01 – Armageddon
02 – Unshackle Me
03 – Coming Alive
04 – Heartbeats
05 – Demon
06 – Kiss of Death
07 – Nostalgia
08 – No Tomorrow
09 – At the End of the Rainbow
10 – Metal Supremacia
11 – White Lights in the USA
12 – Keep the Flame Alive
13 – When the Thunder Roars (Cross Fire)
Olof Wikstrand – Vocals, Guitars
Jonas Wikstrand – Drums, Piano, Keyboards
Jonathan Nordwall – Guitars
Garth Condit – Bass
Pre order:
napalmrecords.com/english/enforcer-nostalgia-cd.html
