Frank's Enemy
Illumination
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
Don't fall for the trick! These guys start off with a ska riff for the first half-minute of this album. Then they blast beat their way out of this spoof faster than you can say Horde! The vocals are about the lowest frequency I've heard with distortion in all of grind. Musically, the band really shines on this release, laying down some killer grooves and super tight and fast riffing. "Face to Face Again" and "Antigod" have some of those infectious Pantera-like riffs that just shake your whole body. Other riffs, like the lead-off notes in "Ashes," recall shades of Tourniquet's "Stereotaxic..." Powerful. The vocals throughout most of the album almost seem like just a processed accent to the sound, rather than a focal point. But the music here is so good, it probably doesn't want to share center stage with a vocal line. There's a few exceptions, like the rapcore strains of "Straight Up/Down," the screaming "Friends in the Skies," or the techno (yeah, that's right!) "Frank's Enemy Metro," but this description pretty much fits for 15 straight songs. For ordering info, write: Cling Recordings, PO Box 9033, Wyoming MI 49509