| Artist |
| Be My Enemy |
| Title |
| This Is The New Wave |
| Format/Cat |
| CD DWA120 |
| Label |
| Death Watch Asia |
| Style |
| Industrial |
| Date of review |
| 26th September 2011 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 5/10 |
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I have to admit that when I first started listening to this album from one Phil Barry, the mix of hard guitars & pounding rhythms led me to believe that this must be an American act so it was quite a surprise when the sleevenotes made it clear that this is, in fact, British although the fact that it was produced at Marc 'Cubanate' Heal's studio soon explained why such a mix-up could be made! It's fair to say, then, that this should indeed appeal to those who have fond memories of Cubanate & their ilk as the 10 tracks on here take a definite influence from the industrial styles of the 90s while the sometimes repetitious feel of certain tracks might also appeal to fans of Uberbyte et al who don't mind the metal elements. So, there's plenty of dancefloor potential here with tracks such as 'Helter Skelter' well placed to take advantage of such opportunities, bearing a superficial resemblance to Concrete Lung but lacking their raw, more dystopian feel due mainly due to the overly polished production which gives the album a rather sterile feel & which makes it sound rather safe for all its power & robs it of some of the impact it could otherwise have had. A more raw-sounding production would almost certainly have made a difference here, making this the album it could so easily have been. This also means it's a bit of a bind to listen to all in one go although, when taken in smaller snippets, individual tracks start to hit home, among them the action-packed 'Death Drive' which mixes some superbly scything guitar riffs with frantic Drum 'n' bass rhythms & 'Start The Revolution', which boasts a mix of danceable rhythms & typically gutsy guitars in a manner not unlike a more metal version of The Prodigy, make for what is easily the best track on the album. Overall, though, the production just sucks the life out of the music which makes this something of a missed opportunity & anyone looking for more satisfying industrial thrills would be better off checking out the albums from Concrete Lung & Digicore instead.
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