Milwaukee’s own, Enabler, are back and ready to break your face (or maybe just your ears) in their newest release, La Fin Absolue Du Monde (The Compound/Creator Destructor ). Now I will come out and say that I am not really the biggest fan of hardcore punk and normally do not end up at said shows. However, Enabler has done a great service in recruiting me as a fan of what they have to offer. The sheer energy that the Wisconsin threesome create in this newest release is what hardcore bands of today should be modeling themselves after. Enabler is able to create speedy, short songs and give a crossover thrash and d-beat feel but keep their hardcore roots in as well. Lastly, well-timed breakdowns are extremely important and should not be the center of the song. So out of the 14 neck-breaking tracks, I was able to pick out a few of my favorites, although just about every song was enjoyable.
‘Neglect’ has one of my favorite riffs/tones on the album as Enabler keeps it really crusty which is one of the big selling points for a hardcore band for me. I love the pace of the song as well as it starts off quick then just runs into a breakdown and stays in that tempo to finish off the song. My favorite lyrics come from the end of the very next track, ‘I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This’ and no, this is not a cover of Taking Back Sunday. The listener is once again greeted to a high-speed tempo attack to start of this track. Just when your neck starts to hurt, the tempo slows down but the aggression picks up. At the end of this track, the lyrics, “No future, no fate, there’s nothing but the lives we make” is repeated a few times. Not only do I completely agree with these lyrics, but the delivery of the message wrapped in the Enabler energy got my goose bumps to grow goose bumps. One last song I wanted to point out, which happens to be the longest song on the album at 5:46 in length, is ‘Felony.’ The intro riff to this song almost sounds like some sort of alarm you would hear out of a Silent Hill knock-off as it gives off vibes of something big coming. The song hits a crescendo that kicks into the high-speed tempo I’ve come to highly enjoy throughout the album until we hit what sounds like a build up for a breakdown. What we get instead is a breakdown that has the most epic feel to it that literally brings the song down back to just a crusty guitar riff until that too fades away.
Overall, it only took me a few spins of this album to get hooked on it. This band has indeed earned at least one more fan today in me and I will be searching for more at this point without a doubt. Looking back on La Fin Absolue Du Monde and the sound that Enabler is pulling for, I can only wish that I am able to review their next tour when it comes through my way. And maybe, just maybe, Cancer Bats can be included on said tour as well. Wink wink. Nudge nudge.
8/10
TIM LEDIN