Few deathcore bands nowadays give you more bang for your buck than Enterprise Earth. Being able to say that with any sort of confidence is a good start, but combing through a lineage of albums that have just gotten longer, heavier and more elaborate really does necessitate the claim. Even under a general facelift that’s done some immaculate reputation repair for deathcore as a whole, Enterprise Earth have just been killing it lately, with unfortunately little recognition. Even if it was memory-holed thanks to a mid-January release date, 2022’s The Chosen remains totally deserving of a few spins for connoisseurs of a regal, elevated beatdown.
Unfortunately, Death: An Anthology seemingly hasn’t taken any lessons in inopportune release windows from its predecessor. At least it isn’t dumped in the album calendar’s nullspace this time, but still, there are better times to put out an album this good to highlight that. Maybe it’s not as radical as Lorna Shore’s genre landscaping, but the size and magnitude still counts for a whole lot, and Enterprise Earth can still square up. If anything, Death: An Anthology might be their greatest, most event-sounding album yet, easily comparable in scope scene heavyweights, and maybe even surpassing a good crop of them.
It goes without saying, then, that this is a big album, as Enterprise Earth tend to make. The deathcore blockbuster floor plan is in full effect, customary to bring out when passing an hour in length, and sinking as many resources and man-power into totally living up to that. Of course it sounds expensive, decked out with strings and an overall coating of gloss for as much refinement as possible. Further to that, though, you’ve got a grade-A showcase of just how dynamic a band Enterprise Earth are. The first track proper is Face Of Fear, in which a shrieking nightmare realm of math-metal tics and convulsions is ripped wide open in parallel to the base deathcore brutality. It’s also the only song that ventures in that particular direction, almost as if to prod at some already expanded boundaries, without fully committing to decimating them. Not to appear as coming down harshly on Enterprise Earth for that; it’s a tactic that actually sports some great results. The instrumental cut Accelerated Demise looks to twist and expand some of the jazzier noodling dipped into earlier on Casket Of Rust, a track that already engages in ample shifts and dynamic rearrangements within a gripping seven-minute cynosure.
The length never feels painstaking either, or as though it’s been artificially bloated in service of nothing but an illusion of grandeur. The grandeur is real, often with more interesting moments explored in a single track than some deathcore bands will cram into entire albums. It’s never a watering-down agent, either. For an album literally titled Death, Enterprise Earth seem well aware of the connotations expected from that, and are happy to oblige in truly blistering form. This might be Travis Worland’s first go-around as frontman, but he ingratiates himself with little bother thanks to a range of WMDs he calls vocal styles, ready to break out for any possible situation. Elsewhere, the guitars and bass carry equal destructive force, and Brian Zackey’s drumming deserves a special shoutout for how wonderfully it encapsulates deathcore percussion at its finest point. The drum triggers on Casket Of Rust or I Divine do help in the market of pounding eardrums into goo, but there’s a phenomenal versatility that’ll come through (particularly getting chance to shine on Accelerated Demise, unimpeded by vocals) that can be so magnetic.
Now, it’s not all a breeze, though it’d be stretching the truth to say that Enterprise Earth don’t make almost every element look remarkably easy. They do stumble on Blood And Teeth, in which the Euro-cheese piano line and some really-very-awkward clean singing that kicks it off is the only instance of Enterprise Earth showing some inadequacy. It’s a bad start, but the fact it’s reprised on the chorus with additional guitar meat to do a world of good implies just how uncommon said instance is. Your hour-plus listening experience isn’t littered with weird, unconvincing experiments; they either land deftly, or Enterprise Earth’s ‘easy way around’ of a straight-up evisceration can cover a lot. On an album squarely about death with all crosshairs aimed on that target at all times, it’s the best way to be, honestly.
And when, at no point, does it wear out its welcome or tire itself out, you’re left with the suspicion that Enterprise Earth are barrelling ahead of the curve without the proper kudos. That’s not even a new occurrence, either; they’re just underrated for no good reason. Whether or not Death: An Anthology changes that remains to be seen, but it’s, without debate, deserved when Enterprise Earth are at least on par with deathcore’s current class of heavy hitters. This is great stuff with the range to be special, and also utterly cratering within the scene if given the right push. This far in, with quality this omnipresent as the norm, it’s the least Enterprise Earth deserve.
For fans of: Lorna Shore, Whitechapel, Humanity’s Last Breath
‘Death: An Anthology’ by Enterprise Earth is released on 2nd February on MNRK Heavy.
Words by Luke Nuttall
