The Question I Hope You've Been Asking ...

On Frank's Enemy' follow up album we see the band take a more extreme turn in metal with a stronger influence of death/black metal. "Neoblasphemies" is a nice mix of their debut's thrash roots and "Illumination"s chaotic brutality. The album is bass heavy in tone which gives the album a slightly muffled sound, but also creates a sickeningly brutal down-tuned album.

"Neoblasphemies" starts off with an eerie acoustic classical guitar with a female vocalist on "I Think" which sounds like an an old record that gets scratchier until it is cut short by the blistering assault of "Human Reich". "Human Reich" is where the chaoticness begins. It's fast and heavy with ultra low death metal vocals, which only slows briefly for melodic crunchy bridge.

There are essentially 2 styles of music here. Thrash and extreme death/black metal. Along with "Human Reich", every other song follows a similar style. "Cannibalized" is super fast and heavy, "Torturer" is crunchy with a grind feel to it and some crushing riffs. "Cauldron" rounds out the extreme songs with fast chaotic and brutal death metal.

The thrash songs are quite heavy with pounding riffs. "Imbecile Factory" starts this series off with death metal intensity and flourishes. "Uncalled For" adds a darker edge and has a catchier sing along rhythm. "Inevitable" speeds things up with a punky feel akin to Julio Rey's early days in The Lead. it's catchy with a nice heavy breakdown. "Hanging On A Tree" completes the thrashy set furthering the punk feel with thrash groove. It's super catchy and may pass as a radio hit.

The album closer "Stephen Hawking Walked Away" is a funky slap bass heavy tune bordering on ska. It has a Red Hot Chili Pepper feel without the melody. It ends with a sped up sound akin to the end of Believer's "Trilogy Of Knowledge".

My favourite song is the reflective and epic "In Answer". It is melodic yet unsettling and representative of Frank's Enemy' unique quality. The quiet overly distorted feel is brooding and builds into a brutally dark and sombre death metal tune whose oppressive riffs weighs on the soul. Despite the sickening brutality there is a strange melodic-ness to the song. This is in my opinion the bands best song.

Frank's Enemy continue with the bold Christian lyrics without feeling overly preachy. They are thoughtful and sincere especially on the song "In Answer".

~In answer to your question i hope you have been asking I'll take off my fangs and stop all the scaring I could quote John 3:16 pray for the best That you'd grasp what it all means that we are in a test ~

Coming up is a re-posting of my review of Frank's Enemy's 3rd and last full-length album "Illumination".