Reasons To Say Yes ... !

Though I would not say Frank's Enemy is my favourite band (that's Savatage as I cleared up in an earlier post) but when it comes to the Christian metal scene, I would rank them pretty high. Frank's Enemy is the brainchild of Julio Rey formerly of Christian punk/thrash crossover band The Lead.

The Lead's later material is an early example of what Frank's Enemy would be. Starting off with their self-titled (or sometimes known as "Not Silent") debut Frank's Enemy took that thrash/punk crossover and starting tuning down into a thrash/death mix and eventually becoming grindcore/death and thrash.

The music became less accessible as the albums progressed, but musically they are like none other I've heard experimenting in chaotically beautiful brutality. Today I'll be looking at "Not Silent".

Frank's Enemy' debut is the most straight forward leaning more so on the trash element with death/black metal intensity. Think along the lines of Vengeance Rising with a little Suicidal Tendencies flourishes and an MOD tonal quality.

The album blasts to a start with "Link Line" which is a flat out thrasher, fast and heavy with Julio's vocals leaning more towards gruff thrash and death metal. "Things Don't Work Out" slows a bit with some heavy thrash riffs and more of a gruff raw sound.

"Judas" has the air of Vengeance Rising to it's death thrash sound as well as a darker edge. "Psychic Pain" continues the deathy thrash with some killer riffs and a faster brutal quality. "Man, You Made A Lonely World" thrashy as well, but here there is more experimentation. The vocals range from gruff thrash to death with almost black metal quality. When the chorus kicks in I can't help but think of Bob Dylan or 60's protest songs ... I don't know why ...

"You Are God" is slappy bass heavy funk with thrashy riffs with and a lot of groove. It also has the most melody and probably the only sing along chorus. "Reasons To Say No' is the epic 14+ closer which which features the bass heavy sound as well, but stronger thrash roots. It has a jazzy free form feel, only with heavier riffs and wailing solos and more of a chaotic quality.

"Acts Of Love" has a Suicidal Tendencies feel with the versus' clean guitar work which has a mild ska like quality. It turns thrash towards the end while remaining kind of ballad like. My favourite song here is "Destroy" which is the song whose roots are carried through onto the next couple albums. It is a death/thrash crossover with black metal intensity and a sickeningly brutal heaviness to it which makes me think ~ funeral Thrash?!? ~ a killer song by all standards, but mostly extreme metal's.

This album was hard for me to track down (thanks Blastbeats!!) but I'm glad I did, and I love the raw straight forward thrash and the death metal influences.

Next week I'll look at their follow up "Neoblasphemies" which sees the band coming into their own.