Local Review: In Your Grave – Enemy Lines

In Your Grave
Enemy Lines

Self-Released
Street: 12.20.20
In Your Grave = Throwdown + INGESTED + Lorna Shore

So this snarky, fairly elitist metal dude gets this five track release of sort of deathcore/hardcore tunes—as far as a metal elitist attitude goes, it could spell disaster. Fortunately, I love old-school, beatdown hardcore, so a good breakdown is a great one. Enemy Lines is plumb full of ’em. The deathcore elements are small, but enough to cross that line a bit through the vocal style and the way the guitar tunings lie in between traditional death metal and hardcore tuning. “Foundations” is straight deathcore and it rips. It’s lyrically reminiscent of Throwdown, except talking about the government.

The breakdowns on Enemy Lines are perfect for one of those “try not to headbang” challenges on YouTube. The mix on the songs presented here slams it above others, and the bass flies out like, well, like molasses if flung at high speed. There’s a good amount of breakdowns mixed with primal bass that will make lousy desktop speakers sound like $1,000 subs and shake your domicile. It’s not a stretch to envision the band on stage slapping their bass, slowly plucking strings stoically before delivering heavy drop breakdowns. “Mkultra” starts with that crunch, goes slow—groove slow, not chug-chug slow—and even the initial crunch of the guitars, while heavy, doesn’t fully deliver until just before the one minute mark.

Album closer “Establishment” has a spacey type key/electronic accompaniment in tangent with somewhat djent (mathcore) drops. While it’s a familiar style for heavy music listeners, In Your Grave uses the power of diversity; from slow build to drops to straight forward crushing or thick atmosphere, Enemy Lines opens up a vast realm of sounds, rhythm and crush to excite any potential listener. –Bryer Wharton