Review: “Enemy” by Inimical Drive

An Alternative Metal quintet hailing from St. Louis Missouri, Inimical Drive have been together since 2002 but it wasn’t until 2012’s “Signal The Sirens” that they got the attention they were looking for. Citing influences from In Flames, Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold, Mark Nicol (drums), Dan Winter (bass), Joel Corby (vocals), Nick Blackburn (guitar) and Rich Kriete (guitar) have returned with five fresh cuts called “Enemy“…

…opening up the floor with “Reckoning“, which offers plenty of Groove Metal riffs in the opening attack, followed by a clean sung chorus which switches things into a more Metalcore direction, Inimical Drive have created something that doesn’t sound to far away from what Canadian Supergroup Imonolith have created with their album “State of Being“, they’re both pulling in the same direction. Corby offers plenty of vocal range, with a clean vocal similar to Philip Labonte of All That Remains and the unclean bark of a more seasoned Groove Metal veteran. The chugging guitars of “Sacrifice” are a solid foundation and the chorus resonates well; it might not be anything new but it has a nostalgic quality and there are musical structures that the likes of Killswitch Engage have used previously in the mix, that familiarity makes the tracks easy to listen to and give them an instant gravity. The use of synths and programming to augment cuts like the title track “Enemy” is well balanced, just enough to add something different but not overpowering enough to throw the music into a different sonic sphere. As a track, “Enemy” has Nu-Metal esq lyrical introspection and a big arena filling chorus that could get the lighters or smart phone torches moving from side to side. It’s a radio song if there is one on this EP and the clean vocals are perfectly emotionally weighted throughout. “From The Ground” is a much more straight up Metallic edged Hard Rock song, that perhaps lacks an unclean vocal moment, gut punch breakdown or face melting solo to really give it that special moment it cries out for to match up the with the heart felt lyrics. Not that it’s a band song by any stretch of the imagination, it just lacks that single moment to really make it stand out. It is something that “Nothing Less” has with it’s jagged edged uncleans that give a schizophrenic touch to the oppose to the clean vocal moments and a neatly worked solo that adds that special moment, not to mention closing on a choice breakdown [7/10]

Track listing

1. Reckoning
2. Sacrifice
3. Enemy
4. From The Ground
5. Nothing Less

“Enemy” by Inimical Drive is out now