Review: Enterprise Earth – Death: An Anthology

For all of us who have been following closely the current great state of Deathcore, it has been normal to hear the name Enterprise Earth, since this has undoubtedly been one of the most active and relevant bands in the game today.

The great moment of this band comes from the release of the great album titled The Chosen in 2022, a very versatile album that was received positively by the Deathcore scene. Even with the sudden departure of its vocalist and founder Dan Watson shortly after the release of this album, the band’s activity did not stop at all, as Enterprise Earth welcomed its new vocalist: The versatile Travis Worland.

Already with Worland in their ranks, Enterprise Earth embarked on numerous tours promoting The Chosen in the United States and Europe, while releasing several high-quality singles that highlight the skill of their new vocalist and also certain adjustments to his sound, gaining greater musical freedom and adding several elements that provide greater growth to what they had been doing since their previous album, something that naturally would translate into an eventual next full-length work.

This is how we arrive to Death: An Anthology. An extremely dynamic album where Enterprise Earth takes greater freedom with their music, taking it to new levels of quality, variety and heaviness (Both instrumental and emotional) on a much larger scale than what  was previously heard on The Chosen.

With just 5 seconds after pressing the “Play” button, we know that we have a real masterpiece in our hands. Because “Abyss” gives us a triumphant opening to what will be a very special album, quickly moving on to the explosive “Face Of Fear” where the insane rhythmic patterns established by Gabe Mangold’s riffs and Brandon Zackey’s solid rhythmic foundation in drums and Dakota Johnson on bass manage to create a perfect controlled chaos.

This song serves as a perfect prelude to what we will experience on this album, not only because of its strength but also because of that emotional bridge where Travis Worland’s melodic clean voice takes center stage, then passing the spotlight to Gabe Mangold‘s glorious guitar solo, perhaps one one of the most memorable solos of his career on Enterprise Earth.

Immediately we continue with the fast “The Reaper’s Servant”, where the band unleashes their speed very inspired by their Thrash Metal influences, moving on to the characteristic breakdowns of Deathcore in a very versatile way. The vocal participation of the fierce Darius Tehrani of Spite stands out, one of the best vocalists of modern Deathcore who prints his personal stamp while complementing the atmosphere that this song presents.

We move on with “Spineless”, a track that begins with a symphonic intro that takes us to a song with slower instrumentals than previous songs and focuses more on the atmosphere, to then raise the revolutions once again and regain speed with another great guitar solo from Gabe Mangold. But, the surprises don’t end here, because after the solo Brandon Zackey even brings the influences from his drum corps days into a brilliant marching section to give way to a furious breakdown.

Next up we got “King Of Ruination”, the first promotional single from this album that turns out to be one of the most “Modern” cuts on the album, presenting a song with a very catchy structure and hooks. But halfway through this song, one of the best vocalists in the Deathcore game appears: Ben Duerr, who makes a special appearance and brings the demonic gutturals characteristic of his work in Shadow Of Intent in a crushing breakdown signature of Duerr’s style.

A calm guitar intro gives way to “Casket Of Rust”, a very gloomy song where Travis Worland recites the first verses with an extremely demonic voice. The song gains strength in each section and it is when Brandon Zackey unleashes a ferocious drum fill that the song takes off completely, the speed and fury take over the atmosphere of this somber track, culminating in an excellent instrumental bridge where Dakota Johnson takes the spotlight with a brilliant bass line that supports the malevolent and versatile voice of Travis Worland.

Continuing the gloomy atmosphere established by “Casket Of Rust” appears “I, Divine”, a dark song where the drums do not have the same speed as previous tracks, but Brandon Zackey provides a true percussion clinic establishing rhythmic patterns that blend together with the atmosphere of the song. Even so, when you least expect it, the fast blast-beats appear that prepare you for a surprising breakdown, thus delivering one of the most memorable moments of this album: That double bass drum fill that includes the gunshot sample. It makes you imagine an AK-47 firing full blast before delivering a final coup de grâce.

Perhaps the greatest particularity of this album is its ability to keep you guessing “What’s next?” and catch you off guard with instrumental twists you don’t expect. We see it throughout all the previous songs and once again with “Malevolent Force”, one of the songs that generated the most expectation due to the special feature of Wes Hauch, brilliant guitarist of Alluvial.

This great track begins with epic riffs that quickly unleash once again that great speed characteristic of Thrash Metal that Enterprise Earth has already mastered at this point. Although we would have loved for this particular fast pace section to have been maintained for longer (since it only lasts a few seconds), it is to be applauded how we return to a heavier and more evolved variation of the riff that opened the song in a very slick way.

On paper, having a guitarist with the caliber of Wes Hauch included in this song and of course a virtuoso Gabe Mangold commanding the guitars on this album, of course we would expect an epic guitar solo battle. Which we actually had and it did not disappoint at all, also highlighting how their styles while maintaining their particularities are perfectly combined in pro of this song.

Something that many did not expect when this album was announced, was an instrumental track and that is exactly what we received with “Accelerated Demise”. A track that more than an instrumental song is a jam of three friends having a blast while creating music together.

The more than 4 minutes that this track lasts are pure magic, in sections where you have nothing left to do but smile and wonder “What the hell are they doing?” with brilliant sections in which Gabe Mangold, Brandon Zackey and Dakota Johnson give us a true musical banquet.

Almost finishing this album we got to what can be considered the masterpiece not only of this album, but also perhaps of the entire Enterprise Earth discography: “Blood And Teeth”.

Everything that makes Enterprise Earth great, and everything we appreciate so much about this band, lies within “Blood And Teeth”. The memorable riffs, the emotionality, the speed and the vocal and instrumental heaviness; adding that memorable chorus by Travis Worland as the crown of a performance that defines his musical career and positions his name in the discussion of the most versatile vocalists of Modern Metal.

Closing this great album is “Curse Of Flesh”, another versatile song where yet again great rhythm twists are present and features the participation of Matt Heafy from Trivium in one of the verses. It’s very cool to see how this song has a section so appropriate for this collaboration that it feels for seconds like Matt Heafy is actually part of the band.

The section with which this song ends is extremely epic, closing a kind of circle by ending the epic and emotional way that the first song on this album began. Something very worthy to close this work of art that we have just appreciated.

Death: An Anthology is an album that manages to transcend beyond the labels or trends of any Metal subgenre, representing a true triumph for both the band and the entire scene. Truly showing how it is possible to make actual musicality the primary element for an album to become a masterpiece. We won’t be surprised when we see this among the best albums of this year and also of this decade.

Final score: 10/10