ENFORCED (Thrash/Speed Metal – USA) – Ready to release “War Remains” album via Century Media Records on April 28, 2023 #Enforced

“We didn’t overthink anything,” says Enforced frontman Knox Colby, describing the ethic that went into the making of the Richmond, Virginia-based quintet’s third album, War Remains. “It’s all very straight-forward, no bells and whistles production-wise. It’s an aggressive, no-frills thrash record delivered in just 32 minutes of circle-pitting and stage diving. It’s almost ten minutes shorter than our last record and packs ten times more of a punch.”

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Make no mistake, War Remains ups Enforced’s apex-predator crossover thrash doctrine from 2021’s Kill Grid in a way that can only come from over 100 shows and a year on the road in the US and Europe. Blazing out of the pandemic, Enforced carved a trail throughout North America and Europe, sharing stages with the likes of Obituary, Municipal Waste and Exhumed as well as festivals like Maryland Deathfest and France’s Hellfest. With that bloodied road behind them, Enforced set metallic standard with their power-of-the-riff-wreck-your-neck take on classic thrash and crossover hardcore from the same pissed-off hometown womb that had given the world the likes of GWAR and Lamb of God.

When it came time to record War Remains, Enforced’s studio vibe was nothing short of charged and confident. Teaming with Richmond-based producer, Ricky Olson, the band delivered on every iota of extreme aggression Enforced has flexed since their inception in 2016. “On ‘Kill Grid’ (2021), we truly tried to be perfectionists,” says Wagstaff. “We analyzed everything; the drums were laid down to a click track. Basically, in the most studio-professional way we could. With this record, we went back to the most balls-to-the-wall, potentially less polished but with more energy and rawness. Forget overanalyzing, editing or copy and pasting things. We went after capturing the live energy of the band and that’s what you get. It’s pure Enforced.”

War Remains fulfills Enforced’s mission statement of “shock and awe onstage and on record.” From the cluster-bomb impact of opener “Aggressive Menace” to the frantic “Hanged by My Hand” to thrash anthems like the title track or “Nation of Fear”, this is as good as modern crossover gets. “We play everything so much faster now,” beams Colby. “That’s come naturally with time and playing together more.”

Enforced first came together when Wagstaff and fellow guitarist Zach Monahan passed a demo of instrumental music to Colby to lay down vocals on. “My taste at the time was starting to go in a more metallic direction,” says Will. Comprised of vets from several local punk and hardcore bands, Enforced (its present lineup completed by drummer Alex Bishop and bassist Ethan Gensurowsky) took a crossover thrash bent and did it better than any of its members expected. “There weren’t a ton of lofty goals early on,” says Will. “Play some shows, maybe get a record out.”

The band’s initial four-song demo was released to the public in early 2017 and immediately won Enforced a local following and a handful of arena shows. A second 3-song demo came out in 2017 and solidified Enforced as a truly explosive proposition. “We would play shows, maybe first or second on the bill, and at the end of the night, people would come to us and be like, ‘Holy shit! You were the best band that played!'” says Colby of the band’s demo-days.

Within months, Enforced received two fateful calls from labels who wanted to work with them – the first being WAR Records, helmed by Strife guitarist Andrew Kline and the other being Century Media. “Both calls were a bit of a surprise,” says Will. “There were labels who had reached out to us before, but the thing that both WAR and Century Media had in common was a belief and the same sort of seriousness that we did.” When Wagstaff received the call from Century Media: “I thought someone was bullshitting me at first!” the guitarist laughs. Smartly, Enforced took that call seriously and inked with both labels with a plan in mind. With mixing help from Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Kreator), who has worked with the band on all their releases, Enforced laid their foundation with At the Walls (WAR Records), a collection of their two remixed demos and two new songs. The band’s inaugural nine-song barrage hit the underground with a feral force.

Tours with the likes of Iron Reagan, Sacred Reich and Leeway reinforced the quintet’s rep as a lethal live proposition. In 2021, Enforced’s inaugural Century Media effort, Kill Grid, cemented the Richmond quintet as a force to contend with, scoring the band a slot on 2022’s Decibel Magazine sponsored North American road jaunt with Florida death metal titans, Obituary, Gatecreeper and Municipal Waste. “2022 was a year of ‘firsts’ for us,” says Knox. “Getting out on the road, touring with Obituary was one of the highlights of my life! As a ten-year old listening to ‘Slowly We Rot‘, I thought, ‘no way!’ Then, playing in Europe, things that I thought were impossible, we did. My bucket list is looking pretty thin now!”

In keeping with Enforced’s DIY roots and politically conscious, backpatch-on-your jacket ethos, Colby remains lyrically unrelenting as ever on War Remains. “There is a through-line through the songs,” says Knox. “A lot of which has to do with the cyclical nature of life and death. The song ‘War Remains’ is about the difference between war and peace and how they’re ultimately the same. There’s a lot of dichotomies in the songs. It’s heavier in terms of the topics and maybe a little vaguer and open for interpretation than in the past. It’s brutally honest, extremely dark but ultimately relatable as well. It’s certainly not about the classic thrash staples like nuclear explosions or partying!”

The song “Mercy Killing Fields” draws inspiration from something more personal for Enforced’s front-man. “It’s about dealing with the death of my cousin in 2021,” says Knox. “She had been in and out of the hospital, in and out of a coma. She was in a hospital near my house, and I was the closest next of kin they could reach out to if they decided to remove her from life support. Three or four days passed and she got better so they released her. I was happy me or my family hadn’t done anything drastic but her life ended shortly after being released from a serious fall; it was a painful and unnecessary way to go. It really made me question: should we have shown her mercy when she was comfortable, or still hold out for a glimmer of hope that everything will turn out OK? It’s a really dark, personal thought, but I know my family and I are not the only ones who have been met with that challenging decision.”

War Remains is the sound of Enforced pushing themselves to the next level: a serrated-edge classic. “It has the intensity of ‘At the Walls’ but is more mature than ‘Kill Grid’,” the vocalist explains. “It has that aggression and that tenacity of us live. It spills through the record. If you’re a fan of really aggressive music, you’re gonna love it. It’s seething!”

Enforced line-up:
Knox Colby – Vocals
Will Wagstaff – Guitars
Zach Monahan – Guitars
Ethan Gensurowsky – Bass
Alex Bishop – Drums

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