Dark Arts - Terrorizer and Sick Sounds Magazines

"I really can't listen to old metal with NEW SAFE SOUND like so many does. Enforcer is the way now!”

You gotta love emails from Fenriz. When it comes to metal he is the benchmark for all things badass and so often have we discovered a new band only to find out he's already championed them on his blog. So it's good to know that my near obsession with these spandex-clad Swedes is shared by ol' Fenrico himself. I can't remember when I discovered Enforcer but it was around a time when I was furiously digging up any band that sounded like it could have been in Kerrang circa 1982. Getting a daily fix of Enforcer's 'Into The Night' album when it came out in November 2008 was akin to a serious crack habit – friends and family forcing me into an intervention situation, weaning me off high voltage spinners like 'Speed Queen' gradually, spoon feeding me musical methadone to calm me down from my denim and leather high.

That album made it into our year end list (and our decade Top 100 too!!) in issue #179 (Jan 2009) and saw Terrorizer salivating over them and their studded cohorts in a scene report about the rise of the traditional heavy metal sound from Sweden, and then when Earache brought out the genre-defining compilation 'Heavy Metal Killers' later that month it was set in stone – true metal was back with a vengeance and I was in my element. Explaining my love of Enforcer back then to a friend (who works at Earache) I told her, “one day that band will be on the cover of Terrorizer.” Eighteen months later when the label got the deal to put their killer cut 'Diamonds' out in Europe I was reminded of my overzealous claim, and well the rest is history.

It's refreshing to champion something so fresh and exhilarating once again on our cover, no okay, not exactly new but definitely renewed. With no holds barred photos taken during their recent trip to London and an insightful interview with Kevin Stewart-Panko we hope you get as excited as I am about these true metal diamond geezers.

ENFORCER
KINGDOM OF SORROW
YAKUZA
STARKWEATHER
GRAVE
SEVERE TORTURE
YOB

DOMINION #5 with

LACRIMOSA
FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY
KMFDM
SUICIDE COMMANDO