The Swedish melodic metal band Enbound just released their new album “The Blackened Heart” in Europe and North America through Inner Wound Recordings and in Japan through Bickee Music. The song ‘Get Ready For’ can be streamed in the video below.
“The Blackened Heart” contains a nice mix of heavy and up tempo songs, all with their own strong and grasping melodies. Enbound prove with “The Blackened Heart” that they can handle any angle of melodic metal. Like on their debut album, the characteristic powerful arrangements remain with the fantastic and emotional vocals from Lee Hunter on top.
The album was mastered by Jacob Hansen [Amaranthe, Volbeat, Primal Fear] and guests on the album includes Linnéa Wikström [Kamelot, Therion] and Mike LePond [Symphony X].
Enbound was formed in 2006 by Mike Cameron Force, who previously had played with bands like Zonata and Poem. Some years were spent working on material, finding the right direction for Enbound, and also the right members. The experienced bass player Swede “Machine gun fingers” Odén was added to the line-up, as well as the extremely talented guitar virtuoso Marvin Flowberg. And finally in 2009 the band found their singer in Lee Hunter [Lars Säfsund] who is famous for his work in the band Work of Art and performances in musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, TV shows like “Let’s Dance”, Eurovision Song Contest and working with musicians like Bill Champlin [Chicago], Joseph Williams [Toto] and more.
The debut album “And She Says Gold” was released in 2011 and was received very well by fans and the media, and songs like ‘Combined The Souls’ and ‘Under A Spell’ are by many considered classics.
Now Enbound, following the praised album debut “And She Says Gold” finally present their second album, entitled “The Blackened Heart”.
Jacob Hansen [Amaranthe, Volbeat, Primal Fear] was chosen to master the album, and awesomely did so. The Swedish famed photography and illustrator duo of Robert Elmengård and Niklas Lundberg created the spot on artwork. Layout was made by Stefan Heilemann [Kamelot, Epica, Rhapsody].
Guest appearances on the album includes the vocalist Linnéa Wikström [Kamelot, Therion] on ‘Falling’ and Mike LePond [Symphony X] is responsible for the first of two bass solos on ‘Feed My Flame’.
“The Blackened Heart” has a nice mix of heavy and up tempo songs, all with their own strong and grasping melodies. Some songs has a more aggressive, modern metal tone like ‘Give Me Light’. A track like ‘Feel My Flame’ has classic metal influences, while ‘They Don’t Really Know’ beautifully combines sensibility with force. Enbound prove with “The Blackened Heart” that they can handle any angle of melodic metal. Like their debut, their characteristic powerful arrangements remain with fantastic and emotional vocals on top.
Our review for “The Blackened Heart” can be found here.
“The Blackened Heart” track listing
01. Falling
02. Give Me Light
03. Crossroad
04. Get Ready For
05. Feel My Flame
06. Twelve
07. Holy Grail
08. HIO
09. They Don’t Really Know
10. Make You So Unreal
Video below: ‘Get Ready For’
Video below: ‘Give Me Light’