Was fully expecting this to be some sort of hardcore/punk. Nearly everything about the aesthetic and layout screamed HC to me, especially the picture of short-haired moshing fans that could easily appeared on any '90s Victory Records album. The band pics very much fit that bill too even with two longhairs. I would have likely bought it anyway since 3 more discs got me to $25/20% off at the store, technically making this a freebie. The thanks list does mention keeping "the METAL scene alive," which momentarily gave me some hope until I realized that it likely meant this was some sort of nu-metal no-metal.
Much to my surprise, the music is just straightforward groove metal (with a mellower balladish track to close out). Far from my first choice, but certainly way better than what the album artwork or songtitles might suggest. Of course, there's a catch. The vocals here are atrocious, especially if you hate the aggro style as much as I do. They seem very uncontrolled and aside from some chorus shouting, don't sync very well with the music. At times, the enunciation and delivery bring to mind the affected angry voice older wrestlers would use in promos.
Though the music isn't entirely to my taste, if this had better vocals, I could absolutely flaunt it as one of my most surprising "you can't judge a book by its cover" bargain bin finds. Sadly, as it is, Face the Enemy just gets an unenthused "not quite as bad as it looks" from me.
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