CD, Bitriot Records, 2010
www.bemyenemy.co.uk
Way back in 1992, Cubanate appeared on the UK industrial crossover scene. With a raucous mix of distorted guitars and techno beats, over the next few years they grew and evolved into a monster earning ‘Single of the Week’ in magazines such as Melody Maker and Kerrang. Also, four tracks were used in the Gran Turismo Playstation game and another was used in the last episodes of the Sopranos. This shows that these guys from London knew their stuff and were good at it. In 1999, Cubanate went dark. In 2008, founding member Phil Barry started a new project: Be My Enemy.
This is the first album, and it kicks you in the face. It has that quintessential British industrial sound to it: angry guitars, noisy synths and rage-fuelled chants. From the opening, title track, “This is the New Wave”, an uncompromising wall of energy assaults the listener. The entire album has attitude and lets it be known. Metal, punk, rave and techno all dwell in this release, welded together into a monster.
Phil has been at this game for twenty years and is still on top. As a Cubanate fan, I was worried that this would be less that it is. However, that fear was unfounded: every track kicks its way out of the speakers looking for a fight.
The overall production on this release is as close to perfect as one can get, while still retaining the energy of each song. The lyrics will have you screaming and shouting along before you know it, with catchy hooks and chants. Most synth work is obviously influenced by the old rave scene, the guitars are punk and metal barrages of sound and the techno drums add to the high octane energy. “All American Psycho” is a track that throws all of this into your face, with a twist of some wobble bass, and has to be one of the best tracks on the album.
Phil recently joined Caustic on stage at the UK Resistanz Industrial Festival, in Sheffield, to play a cover of the Cubanate track “Oxyacetylene”, as well as two Caustic tracks. I was informed by many that this was one of the highlights of the weekend.
If you’re a Cubanate fan, this is “Oxyacetylene” on steroids. Furthermore, if you’re a Pitchshifter, Prodigy or Pendulum fan, this is something that will recharge your ‘dead battery’. Easily the best release in the last couple of years, this is an album to own. There is nothing on “This is the New Wave” that doesn’t make you want to get up and dance.
[9/10]
— M. J. Phillips