Has anyone heard it yet? Thoughts?

Short answer: It's great.

Longer answer: It's really, really great. Diamonds was one of my favorite albums of 2010 and this actually manages to surpass it. Definitely better than the new Striker, which was the only band of this whole revival thing that I preferred over Enforcer. Basically Enforcer just took the crown back.

I'm listening to it now, and it's every bit as amazing as I expected. Would be a little further into it, but had to stop and replay Run For Your Life about 5 times in a row.

Yeah, this album is definitely banned from my car.

Talked about this in the 2013 thread. Plain fun heavy metal. The riffs and soling and writing are the power here. No huge surprises, just ripping headbanging material. It's also made great workout music for the short time I've had it.

Have they fixed the super shitty vocals of the last two?

If you didn't like the vocals before, you won't like them here, they're the same as before (though this and Diamonds sounded way better than Into the Night, which admittedly had a pretty out-of-tune vocal performance).

I remember hearing their debut and thinking it was pretty dull, by the numbers retro metal without much personality. Have they at least grown their own sound yet?

Fuck it then. But let's be honest, the sheer bouncyness of their sound is my main turn off.

Well they've surpassed Striker as my favorite retro metal type band, but yeah it's more of the same, just bigger and louder and faster. The main dude's statement was that they didn't try to change or evolve at all, just take the qualities that make them who they are and amplify them. So if you didn't like the previous albums, you won't like this. I happen to love this energetic throwback style of metal, so I think it's their best yet.

Here, this opening track is pretty indicative of the entire album. You can gauge whether or not you'll like this based on this alone:

Hm, based on that track they sound a fuck of a lot better than they did on Diamonds, which was basically cut-rate NWOBHM. This still has a lot of cut-rate NWOBHM in it but at least it's faster, more energetic, and with some more ambitious riffs thrown in here and there. The vocals sound a lot better, too.

I'd prefer a new Enforcer from Illinois release.

Haha me too

It's slightly better but still irks me quite a bit. I suppose this will remain a Cauldron type situation.

Listening to this at the moment, it is great. Whether I like it more than Diamonds is another thing. That album was way too catchy.

Edit - That scream at the beginning of the 7th track. Mother of God.

Musically, I think this one is a lot closer to Into The Night than Diamonds.

I got this album earlier in the week. It's my first introduction to the band and I think they're a good fun heavy/speed metal band sans the vocals. The vocals are somewhat bearable if you just concentrate on the music which is quite groovy and has tons of melodic hooks and air-guitar-inducing-bouncy-ness (which turns Necro off). Still not convincing enough for me to make the effort to check out their entire discography.

By all rights this should appeal to me. But there is just something about this band that seems to repel me, and I still cannot put my finger on it tbh. Not terrible though this song.

Such a great mix of Kill 'Em All era Metallica with Killers era Maiden with the addition of more Mötley Crüe-esque vocals for the perfect amount of extra sleeze.

Agreed, it seems a lot more faster paced than Diamonds. I listened to this more during down time in work, enjoyed it more than my first listen, which had a good impression on me anyway. Think I'm gonna get a lot of playtime out of this.

I listened to Into the Night a few times and dug it, but I totally skipped Diamonds. I'm totally loving this new one, though! So much energy!

I'm a big fan of all these retro/throwback bands coming out these days, so I may be biased, but I fucking LOVE this album. Unbelievably well executed speed metal with the ultimate heavy metal spirit. Heavy metal is alive!

Based off that one song alone, this is probably the best music they've put out. I'd have to hear the rest, but I'll probably really enjoy this album. I don't think their previous albums were particularly great, more run of the mill type stuff.

Diamonds is their best. Haven't listened to the new album more than once, so I can't really form a solid opinion about it. Still, Sweden's best new heavy band is Portrait.

They move slow...but I have hope.

I've streamed this album many times as I'm still waiting for the CD to arrive! Pre-ordered weeks and weeks ago and still nothing. "Death By Fire" is a really great record by one of my favourite (newer) bands, but I still think "Diamonds" is better in terms of the songs. This new one seems like more of a return to the speed metal sound of the debut, just with slightly improved vocals and killer solos. Saw Enforcer live back in November with Angel Witch and they melted my face off!

Getting a patch with the disc was a nice touch, I always enjoy things like that.

It doesn't beat Diamonds, but it's a worthwhile album. His vocals seem to be improving with every album. Big thumbs up from me.

Is it me or does he and the dude from Skull Fist sound a lot alike?

I haven't bought it but wish I could afford doing so because I checked out the full album on Youtube and it's quite good.
Take Me Out Of This Nightmare is easily the best tracks!

The standard speed metal songs like the first two doesn't stand out that much to me anymore, they have already done very similar songs better before. Not to mention some verse sounded pretty much exactly like one on the debut... Except not as "fresh" if that's a word you can use when talking about retro metal like this haha.

And yes the vocalist was not that good on the debut, improved on Diamonds... But now he simply rules.
Yeah I really wish I could spend some money on this album