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In a sub-genre that seems bent on outnumbering the population of China, here are USA's Enforsaken with their second LP. And despite the sheer volume of peers and competitors in the Melodeath category Enforsaken had triggered the radar screen with their debut two years ago and are charging through here as well with a slightly unorthodox brand of melodeath – which of course, is a welcome change from the repetitious nature of acts in this grouping.

Enforsaken deploy actual riffs in their songs and hardly ever will the listener get a taste of that 'endless wall of distortion' sound in the background; nor is there the use of keyboards here. But truth be told, the band seems to be under the conviction that the stop-and-go riffing style suits their sound when in reality, it sometimes makes it quite unbearable - as on the opening track. It gives the impression that the song never really takes off or gets going. Thankfully, Enforsaken do not do too much of this and the rest of their qualities make up for that.

There is some real gold on this record, and one does not even need to mine much to get to it as it just comes naturally. Enforsaken have a knack for delivering solos of the highest caliber. These boys know that a shredding solo is not just about how well it is written, but also how to build up to it, and more importantly, when to actually throw it in, and they nail it bang on every single time. And I believe this quality alone should place this band at a notable position. The vocals and melodies are more reminding of At The Gates or demo level Dark Tranquillity so that as well is a definite plus. All in all, this band has not been disappointing, but rather very, very impressive with their ideas in the music. But with the "Melodic Death Metal" tag attached to their name, which instantly brings to mind a whole ocean of bands bordering mediocrity and metalcore, this band may find itself in the unfortunate position of being overlooked by metalheads who are getting tired of this brand of metal.