Werewolves – My Enemies Look and Sound Like Me
Release Date: 11th August 2023
Label: Prosthetic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Blackened Thrash.
FFO: Sentient Horror, Psycroptic, Exhumed, Depravity, Aborted.
Review By: Rick Farley
Instead of resting on their blood-soaked laurels, Australia’s death metal bastards, Werewolves, are churning out albums at a brutal once a year rate. It was only June of last year that I had the pleasure of reviewing their third record From the Cave to the Grave, and only since April 2020 that the band released their bludgeoning debut album The Dead are Screaming. So essentially, with the newest release of My Enemies Look and Sound Like Me on Prosthetic Records, that’s four albums in as many years. If there were even the smallest decline in quality, it would be easy to say that’s just too much, but the reality is that Werewolves seem like they’re growing even more deliciously belligerent, reckless and hella brutish.
It should go without saying, but I will anyways. If you’re a fan of the first three records, there’s absolutely no way this doesn’t tickle your little sick fuck fancy. My Enemies Look and Sound Like Me is bigger, uglier, hairier, and downright nastier than its predecessors. A hulking beast of contorting deformities, reformed bones, stretched skin and sharp teeth ready to consume your flesh. The amount of violence on any one track is truly astounding. Meaty hooks combined with blazing thrashy riffs; abrasive tempo changes go from glorious headbanging to neck obliterating hellfire. Thick concussive drum sound that never stops rattling your core, serrated guitars rapidly grind your skull to bits, and roars trading off from low gutturals to raspy growls all worthy of being called beastly, fiercely snarl with bloodthirsty potency. This brand of death metal is relentless savagery. You’ll be left almost lifeless, lying on the ground, torn, bloodied and with a big ole smile on your stupid deranged face.
Tracks like Under the Ground furiously blast and change tempos from quick non-stop pounding to hellaciously fast at the drop of a dime. With a short sample of Billy Butcher’s (The Boys) “you’re a pathetic fucking cunt” ending this unrelenting and ruthless track, it’s hard to not grin ear to ear with diabolical appreciation. The slow churning swagger of Destroyer of Worlds is a small reprieve from the accelerated neck smashing of the rest of the record. Ominous, brooding, and crunchy, the track is a peek into the realm of darkness where the monstrosity hides just before striking its prey. I Knew Nothing Then and I Know Less Now is a feral, shapeshifting track ranging from blackened berserking to chunky stomp. All killer, zero filler.
As with my last Werewolves review, I left you with a press release quote that I found rather amusing. In this case, bassist/vocalist Sam states: “This album is as idiotic as the rest, if not more. CAVEMAN RIFFS. Blasting. Screaming. Bowing to a shrine of Mortician and Angelcorpse. This isn’t going to be the album that brings people together and catalyses world peace”.
Yet again genius words from the down under death slingers and shows Werewolves don’t take themselves too seriously, it’s all about the unwavering, punishing death metal. Truth be told, My Enemies Look and Sound Like Me, is a total riot to listen to. It honestly sounds like watching your friend being chased down by a swarm of pissed off bees on one good leg through the spiny woods, screaming like he’s going to die. Good times filled with a ton of violent fun, broken bones, and serious skin abrasions. Easy recommend. 
(4.5 / 5)
