For today's review, I'll be taking you back way further than that, to 1986. The Cold War is at its peak. On April 26th, a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukraine, goes horribly wrong, causing thousands to flee their homes, leaving the city a nuclear ghost town. In music, CANDLEMASS release their debut album, HIRAX release their second album, "Hate, Fear and Power", and METALLICA release "Master of Puppets". But on the other side of the US, away from California and the Bay Area, in Baltimore, a Progressive Thrash band named ENFORCE have just recorded their newest album, "The Final Sign". But for some reason, the album is never released and it looks like it will become one of the many albums that slips into obscurity. Until now, that is. This is thanks to Divebomb Records, and its sister label Tribunal, who have released this album, limited to 500 copies, on their Bootcamp series. I was introduced to this label and this great idea while reviewing THE HIDDEN's ""Fearful Symmetry" (which you can find on this very site), a decent piece of Swedish Speed/ Thrash Metal originally intended for release around the turn of the century. And once again they have delivered a brilliant album to the world.

This album opens with "I'll Walk Alone", a decent Thrash tune with powerful vocals. Songs lie "Pleasure of Pain" has a very Proggy feels to it, but isn't self indulgent and drawn out like some Prog bands can be. "I Remember" an upbeat Progressive Rock tune, is perhaps the strongest song on the album. I can sum this album up in three words: DREAM THEATER Worship. It strongly reminds me of some of DREAM THEATER's stuff, which isn't surprising, as they often opened for DREAM THEATER on a few occasions. But like I said, these guys often excel where bands like DREAM THEATER fall down. By this I mean that they don't go off into long, technical and sprawling interludes on their instruments. Their songs are quick and catchy, and don't go into detail on certain ideas unless it genuinely suits the song.

    Although this band is no more, this album serves as a fitting legacy for this band. If you like Progressive Metal of any kind, especially DREAM THEATER, then I suspect that you will enjoy this record. It's a shame that all albums released on the Bootcamp Series are limited to a meagre 500 copies, because this is an album that quite a lot of people could appreciate.