0 [FROM THE CRATES #7] Enemymine - The Ice in Me (2000)

Review by Matt Abramson

Enemymine - The Ice in Me
(Up Records - 2000)

Chances are, I am going to be friends with a record by any post-rock, alternative, metal, whatever you want to call it type band that features bass, bass, and drums. It only sweetens the deal to find that said band credited the dude who built their amps in the liner notes. When a band gives shout outs to the dude or dudes who built their equipment, it means that record is going to sound fucking awesome. It's the kind of thing that would make me buy an album sight unseen.

Luckily, I knew Enemymine was kick ass prior to buying this album. The band was a fairly short-lived collaboration between Mike Kunka of godheadSilo and Zak Sally of Low. They came from the Botch era of Seattle math metal, and their eponymous EP from 1999 was pretty rad. This one was a no brainer to pick up.

'The Ice in Me' is a clinic on atonal sonic demolition and pants-shitting bass annihilation. The dissonant stop-start jerk of tracks like "Inverted Circle" and "Setting the Traps" offer bursts of aggression that would still rhythmically confuse your garden variety mosh pit patron. Sprinkled amongst the chaos are quieter, more contemplative moments that sound exactly like a couple dudes sitting in a practice space on a rainy day with bass guitars, killer amps and a twack of Rainier.

But what exactly is meant by the phrase "pants-shitting bass annihilation", you ask? Simple. Listen to the track "Passive Equalizer", which meanders about with subtlety for the first minute or so and suddenly hits you with a single note "BWAAAAAAH!!!!" that resonates for a good ten seconds. That is it. It's the kind of shit that can only come from a band that has two bass players and a dude who builds their amps. It’s the kind of tone that every person who has taken an instrument even slightly seriously has dreamt of, and the casual music enthusiast can mutter “holy shit… maybe that’s what all them dudes were talking about...” And that tone, excuse me, THAT TONE is ever present and unrelenting throughout ‘The Ice in Me’. You will be friends with it and you will try to destroy speakers with it, and I bid you god speed in this task.