CODE — The Enemy Within (review)

CODE — The Enemy Within album cover Album · 2007 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Stephen
Code is a Swedish hard rock band/project which has a pretty unique sound, crossing between the classic rock sound with some keyboard exploration of Deep Purple, the pompous element of Asia, the AOR touch of Toto, and some 90s melodic hard rock throw-in of Giant. This is a side project of Grand Illusion's Anders Rydholm where he simultaneously handles the bass, keyboards, and rhythm guitars, and the formation was also strengthened with the famous session drummer, Gregg Bissonette. Sherwood Ball provided his vocal here and he sounded like a harsh and raspy version of Jon Anderson from Yes.

Though I find several strong tracks here such as the title track with an enigmatic choppy intro, the emotional piano-driven ballad "How Do We Stay In Love", and the gigantic slab of midtempo hard rock, "How Can I Change The World", the rest aren't shining like these three. Songs like "Sign Up For Love", "Uninvited Guest", "Flying High", and "Sworn To Silence" are quite good although lack of something punchy and memorable, but I guess "Home Away From Home", "In The Shadows", or "My Time" are just completely trashy fillers.

This disc was helped by a very good production and a marvelous technical skill of the players. While this disc will appeal to fans of classic rock, AOR, or melodic hard rock, “The Enemy Within" isn't the typical pounding rhythm and high scream of traditional heavy metal. One thing to consider is there are at least more than 50% of good tunes inside, and while this is still far from essential, a 3-stars rating is acceptable and good to buy if you can find it cheap.
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