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I liked The Absence's previous album Riders of the Plague well enough, but I can't say this is as interesting an album. This is not only less thrashy and more Melodic Death Metal-sounding, but it feels like a by-the-numbers effort, going through the motions, if you will. Very melodic, very clean (a bit too much – the music lacks bite), and overall kind of bland. This is not bad, just kind of boring with a sense of déjà vu all over the place. Still, The Absence are still good at making extreme metal melodic, and some of the guitar parts are quite the attention-catchers (even caught a couple of Priest-ish moments in there.) The vocalist's growls are very good for the genre, though a bit too monotone at times. Enemy Unbound could have used a bit more punch and variety, but it's still decent.