Album Review: The Enemy – Social Disguises
3 min read
The Enemy burst out of Coventry in the mid-2000s, with sharp, street-level observations and punchy indie rock, making them an immediate voices of the era. After splitting in 2016 and reuniting years later to a surprisingly fervent reception, they’ve stepped back into the fray with something to say again. Social Disguises, released on their own label, arrives as their fourth studio album and feels pointedly titled — a nod to modern identity… the masks we all wear. Time to find out if this is another nostalgia-chasing release, or a band reconnecting with their brand of blunt honesty – but with a few more scars and stories to show.
First up, The Boxer has all the hallmarks of a heavy hitter – distorted bass, and powerful chords, but for me the tempo is a little slow, and the vocals don’t really fit the instrumentation… good component parts in isolation, but for me it doesn’t knock it out the park when put together. Aptly, the next track is Not Going Your Way, but this is a far better track, well put together and gives me pigeon detectives kind of vibes, whereas The Last Time feels like it’s right out of the 2000’s (in a good way). Trouble has a 1980’s punkish feel to it, whereas I heard Controversial and immediately thought ‘Maximo Park’.
An interlude track of almost radio static (pre DAB kids) hits you with Interference, before moving on to the up tempo, plucky title track Social Disguises – vocally, to me, Tom Clarke sounds very John Power in this track, and that’s no bad thing… this is probably my favourite track on the album! Pretty Face screeches into a classic 2000’s, almost The Automatic-sounding track – full on Brit indie that doesn’t take a breather, while Serious has a great upbeat tempo and great chord scaling, once again a little ‘early years’ Maximo Park about it, as did penultimate track Innocent – which is decent track, despite the dated mid-90’s Casio-esque synth beat it opens with. Finally, we have the aptly titled Finish Line, which I actually liked despite its simplicity (or maybe because of it) – don’t expect a lyrical masterclass… or really anything over “Take it to the finish line”.
Social Disguises is a solid album by a band I am glad is back in the lights. A few of the tracks I do feel are badly arranged/produced, and a few times it did feel a little too nostalgia-like, but not enough to annoy. I do prefer their earlier work, and honestly nothing one here comes close to Had Enough or Away from Here from their monster We’ll Live and Die in These Towns album… but, realistically, that was never going to happen. This album will appease die-hards, and maybe tempt a few new-comers to delve into The Enemy back catalogue, and, honestly, that’s about all they could have hoped for. There were a few decent tracks… but I’m not going to be adding to my 2026 playlist, I’d rather add their seminal tracks to me 2000’s hotlist (who am I kidding, they’re already on there).
