“This album captures who we feel we are as a band,” says guitarist Michael Quinn when describing ENMY’s second full-length, self-titled album, out October 11. Fresh off inking a deal with FiXT to release the album, a press release describes ENMY as bringing “a fresh and energetic sound to modern day rock and metalcore by crafting a unique blend of soaring vocals, groove oriented instrumental play, and electronic melodies.”

It’s an apt description of the Cincinnati act, who first broke ground in 2020 with the single “Demon Eyes” and issued their debut full-length, Breaking Down, in 2021. Not resting their laurels, ENMY has further developed their sound on their second album.

“They can expect a little bit more exploration,” answers Quinn about the expectations for the new album. “I think our first album, we just kind of pieced it together based on just generalizing our influences as a group. This album, we took a lot more time with each individual song, really, differen, tones, melodies, and kind of production features that we've added to some of these songs. So, just kind of really having fun with the album. We feel like this album is kind of, it captures who we feel like we are as a band. Like when we say the name ‘ENMY’ and how we picture our sound, this album, I think, kind of captures that perfectly.”

The songwriting for ENMY was spread out with a series of singles releases. Preparations were put on hold when contacted by Laced Audio to provide a single for the PlayStation, PC game Blood Hunt. As luck would have it, they had a song in the works that would fit the vibe of the game with “Last Man Standing”. Focusing on readying that song delayed album brainstorming.

As Michael explains, they took more time with each song on the new opus, “It's kind of crazy when we sit here and we kind of break down each individual song, there’s a lot of depth, in terms of like melodies and layers. We also really took our time lyrically with this album, we wanted to make sure everything had meaning.”

Lyrical ideas range from vampires/werewolves ("Silver Bullets”) to zombie apocalypse in “Our Demise”, however there is an overall theme of handling mental health, broken relationships, and toxic attitudes.

Quinn agrees, “There's a lot of awareness in the band internally in terms of like mental health. Everybody's got things that they're dealing with in their personal lives and the people in ENMY are no exception. So we try to convey our perspective on things lyrically. And obviously Brady [Reis, ENMY vocalist] has the biggest influence on all that as he kind of brings lyrics and ideas to the table as we're writing songs. We try to really know the real side of mental health, but at the same time try to offer a positive outlook as well. Like you’ll hear in ‘Survive’.”

The “E” symbol/logo is prominently featured as the artwork, like an electronic, mysterious invader. While Brady usually is the mastermind behind art ideas, Michael thought of theme behind the self-titled artwork and to have their logo prominently featured.

“When people think of our name and brand, they kind of think of that,” he says. “So I'm like, you know what? It'd be sick to have this ‘E’ as the centerpiece of the album, because I feel like that's important. If it's self-titled, the album artwork needs to reflect that. And [I thought] what if that ‘E’ was there bold, front, and center, and then everything around it is just dark and ominous. It's like really earthy, kind of creepy looking. But at the same time, it’s electronic and I wanted that to be reflected as well. So it’s this dark atmosphere and then it’s got these cables hooked up to it.”

As for the idea behind “ENMY” and what it stands for, Michael makes it known that playing this style of music is because of genuine interest, not some ploy to make money.

“I feel like bands that come out right out of the gate in this specific genre of music, I feel like you're kind of looked at as a sellout or something like that,” Quinn explains. “But to be honest, like we genuinely just love this style of music. We're all huge Nickelback fans (laughs). We view ourselves as kind of the outcast, like the enemy of the scene. I think that was kind of part of the process.”

“We just kind of always viewed ourselves as different,” he goes on to say. “And we were going to be like, ‘you know what, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this the way we want to do it. And if that makes us the enemy of the scene, so be it.”

Quinn knows it’s important for the band to stick out when then are many options out there when picking something for entertainment.

“We try to do that with a lot of things,” answers Quinn. “With the image we put out, we the social media content we put out, and even with our music, we try to be direct to the point. A lot of our songs have a radio structure, but we try to be really creative with how we can changes things from one verse to the other verse. I feel like – I’m not ragging on anybody – but I feel like a lot of music can feels very copy and paste. So we didn’t want to do that at all. Even within our own songs, you’ll hear there’s a progression of the song from the first verse to the second verse, or the first chorus to the last chorus.”

ENMY indeed fits much progression in their music even when mostly running 3.5 minutes. The mix of melodies, electronic instrumentation, and breakdowns delivers a swath of emotions in a short time. The key to ENMY’s approach is keeping the listener attentive and not overdoing the songwriting.

“You got to have somebody's attention,” he remarks. “So we try to keep it short, simple, and then really just deliver everything that we want to deliver in that quick three minutes. Unless you're Tool and you're just masters of music, and you can write this nine minute song – and by the way we’re huge Tool fans (laughs) – but unless you can write a nine minute song, like a journey through all these different melodies and storytelling you’re probably going to lose someone’s attention. Although we love that and like do a lot of that groove style riffing, we know that’s not us and won’t serve the song well if you just lengthen it two or three minutes.”

Gaining attention has worked as the band’s songs were featured on WWE programming. One of the major reasons ENMY signed with FiXT is their focus licensing music, ad placements, and their catalog of music was picked by the WWE to use on their shows.

“Typically, we will not know a song is being used until it’s happening in real time,” laughs Quinn. “It’s funny because the first time that WWE used our song, it was our single ‘Clarity’, and I was literally in my office working on some music. I don't remember if I was working on like, backtracks for a live show or what I was doing, but I was working on something music related, and all of a sudden, I had my phone face down and when I wasn't playing guitar, I could just hear it going off and I'm like, ‘what is going on?’

“I pick up my phone and like, I got like six messages from Trevor and like a bunch of messages from the band and friends and stuff, and everybody's blowing my phone. I was blown away 'cause like, we had literally just like, our music had just become available for placement. So, it was totally unexpected, like took us completely by surprise. We were super psyched about it.”

It’s that power and intensity that makes ENMY’s music prime for bodyslams and the chaotic nature of professional wrestling. It’s still simple enough for listeners to enjoy.

As Quinn describes the album, “This is us, we did self-title because we feel like it's a good; let's say reflection of who ENMY is. We have a lot of different influences. I feel like all those influences are perfectly tucked into this album, either in certain songs or certain riffs. I think Brady has a very powerful voice and a lot of that is showcased in this album. We had a lot of fun with it and I hope people have fun listening to it.”

The single format has worked exceptionally for ENMY, but they still see value in releasing albums.

Quinn says about their strategy, “What we've tried to do is, okay, we're gonna release a single every couple of weeks, every couple of months to really keep those who are following ENMY engaged and to kind of tell the story as we go along. And then, boom, when it's time for the last single to come out, here's the full picture. So we’re handing all these pieces to the puzzle out, and then at the very end, here's the entire group of artwork together. That’s how I view streaming. And then in terms of physical albums, I definitely think it’s still important and quite honestly, when we play shows, that's obviously one of our biggest sellers.”

Vinyl release is planned for the future, but CDs will be shipped out on October 11. ENMY is also planning of hitting the road as much as possible in 2025.

Order the album on fixtstore.com and also on Bandcamp.