Reviewed by Andy Long

The mighty Dub War make an overdue return with a new single heralding the release of the second album for Earache in the early summer. "Enemy Maker" has much more of a mainstream rock sound than previous platters with a choppy guitar intro and a maddeningly addictive hook line to the chorus which I found myself singing for days afterwards. There is still the punk reggae feel to the beat, hearkening back to bands like The Clash and the song has a frenetically powerful bridge which will please hardcore fans. Of the various formats available I picked up the two CDs which bring together a nice little bag of goodies including two very different versions of the single "Peach maker", an acoustic guitar arrangement, and "Public Enemy", a grindingly heavy dub mix with a driving dirty root note bass line and an intense atmosphere. There are also mixes of "Pain" and "Nations" from the first album and two new tracks, "Silencer (Monitor Mix)", a slow track with a phased vocal not unlike Portishead and the monster mosh up "Money In The Bank", which is Dub War as we all love them, squealing guitar, punchy rhythms, no-nonsense lyrics delivered with gutsy passion, forcing me to do that Living Colour comparison again. It's good to see the boys are back in town.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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