Album Review: The Enemy – Social Disguises

SOCIAL DISGUISES

There’s always pressure when a band with a legacy steps back into the ring but ‘Social Disguises‘ doesn’t sound like a group trading on nostalgia, it sounds like unfinished business from The Enemy.

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Opener ‘The Boxer’ sets the tone in brutal fashion, thunderous rhythms and a vehement, almost industrial-leaning riff underpin Tom Clarke’s vitriolic vocal, creating a hypnotic and grinding intensity. It’s the story of a man past his peak but it lands as something far more universal, a reflection on regret, anxiety and the paralysing fear that stops us chasing what we want. The monotony in its composition mirrors that feeling of being stuck, yet beneath it all there’s defiance. It’s heavy, both sonically and emotionally and it immediately tells you this isn’t a lightweight return.

If that’s the gut punch, ‘Not Going Your Way’ is the reminder of who they’ve always been. For anyone who cut their teeth on ‘Away from Here‘ or ‘We’ll Live and Die in These Towns‘, this is the moment you grin. Urgent, direct and laced with that unmistakable Coventry snarl, it feels like classic Enemy but crucially, not a rehash. There’s a fresh spark running through it, like a band reconnecting with their core instincts rather than copying their past.

Then there’s ‘Trouble’, a riot of ragged riffs and taut rhythms delivered with a punkish sneer. It’s a driving two-chord rant in the best possible way, a spiritual nod to their earlier bite but lyrically it cuts deeper, Clarke tackles that uneasy middle ground of ageing within culture, that moment you realise you’re no longer counter-culture but not quite establishment either. It’s sharp, relatable and packed with a chorus that sneaks into your head almost subversively.

Across the record, the production from Matt Terry (the man behind fan favourite ‘40 Days and 40 Nights’ and  ‘No Time For Tears’) keeps things punchy but unpolished in the right places. There’s weight where there needs to be weight but no gloss to sand off the edges, it feels intentional as Clarke has said, the band approached this as if they were making the follow-up to their debut, writing around 90 demos and spending a full year refining it in the studio.

‘Controversial’ sounds like one of those moments that could have been pulled straight from their debut-era sessions, delivered full throttle and dripping with the same venom that helped build such a loyal fanbase in the first place.

The title track, ‘Social Disguises’, takes the album in a slightly different direction. On first listen it almost feels out of place, softer around the edges and more introspective, echoing the tone of Clarke’s solo album ‘The Chronicles of Nigel‘ but give it time and it blossoms. The aggression that fuels much of the record drops away and what you’re left with is Tom stripped back, the mask slipping, it’s intimate, reflective and quietly powerful. His late adult Autism diagnosis shines through here most clearly, not as a headline but as a lens through which vulnerability, miscommunication and self-understanding are explored. When the closing line lands, “I don’t really wanna, wanna sing this song”, it cuts deep, sounding less like a lyric and more like a confession.

The sharp contrast into ‘Pretty Face’ is striking, where the title track is introspective and exposed, ‘Pretty Face’ is the most unapologetically Enemy-sounding track on the album and one of its biggest highlights. It’s a chest-out, boisterous strut of a tune that practically demands to be played loud. You can already picture the crowd bouncing with pints flying through the air. This one is going to be insane live, the kind of song that once it’s in the set, it’s never coming back out. Without doubt, it has future fan-favourite written all over it.

The Enemy have one last curveball up their sleeve when they step into almost disco territory with ‘Innocent’. The infectious groove grips you from the first few seconds and just keeps expanding, blossoming into something bigger and bolder as it unfolds. It’s easily one of the album’s biggest earworms, the track you find yourself going back to again and again. There’s a swagger to it that feels closer to their ‘It’s Automatic’ era, but evolved, tighter and more confident.

Ending with ‘Finish Line’, the band opt for simplicity and it works, it does exactly what you want it to. From the moment it starts, steadily building and building towards a big finale. The lyrics are straightforward, centred on making it to the finish line but that directness is what gives it weight, it feels symbolic of the album, of their journey and of perseverance. A fitting way to close the record. Once you hit that finish line too, you’ll want to go straight back to the start and run it all over again.

‘Social Disguises‘ isn’t just a comeback record, it has all the bones of what feels like a lost follow-up to ‘We’ll Live and Die in These Towns‘ but with all the soul of the progression they’ve been through in the 19 years since. It’s a band confronting themselves, their past and the world around them.