Review by Michael on October 27, 2024.

Yeehaa, time for the crowbar again! Enforced are back with a cool EP and don't have the intention to take any prisoners on A Leap Into The Dark. Brutal thrash with a slight dose of crossover but this time with some more death metal influences, too. So for instance, the title track reminds me a lot of good old Obituary when it comes to the riffing. Also, the ultra-brutal double bass sounds pretty death metal-like, if you ask me. And that really kicks ass. If you enjoyed their three previous full-length albums, you will love the EP, for sure. However, the guys from Richmond, Virginia are a little bit more uncompromising this time. The groovy and catchy parts are scaled back significantly, for this, we have a lot of brutal thrash to find here. 

With the first three songs 'Betting On The End', 'A Leap In The Dark' and 'Deafening Heartbeats' we can listen to some brand new tracks, that all are produced in really good quality and sound. I wouldn't be able to say which one is the best of them because they all are top-notch and full of energy. With 'Casket' we get to listen to an old song back from 2021 which was released as a single and got digitally remastered for that EP. This one sounds pretty rough, don't know what was remastered here, honestly. But this one kicks ass too and doesn't sound too demo-like. With 'Deadly Intentions' they did a cover by Obituary (guess this explains the death metal influences here and there) from their debut “Slowly We Rot” which sounds okay. It is not as stinky and disgusting as the original but acceptable. There are worse cover songs on graveyard Earth. And finally, (and this one turned out much better) they covered 'The Chase Is On' by English Dogs. This one is a really furious bastard of punk and thrash and a great one to completely freak out. That one is a must-have for the mosh pit, hell yeah!!! You can literally smell the sweat, blood, and beer there!! 

My only point of criticism is that Enforced didn't do a new full-length, I still don't like EPs too much because they often are too expensive and doubtful in their existence. So, let's hope for a full lenght in 2025! 

Rating: 8 out of 10