Enders Game

Enders Game rip out old fashioned, fist-pumping, epic heavy metal with speed, prog and thrash influxes. Hyper-dizzying guitar solos? Check. Machine gun drumming? Check. Soaring, larynx-shredding vocals? Check. Spooky, deathly album cover art? Check. Pseudo-classical interlude? Check. I could go on, but yeah, son, all the essential elements are here, and they know exactly what to do with them. This is some seriously good shit – intense, intricate and accessible all at once. What We've Lost is the Atlanta trio's latest and greatest, as solid as any national metal release in recent memory. They're at Masquerade next Tuesday, April 26th. Put down the bong and check it out, loser. - Stomp And Stammer (online)

Enders Game
“Game Over”
Self-released, 2003
Enders Game’s music is an interesting mixture of thrash and death metal. The opening riffs remind me of Atheist’s “Unquestionable Presence”. This comparison isn’t very adequate to analyze the next compositions but it’s one of the best comparisons I can find for this original material. Other comparisons that come to my mind are equally loose. I will mention for instance Sadus, but I’m sure that you still don’t know what Enders Game plays. Such varied comparisons may be even misleading. In such situation, it’s better to say that Atlanta’s band has simply many original ideas that make “Game Over” unique metal fusion. Enders Game’s advantage is songwriting for the tracks have interesting, compact structures. Because of them as well as memorable riffs, Enders Game’s music is pretty catchy, not being too soft and too commercial. The fans of technical metal will appreciate the skills of the band’s members. The vocals are clean but aggressive enough for thrash/death metal standard. http://www.endersgametheband.com - Metal Side Webzine

I like this little heavy metal band from Atlanta. I like them a lot. They have all the thrash style of Overkill and Exodus and all of the melodic style of Stone Sour combined in such a way that the sound is fucking unique. They put out some over the heavier, harder sound in Atlanta. I wouldn't call them death metal-but it is extreme music like Hatebreed. -More than once, I have stood in the back of the club watching these guys. I am always watching, even if I am not there. People tell me WTF is going on-and right now one of the things that is going on soon is Enders Game. With the lack of quality metal that is hitting the South on national tours right now, we die hard metal head mother fuckers need our fix. Enders Game is going to fix you really fucking good. -Hey Jamey Josta, yeah you you in control of yourself son of a bitch, I would put Kevin Freeman up against you any day of the week. I am not saying you suck Jamey-I am just saying I think Kevin Freeman may be able to kick your ass on vocals. Kevin Freeman has a melodic thing going on that I would fucking love to hear out of Jamey Josta. -Jarrod Johnson and Dave Merrill are a way fucking talented guitar section, and you can hear their influences in their style. When I listen to the two of them, I can hear Dave Linsk, Dimebag Darrell, and George Lynch combine into this fucking mind blowing blend of melodic thrash and metal. -Shon Harp on bass reminds me of the bass god of death metal-Terry Butler. He provides the rolling thunder undertones to the sharp lightning crack of the drums. -The drums on the CD are done by Jeff Gardner-but Daniel Burch is the current drummer. The drums are hardcore on the cd and ever harder live. Burch is fucking exciting to watch. -Locally, these guys onstage with Prime Mover and Ground Xero would be a kick ass and fucking brutally poetic show. These are three bands that really make the fucking argument to launch an independent extreme metal label in Atlanta. -My favorites on the demo are S.K.O. and Shedding Faith. Go check these fucking guys out-you are going to love them. - Music Incider Webzine

Unleashing their under-twenty minute EP amidst much anticipation, the curiously monikered Enders Game deliver four death-and-hardcore-tinged metal tunes as diverse as they are melodically developed and blisteringly powerful. Already scoring opening slots for bands In Flames, Soilwork, Chimaira and Unearth within the space of their three year existence, Enders Game offer this appetizer before releasing their debut full length early next year. All four songs are nearly equal in quality and bode well for their eagerly awaited LP.
While the Phil Anselmo vocals may sound dated to some ears, Kevin Freeman’s growl is devastating in its clarity and his screams are as impassioned as just about anything from extreme metal’s heyday. He also mixes it up a fair amount – setting into a Machine Head-esque wail before again launching into throat-shredding theatrics.
The rest of the band, in addition to the EP itself, is simply spectacular. Rarely are such new bands as tight and convincing as Enders Game are. Unfortunately, the cover of Game Over shows the band trying their best to look evil while a display of ones and zeroes seemingly sprout out of Freeman’s head. That alone may scare away metalheads who have long ago tired of bands who ache to impress in any terms other than musical. However, those reluctant to judge a book by its cover will find some of the most satisfying relatively straightforward metal to come out in some time.
Combining the melodicism of mid-nineties retro-thrash black metal with the alluring chug of Roadrunner Records styled death metal and recorded with enough grittiness and irreverent attitude to appeal to hardcore-nu metal crossover fans, Enders Game is exactly what more metal bands should sound like. Though they might not have exactly stumbled onto a new subgenre, Enders Game sounds more vital and forward-thinking than many of the bands they’re influenced by currently are. For as much as they borrow from various styles of metal and hardcore, they come out with something wholly unique and extraordinary.
- Southeast Performer