The band is listed technically as being from Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee, or BrewCity as it is known to the locals for obvious reasons. However, growing up, some of my finer athletic achievements came at the expense of the Brookfield athletic teams and I am undoubtedly not remembered for any of them, unfortunate as that may seem. But, I recall the locale fondly, especially one snow filled football game where our white uniforms made us virtually invisible in the snowy white out conditions viewed by at least 10 truly inebriated but sincerely loyal football fans with very heavy coats. And, lead guitarist Paris Ortiz allows that he still reports to a supervisor at his day job who attended my high school, so it seems we still rule the premises to some extent.

Ortiz is listed as the founder of the band and he is a longtime BrewCity musician. Several of his previous musical entities, BIG DUMB DICK and COCKSMITHS, had relatively strong followings and several of my friends who still live in the Milwaukee area are familiar with them. Fortunately, this newest production takes its name from something other than a male sex organ, maybe because the focus is on a female singer. That singer, Kassy Gruszkowski, and that’s a Milwaukee name if ever there was one, is also a local with a past history in the BrewCity music scene. But her sound is heavily influenced by the more classical directions. And that, as a result, is the Enemy Star sound; a heavy metal with a classical vocal. . . combined with some choral elements and a lot of pop hooks. Ortiz wanted "more of a thrashing Megadeth feel focusing on those kind of syncopated guitar rhythms" and put them together with the Gruszkowski vocals, soaring, often in harmony, like an Operatic choir.

Production follows some of the current trends. . .that is, it’s often done electronically and from a distance, even if that distance is only around Milwaukee neighborhoods. Ortiz actually found Gruszkowski on MySpace. Production followed this distance learning mode. Guitar riffs were sent to Gruszkowski where they led to melodies and lyrics. Interestingly enough, this production first saw the light of day in a recording studio, not live with an audience. That in itself is a novelty, even in these days where nothing seems to follow those age-old patterns. And the results are truly satisfying. There are some bumps in the road to get over with this approach, of course. Band members were still meeting each other for the first time in person when they got together for the coming out effort.

The CD goes in a variety of directions through it’s 14 song track list, but the focus is guitar based metal over a striking female vocal. Lyrics don’t fit the European Gothic mode, no discussion of the finality of life and the desperation of eternity here. This music takes it’s lead from other directions, some probably as a result of blues influences that have been a part of the bands past experience but the topics vary. I guess it’s a midwestern thing. But, this is sincerely interesting music and some comparatively strong musicianship along with a strong classical female vocal, something I never saw during my touring days of the Milwaukee night spots, and I checked out most of them. Of course, the women of interest to me would not have been on stage.

Enemy Star covers a lot of musical territory in this 14 track offering. And its all pretty good, so you can expect each track to have its supporters. I didn’t hear anything I had even the most remote problem with, but there were some tracks that stood out for a variety of reasons. In some instances, it was the music, in others, the lyrics, in still others, it was both. One of these was definitely The Next Big Thing. You know I love music that has something to say, and this is one of the best treatments of our consumer society I’ve ever heard. The song begins with a crunching guitar, with Kassy’s vocals electronically distorted. But the vocal clears up as the song progresses and we hear the lovely vocalist sing: