Review
Never Enough
Dead Set on Destruction

Organized Crime (2005) PJ

Never Enough – Dead Set on Destruction cover artwork
Never Enough – Dead Set on Destruction — Organized Crime, 2005

I first heard about this band in the summer of 2003. I was buying a 7" from a band on tour when their merch guy told me about his band, Never Enough. He said they were a cross between Negative Approach and American Nightmare. He gave me a demo CD-R. Never Enough was just the sort of thing I wanted to hear. They sounded PISSED! It was fast and in your face. The NA/AN comparison was right on for sure. On the lyric sheet was a request from one member for someone to sell him a copy of Swervedriver's "Raise" LP, as he had sold his to record the demo. Never Enough was my kind of band, for sure. Sadly, I heard quite recently that they're calling it quits.

"Dead Set on Destruction" is a 27 track CD that documents this bands demo, 7", a live set and six new tracks. The music is straight forward fast hardcore punk. They turn the volume and negativity to eleven. The guitar tones sound like an attack by a swarm of buzz saws. The vocals sound gruff and furious. The drums are manic and blasting. I wish I could hear the low-end better. The bass and kick drums are a little quieter than I would prefer. The lyrics take a realistic look at life in hardcore instead of the idealistic mentality that we're all used to hearing from typical na've bands. These guys are older than your average band. They have been able to hang on to the lifestyle as they see other (younger) kids come and go. Their lyrics are a reflection of the impact that punk has made on them. While most straightedge bands have a tendency to talk about the concept on a 2nd grade level (cough!' Embrace Today' cough!), Never Enough looks at the lifestyle on a pragmatic level.

If you're into bands like Cro-Mags, Kill Your Idols, The Oath and Right Brigade, you need to check out Never Enough. The live set has a cover of "Just to Get Away" by Poison Idea and "Bloodstains" by Agent Orange, two bands that don't get enough attention. I really hope the members of Never Enough continue making music, because there has been a severe drought in hardcore for good bands that actually think about life in a practical sense. These guys do it right.

8.0 / 10PJ • May 26, 2005

Never Enough – Dead Set on Destruction cover artwork
Never Enough – Dead Set on Destruction — Organized Crime, 2005

Related news

Instilled and Never Enough booking tour

Posted in Tours on January 8, 2005

Recently-posted album reviews

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more

Various Artists

Her Head's On Fire/Arms Like Roses - Split
Double Helix (2025)

Her Head’s On Fire (NY, NY) and Arms Like Roses (New Haven, CT) team up on this split 7” with two new tracks (one each band) of post-hardcore tunes that are both massive and melodic in their own distinct ways. "Universal" is the track from Her Head’s On Fire. Recorded by the band’s guitarist Jeff Dean, "Universal" came from the … Read more

Dead Bars

All Dead Bars Go To Heaven
Iodine (2025)

Dead Bars has a unique talent of taking the everyday, the experiences you see and live all the time, and shining a new light on them to make them personal and interesting. I've written about it before, yet it's my job to say this again and to make it interesting. It's what Dead Bars does, so it only seems fitting … Read more