Enforcer’s heavy metal celebration in Tokyo
Heavy metal is alive and well. Sweden’s Enforcer brought its traditional heavy metal back to Tokyo nearly a decade after its last performances in Japan.
Enforcer at Koenji High, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, Japan on 10th January 2025
When Enforcer, the traditional Swedish heavy metal band, returned to Tokyo nearly a decade after their last performance in Japan, the band proved that heavy metal is alive and well. To ensure everyone gets the message, they have two large banners with the words “heavy metal” on stage.
The black leather vest-clad Enforcer members have been flying the proud flag of traditional heavy metal for over two decades. The Enforcer lads love the kind of heavy metal that the 1980s gave us. Enforcer does not care much for any of the subsequent subgenres of metal.
Band leader Olof Wikstrand has a love for proper heavy metal that rubs off on the rest of the band, its songs, performances and fans. He is on a mission and won’t stop until he drops. With him on this heavy metal trip is his brother Jonas Wikstrand on drums. The last time Enforcer played in Japan, at 2015’s Japanese Assault Fest, lead guitarist Jonathan Nordwall was with the band as a session player. A few years later he returned to the band as an official member. Over the years, he has become an integral part of the band’s sound. The newest addition to the band is American bassist Garth Condit. This is a great version of the band that delivers.
They opened their first of two Tokyo shows strongly with “Destroyer” and “Undying Evil”, both from the 2015 “From Beyond” album, before they served up “Unshackle Me” from their latest album, 2023’s “Nostalgia”.
The high-energy, in-your-face metal show featured many of the band’s best songs, such as “From Beyond”, “Live for the Night”, “Zenith of the Black Sun”, “Coming Alive”, “Mesmerized by Fire”, “Running in Menace”, “Hell Will Follow” and my personal favourite, “Take Me Out of This Nightmare”.
The band has been going for over two decades and still delivers the goods. Many of the audience members this evening had seen Enforcer on previous Japan tours and were delighted to see the band back on stage in Tokyo. The audience enthusiastically chanted “Enforcer!” throughout the performance to the delight of Olof and his men. Japan has a strong heavy metal community that lives and breathes metal, especially traditional heavy metal of the kind Enforcer is keeping alive.
The band rounded off a fabulously sweaty metal show with the Japan-inspired track “Katana” and, of course. “Midnight Vice”. What a great celebration of heavy metal this evening was!
The future of heavy metal is safe as long as we have Enforcer and metal-loving promoters such as Yuhmi Nakamura of Chrosh Bookings. Hopefully, it won’t be another decade until Enforcer returns to Japan.
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