Eternal Enemies

Background

When the track listing for the album was released on February 18, 2014, the name of the first track, "Bring a Gun to School", sparked controversy. This resulted in their former guitarist Ben Lionetti making a statement with respect to his former ensemble and commenting on the track, calling lead vocalist Frankie Palmeri a "disgusting human being". He reportedly considered filing legal action against Emmure, their record label and their management to retrieve the money that is due to him and his brother Joe, a former drummer of the band. The song has been labeled as "(Untitled)" on the iTunes store.

Critical reception

At Alternative Press, Phil Freeman rated the album four stars out of five, remarking how the release is "Emmure's latest slab of relentless, skull-battering deathcore" and it "finds them in top form." Elsewhere, the album was heavily panned. At Sputnikmusic, Davey Boy remarked how the album was "so unsubtle and earnest" in its "targeting of rage-filled teenage males, through aggressive, hateful and misogynistic words." Tomas Doyle of Thrash Hits called lead vocalist Frankie Palmeri a "very angry man", and unfavorably compared the album's controversial intentions to the brilliance of controversial artists like Marilyn Manson and Eminem. He went further as to say the album was "so fatally lacking in musical spark."

Track listing

(*) = Title was later changed to "(Untitled)" due to controversy regarding the song's title.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 57 on the Billboard 200 (No. 55 in the Top Current Albums), and at No. 4 in the Top Hard Rock Albums chart with 6,475 copies sold in its debut week in the U.S.