Arch Enemy: Will To Power

ARCH ENEMY: WILL TO POWER (2017)

1) Set Flame To The Night; 2) The Race; 3) Blood In The Water; 4) The World Is Yours; 5) The Eagle Flies Alone; 6) Reason To Believe; 7) Murder Scene; 8) First Day In Hell; 9) Saturnine; 10) Dream Of Retribution; 11) My Shadow And I; 12) A Fight I Must Win.

General verdict: Like somebody asked them to make a progressive death metal album, only they took the wrong meaning of the word «progressive».

When it comes to death metal, there is a really fine line between entertaining corny spectacle and unbearably miserable self-parody — the two opposite ends in between which we lodge about 95% of everything ever produced in this genre (I cautiously allocate about five percent for the kind of death metal that demands to be taken seriously). In many cases, it is nigh impossible to tell whether that line has been crossed or not. But every once in a while, you see an artist inten­tionally going for a decision that is SO GODDAMN WRONG that it is hard to imagine how even the most tolerant fans could embrace him for this blunder.

War Eternal may not have been Arch Enemy at their very best, but the injection of fresh young (virgin?) blood worked well for the band, and, as I said, the quasi-punkish energy of Alissa White-Gluz managed to rub off well on the rest of the band, helping to cope with the departure of founding father Christopher Amott. A little later, they compensated for this loss by adding Jeff Loomis, another guitar pro from the Norwegian prog metal outfit Nevermore; and it may have looked like the future was really bright for these guys. And then it happened.

Actually, I do not even know what happened; you could say that warning signs might have been picked up on any of their previous three or four records, but for all that time, the band was still seriously bent on safeguarding its core values. Will To Power, in stark contrast, is not so much a death metal album with an occasional pop flavour as it is a punk-pop album dressed up in death metal clothes — well, maybe not yet the equal of Babymetal, but quite possibly influenced by its likes. Its vast bulk consists of optimistic songs of hope, incorporating catchy, sing-along choruses whose main problem is, of course, that they are still delivered through growling vocals.

After the usual brief instrumental introduction (ʽSet Flame To The Nightʼ — an odd mix of motives from Beethoven to the Soviet patriotic anthem), the very first song already sounds like it was commissioned by The Obama Foundation: "I heard there was a place / Where we're all one race / Color, gender, age never could dictate", says Alissa White-Gluz... except that she says this in her usual Satan's voice, which would logically imply that she is conveying a message from Hell, but if Satan himself stands for equality and multi-culturalism, then I'm confused. "We're alive! Abolitionists rise!" she roars later on, supposedly projecting herself into the Civil War era, albeit with a questionable «Lucifer for Black Freedom» message. Meanwhile, the insane tempo and the poppy intonations of the chorus suggest the influence of preachy hardcore punk acts like Bad Religion — an influence that keeps cropping up over and over again (amusingly, the deluxe edition of the album even includes a cover of an old Charged GBH hit, ʽCity Baby Attacked By Ratsʼ). Welcome to the progressive era.

It is not that the band's message is wrong or that their goals are not noble; it is just that some things do not mix by nature — staying within the stylistic limits of death metal while trying to borrow your substance from a completely different genre is something that cannot work properly by definition. And ʽThe Raceʼ is not even the worst example of that: the honor goes to ʽReason To Believeʼ, a song that shares its title and some of its sentiments with the Tim Hardin classic, but is otherwise completely ridiculous — a power ballad, featuring the only clean singing on the album (the opening acoustic bars with Alissa almost crooning over them are actually pleasant) but ultimately landing in the same ditch: few things in this world are as embarrassing as hearing "THERE'S A REASON TO GO ON!" thrown in your face by some fiery demon lord from Heroes of Might & Magic (one second before he tears you to shreds).

I certainly do not deny the hilarious aspects of this process; only problem is, I do not think they were intentionally going for hilarious. A song like ʽThe World Is Yoursʼ is a preachy anthem, with a pompous symphonic chorus, and the accompanying video has Alissa in one of her trade­mark posh «metal cool» outfits gurgling the lines "if you want the world, use your mind, take control" in your face with such puffed-up enthusiasm that it becomes clear: they are actually using this space for fuckin' educational purposes now. If we live in a world now where even death metal fans prostrate themselves before their idols to receive a lesson in self-empowerment... can I please requisition another brick in the wall?

With this new agenda in place, the few decent songs there are on the album are ultimately lost in the haze; quickly going over the tracklist one more time, I think I could salvage ʽBlood In The Waterʼ (although now I do believe I cannot tell the difference between Arch Enemy and Amor­phis any more!) and maybe ʽFirst Day In Hellʼ... but no, not really. A few riffs here and there are nice, but overall, this mix of hardcore, progressive, pop, and preachy elements is a total failure. It is one thing to break out of the confines of a formula, especially one as weirdly limited as death metal; but to try and imbue that formula with inappropriate content makes about as much sense as trying to drink good wine from an unwashed bottle of ketchup. All I can say in consolation is that to watch Alissa White-Gluz in one of her videos, or in concert, is to contemplate a bizarre work of visual art in itself. But preferably, this should be done with the sound off. 

Arch Enemy: War Eternal

ARCH ENEMY: WAR ETERNAL (2014)

1) Tempore Nihil Sanat; 2) Never Forgive, Never Forget; 3) War Eternal; 4) As The Pages Burn; 5) No More Regrets; 6) You Will Know My Name; 7) Graveyard Of Dreams; 8) Stolen Life; 9) Time Is Black; 10) On And On; 11) Avalanche; 12) Down To Nothing; 13) Not Long For This World.

As our favorite pop pranksters, the Mael brothers of Sparks, once said, "Just like everything else in this world, time wreaks havoc on every girl. What do you do? Throw her away and get a new one!" Now I have no idea whether Michael Amott is a big Sparks fan, but he took the Maels' advice quite seriously. In the light of Arch Enemy's continuing descent into stagnation, Angela Gossow announced her departure from the band (apparently, an amicable one, as she stayed on as their business manager), and welcomed her replacement — Alissa White-Gluz (what a name!), former lead vocalist of The Agonist, up to now Canada's chief competition for Arch Enemy, but apparently no longer so.

With all due respect to Ms. Gossow and her decade with the band, this was a good decision, and not simply for reasons of physical health (growling does take its toll even among professionals), but also because, well, no offense intended, growling only takes you that far in your life: Wages Of Sin was a fun ride, but we'd learned everything we needed to know about Angela Gossow on that album and we really haven't learned anything new ever since — at a certain point, in this sort of genre, the singer ceases to be a personality and becomes a generic, predictable piece of para­phernalia, merely accompanying the different riffs and solos.

The catch is that the replacement would have to be worthy of the predecessor, and it is not every day that a growler of Angela Gossow caliber comes along. But as much as I am skeptical of the profession in the first place (and who wouldn't be?), White-Gluz turns out to be God's unexpect­edly generous gift to this band. Where Gossow's growling was almost genuinely scary in its car­toonish cackling taken to the extremest of extremes, this Alissa gal approaches the task in a simi­lar, but different manner — I'd probably define her growling voice as just a tad «sharper» than Gossow's, and more distinct, to the point where you can occasionally even make out some of the actual words she is «singing». She seems to have a drop of the punk spirit in her, too (not sur­prisingly, she is said to be in a relationship with Doyle of The Misfits), and there is a «pissed-off / violent» flavor to her growling, rather than the «infernal / doomsday» attitude of Gossow, which can help take it more seriously than usual.

Most importantly, though, the introduction of White-Gluz helps rekindle the band's collective spirit as well. I certainly cannot vouch that with War Eternal, Amott and Co. have given us the finest collection of riffs and classically-influenced melodic passages in 5, 7, or 10 years, since the melodic basis behind Arch Enemy's work has always been so similar (to say the least). But every once in a while, you'd have yourself an album that sounded «fresher» — Wages Of Sin being the most obvious example — and War Eternal, despite having the same superficial features as any Arch Enemy album, also has that «new-beginning» look to it, and not just because of a new sin­ger, but also because the new singer triggers a new desire to excel in what they do.

That desire does not translate (at least, not upon my initial attempts to discover them) into writing any exceptional, «where-the-hell-have-you-been-all-my-life» bits of riffage, but the band's over­all melodic drive seems to have improved, with a large number of symphonic themes interwoven among the brutal sledgehammering, including no less than three atmospheric interludes, the last of which, ʽNot Long For This Worldʼ, provides the album's most memorable and stylishly «heavy requiem»-like theme, building up crescendo-style and then fading out with a ghostly piano coda that, gratifyingly, leaves no hope whatsoever for the doomed humanity. The synthesizer tone re­s­ponsible for those symphonic elements is certainly cheesier than if they'd thought of adding real strings (ʽAvalancheʼ is a good example), but at least it supplies some variety.

Still, the band is really at the top of their game only when they are at their speediest, their angriest here — which is where Alissa's infuriated vocals really connect, and you get not too memorable melodically, but quite impressive stylistically tunes like ʽNever Forgive, Never Forgetʼ (give it a better set of riffs and it would not be out of place on an Iron Maiden album) or ʽAs The Pages Burnʼ. When they slow down, the whole thing occasionally starts dragging, but even there you have things like the title track, which is like... like a Foreigner arena-rocker derailed and turned into a death metal anthem. Yes, it's actually hilarious when you think about it this way.

Fans of White-Gluz' past karma have dared to complain that she is not given an opportunity to use her clean vocals on the record (other than a tiny bit of background overdubs on ʽAvalancheʼ), but this may not have necessarily been due to the band's stubborn conservatism, but rather to the fact that much, if not most, of the songs were written with a «growling» delivery in mind before the lineup change — a hypothesis that will be tested once the band returns to the studio once again. In the meantime, I am about as heavily excited by War Eternal as I could find myself excited about a present-day «melodic death metal» album written and executed in strict accor­dance with the genre's Procrustean formula. And that translates to a mild thumbs up, even though far be it from me to recommend spending too much time on a record like this, or on mo­dern heavy metal in general, for that matter.

Arch Enemy: Khaos Legions

ARCH ENEMY: KHAOS LEGIONS (2011)

1) Khaos Overture; 2) Yesterday Is Dead And Gone; 3) Bloodstained Cross; 4) Under Black Flags We March; 5) No Gods, No Masters; 6) City Of The Dead; 7) Through The Eyes Of A Raven; 8) Cruelty Without Beauty; 9) We Are A Godless Entity; 10) Cult Of Chaos; 11) Thorns In My Flesh; 12) Turn To Dust; 13) Vengeance Is Mine; 14) Secrets.

Each formula can only live for so long before its manufacturers run out of oxygen. Technically, Khaos Legions finds Arch Enemy at their ballsiest — loud, brutal, evil — but no matter where I look, there does not seem to be a single new idea, and that does not just concern the lack of expe­rimental moments: much worse than that, there is not one single riff on here that would seem as if I have never heard it before. And even if I acknowledge some of these riffs as variations on past successes — after all, each composer is entitled to variations on his own compositions — they are dull, un-evocative variations.

One direction in which they could have headed at this time, with a small bit of hope of getting out of the rut, is «moody». ʽNo Gods, No Mastersʼ, with its stern mid-tempo and genuinely melodic guitar and keyboard lead lines, actually ends up more memorable than the «thrashy» anthems on here. The Amott brothers are talented enough to master «subtle» if they really feel the need for it, and I am fairly sure that Angela could accommodate her by-now all-too-familiar growling style to fit that subtleness. But, by and large, this does not happen on Khaos Legions.

Instead, what we get is lots and lots of fast tracks, normally a plus for hard-rocking albums, but in this case they just merge into one lumpy blur, with nothing to distinguish ʽYesterday Is Dead And Goneʼ (album opener) from ʽSecretsʼ (album closer). In the end, the most successful track is pro­bably ʽWe're A Godless Entityʼ, due to the provocative title and some nice ominous minimalistic bass plinking from Sharlee D'Angelo. That's just one and a half minutes, though.

In short, this is a serious step down even from the level of Rise Of The Tyrant, and that record was no great shakes, either; but at least it had one stone cold death metal classic (ʽBlood On Your Handsʼ), whereas this album will, most probably, just go down stone cold; I cannot imagine any of its songs surviving for long even in the heads of the most devoted metal forgers. Curiously, the album is said to have sold more copies (in the US at least) than any previous Arch Enemy record; but I will put that down to the band's general workhorse attitude — keep it up for long enough, and eventually you'll get what's coming to you. Besides, who would mind the guys finally making a little bit of money after all these years of finger-tearing and throat-wearing?

In any case, my thumbs down will hardly make a difference: hardcore fans will thrive on this stuff as usual, and bypassers do not need to hear more than one or two albums by this band any­way. Just out of curiosity, I actually browsed through a half-dozen reviews of Khaos Legions on various metal-related sites — just to let you know that we probably are in trouble when the re­view in question (and most of those were like it) simply gives you some back story («this is the first album of original material in five years...»), a list of the players and producers, some­thing along the lines of «to all those who think they lost it, well, they still kick ass», and a heavy splat­tering of terms like «sharp riffs», «clear sound», «melodic shredding», and «power growl». Yeah, it's all here, I guarantee you that. For some reason, though, none of these reviewers ever ask themsel­ves the obvious question: «And what next?».

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Arch Enemy: The Root Of All Evil

ARCH ENEMY: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL (2009)

1) The Root Of All Evil (Intro); 2) Beast Of Man; 3) The Immortal; 4) Diva Satanica; 5) Demonic Science; 6) Bury Me An Angel; 7) Dead Inside; 8) Dark Insanity; 9) Pilgrim; 10) Demoniality; 11) Transmigration Macabre; 12) Silverwing; 13) Bridge Of Destiny.

Uh… well, this certainly does not sound bad, but the point of this record must have either been to simply buy some time in preparation for «bigger things», or to show the world, once and for all, just how much they really care about their old vocalist. Apart from the short atmospheric intro, all of the tracks are re-recordings from the Liiva era, naturally, with Angela on vocals instead; an idea possibly triggered by the successful inclusion of Liiva-era material on the band’s latest live album as well, where, under Angela’s command, it sounded well in harmony with the rest.

Predictably, all of the songs are very well played (seasoned fans will tell the minute differences, but my own taste buds have not been so finely developed for the likes of death metal), the track selection is strong (concentrating on Burning Bridges for obvious reasons), the production is far cleaner and clearer than whatever they used to achieve ten years before, and Gossow does all the songs justice in her gossowian way.

Still, the idea strikes me as somewhat unethical. I never cared much for Liiva as a vocalist, and thus, have no reason to be on the same level of ire as «hardcore» fans who think Arch Enemy «sold out» when they «hired that chick», but these songs were as much his as they are of the Amotts (and much more his than Angela’s). It is one thing to go on singing them in concert — that’s what the fans want, after all — it is quite another to re-record them in the studio, a gesture that could easily be interpreted as an invitation to throw the band’s pre-Angela past out of the window, leaving a few echos as souvenirs. Forget about Greedo shooting first — this is like a new edition of Star Wars in which all of Alec Guinness’ scenes have been completely replaced by re-shot sequences with a much-aged Ewan McGregor, «for the sakes of coherence, continuity, and credibility throughout the series».

Of course, the analogy is poor if you agree with me that Gossow is a much more interesting vo­calist than Liiva could ever have hoped to be; so did they really need to rub it in the noses of the fans, instead of letting bygones be bygones? I do not think I get the point of this album, and if I do, then it might indeed be «the root of all evil», and, in any case, I give it a perfect thumbs down — for moral reasons, probably the first time ever in a heavy metal band review. Let’s just pretend it never existed and move on.

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Arch Enemy: Tyrants Of The Rising Sun

ARCH ENEMY: TYRANTS OF THE RISING SUN (2008)

1) Intro / Blood On Your Hands; 2) Ravenous; 3) Taking Back My Soul; 4) Dead Eyes See No Future; 5) Dark In­sa­ni­ty; 6) The Day You Died; 7) Christopher Solo; 8) Silverwing; 9) Night Falls Fast; 10) Daniel Solo; 11) Bur­n­ing Angel; 12) Michael Solo; 13) Dead Bury Their Dead; 14) Vultures; 15) Enemy Within; 16) Snowbound; 17) Sha­d­ows And Dust; 18) Nemesis; 19) We Will Rise; 20) Fields Of Desolation / Outro.

If there is anything the world really needs in a time of economic crisis and universal depression, it is another live album from a formulaic heavy metal band, recorded in Japan. For Arch Enemy, it was already the second one, but this time, the scope was different — two CDs fully matched with a DVD, making it easier to headbang to the tunes in all the proper places, and making you won­der at the cultural significance of Ms. Gossow's makeup.

Although Rise Of The Tyrant gave them a «punny» clue about how to title this new recording, it is somewhat unfortunate that they did not release it an album earlier — this way, the setlist is predictably tilted towards their latest promoted effort, and I would much rather have them play 'My Apocalypse' and 'Out For Blood' than 'Night Falls Fast' and 'Vultures'. But what the heck, at the bottom of it all, Arch Enemy always play the same way, so it's either complaining about the total futility of the record — or just enjoying it for its power, precision, and dedication (the latter especially: even at their most boring and predictable, Arch Enemy are so dedicated to their craft that this can sometimes help overlook the lack of hooks).

What you do get to hear is a little bit of Angela's «natural» voice — yes, she does have one — as the frontlady is responsible for most of the banter. Whether you would like to hear her sing in that voice is a different matter — after all, that would make her sound no different from anyone. You also get to hear Michael and Christopher Amott with solo improvisations (brother Chris, playing in an echo-laden, Gilmour-style manner, gets my preference over brother Michael and his power metal pathos), and the drummer guy gets a nice brief rhythmic turn as well.

Highlights would include the opening number ('Blood On Your Hands' actually gains extra power by An­gela letting the audience chant the "REMEMBER!" bit); the show-closing double punch of 'Nemesis' and 'We Will Rise'; and the old Liiva-era material, like 'Silverwing', that Gossow pre­dictably delivers with as much confidence as she handles everything else. But apart from that, there is little, if anything, to tell. None of the live versions fall flat next to studio performances, but the setlist is questionable, which is why the album will probably not work as a reliable intro­duction to all the strong sides of the band. Bloodthirsty fans, though, will not want to miss it.

Arch Enemy: Rise Of The Tyrant

ARCH ENEMY: RISE OF THE TYRANT (2007)

1) Blood On Your Hands; 2) The Last Enemy; 3) I Will Live Again; 4) In This Shallow Grave; 5) Revolution Begins; 6) Rise Of The Tyrant; 7) The Day You Died; 8) Intermezzo Liberté; 9) Night Falls Fast; 10) The Great Darkness; 11) Vultures.

If I am not mistaken, the average metal-fan response to Rise Of The Tyrant was generally more positive than to Doomsday Machine. The album does pack quite a punch, going ever and ever heavier on brutality. «Artsy» touches are reduced to an absolute minimum — this time, 'Blood On Your Hands' opens the session without any atmospheric buildups, getting straight to the point in about five seconds. Acoustic interludes have been flushed out of existence, and the tempos are very steadily balanced between «fast» and «lightning fast».

In addition, there is no more double-tracking on Gossow's vocal parts: all of the growling is re­corded «live», in an attempt to match the unmediated onslaught of a genuine Arch Enemy show. I am not sure if that was a good decision, though — the double-tracking gave that awesome growl a surrealistic sheen, as if actual demons were genuinely swooshing around the room, whereas the «pure» growling on Tyrant, especially when it rises high above the instrumental din (or during the brief accappella moments, e.g. "REMEMBER!" on 'Blood On Your Hands'), is thinner, and thus, more ghost-like; besides, you get to hear better what the woman is really doing to her throat, and that makes me a little nervous.

Finally, more than ever before, the lyrics and moods have focused on issues of freedom-fighting and stuff. The title track is introduced with a rather lengthy quotation of dialog from Caligula (the scene in which McDowell demands that the Senate proclaim him God) — and the entire album is permeated with the hyperbolic feeling of an impending threat of you-know-what. Occasionally, Gossow turns to «lyrical» subjects ('The Day You Died', a simple goth tale), and at least one song could be qualified as «straightforwardly suicidal» ('I Will Live Again'), but overall, it's the same old story: the tyrant rise, the meek shall fall, revolution is imminent, and, of course, plenty of blood and guts to go 'round. Same old story, whipped to swirling frenzy.

The only thing that seems to be completely missing from Rise Of The Tyrant is interesting song­writing. The basic formula works in the old way, but only 'Blood On Your Hands', I think, has a decent structure and melodic, evocative lead lines. Everything else is just supertight generic speed runs that merge with one another in a manner so irritating I do not think I have ever been so much irritated since listening to Black Earth. There is nothing here even remotely approaching the creep-of-doom of 'My Apocalypse': as I said, «atmosphere» has been flushed out, and so have atmospheric riffs, replaced by finger-flashing. Even on tracks like 'The Great Darkness', mildly enlivened with bits of «medieval» Latin chanting, the guitar melodies fail to grab.

I mean, for God's sake, if this is called «melodic death metal», we are at least entitled to hearing some new melodies on each ensuing album, right or wrong? Up until Doomsday Machine, such was the case, but here, it isn't even that there is no «progression» – it seems to be one of those ca­ses in which a formerly inventive band suddenly gets this ridiculous urge to «get back to basics», and produce a very «basic» – and a very boring – piece, whose only achievement is in showing us listeners that it is really hopeless to go against the flow, and hinder your own development. Well, it is my free right to disrespect this attitude, and so, in a state of total disrespect, a thumbs down for Rise Of The Tyrant. It doesn't help, either, that I do not know of any actual tyrants having ri­sen in 2007. Unless they somehow mean the release of the last Harry Potter book.

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Arch Enemy: Doomsday Machine

ARCH ENEMY: DOOMSDAY MACHINE (2005)

1) Enter The Machine; 2) Taking Back My Soul; 3) Nemesis; 4) My Apocalypse; 5) Carry The Cross; 6) I Am Le­gend / Out For Blood; 7) Skeleton Dance; 8) Hybrids Of Steel; 9) Mechanic God Creation; 10) Machtkampf; 11) Slaves Of Yesterday.

No changes in the formula whatsoever, but the band is still going strong — at least, in the early sections of the record. We kick off with a somewhat false start: the instrumental 'Enter The Ma­chine' should, by all means, be setting up a suitably ominous atmosphere, but the lead lines played over the ironclad rhythm sequences are inexplicably set in a «stadium rock» pattern — re­duce the heaviness a little bit and you could safely use the result to start off an Asia concert. Se­ems like someone took the «melodic» of «melodic death metal» a bit too literally this time.

The situation is immediately corrected on the next three tracks, which pretty much tell us every­thing we need to know about the then-current state of the band. First, 'Taking Back My Soul' pre­pares the stage with a nice rollicking art-metal melody. Then it's time for adrenaline spraying — 'Nemesis' is one of the band's fastest and, at the same time, tightest-controlled speed-metal runs, sort of the obligatory 'Highway Star' in the band's catalog. The nasty thing does try to transform itself into a sing-along martial anthem in the chorus, but at least the thrash-influenced verses return often enough to forget the bits of pomp.

The centerpiece of the album, however, is track number four, to my surprise, relatively rarely prai­sed by metalheads — but I think 'My Apocalypse' is the clear standout on the album and, in fact, the band's entire catalog. The thunderous, well-sequenced intro recalls Metallica at their best (and I love the spooky «whooo»-shing ghost-like noises introducing some of the bars, although I have no idea what they are); and the verses rely on an oddly math-rock-style syncopated melody that is a Black Sabbath-y devilish wobble for one second and a King Crimson-ian choppy pattern the very next. Against this stop-and-start background, Gossow's growling is ever more potent, and by the time it all culminates in the chorus — "my apocalypse is near!" — the song becomes one of those very few Arch Enemy tunes whose «doomsday» aura is possible to take seriously. A genuine breakthrough here, I would say.

Unfortunately, the band seems to have missed that impression themselves: after 'My Apocalypse', the album takes a steady turn for the predictable and the mediocre. The songs are too slow (with the exception of 'Out For Blood', the only other thrashy piece on the record), too soft ('Carry The Cross', with its echoey guitar jangle, is almost wimpy by this band's standards), and too anticli­mactic (the decision to fade out the last track, 'Slaves Of Yesterday', rather than end it with a bang, was clearly a mistake). Repeated listens bring out craft, but not invention — and even a rigidly formulaic band needs to invent, or else it will degenerate into endless re-proving of their point, which has already been proven too many times.

Still, on the strength of those opening numbers and on the lack of any awful failures, Doomsday Machine holds up as a decent achievement of the melodic death genre, and deserves its thumbs up. I just wish that, as a whole, the LP lived up more to its title — as it is, only 'My Apocalypse' forms the perfect gift to all fans of December 2012.

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