Arch Enemy – Anthems of Rebellion
No one is more surprised than me… believe me. I actually like the new Arch Enemy album, which makes it a first for me, since I have always turned my nose up at their back catalog. Until now, Arch Enemy haven’t written “songs”, rather their past efforts always struck me as the overly masturbatory guitar solos were written first, then they would slop together a bunch of uninteresting and unrelated riffs to fill out the solo so that it could be justified as a song. On “Anthems…”, each track has a memorable flow and you can tell the music was crafted and ironed out long before the finishing touches were wanked over the top. Having seen Angela Gossow fronting this band at the Milwaukee fest several years back, I thought her voice seemed feeble and aided by effects, but on this album, she sounds strong and possesses a clear, though mangled delivery. When the solo work finally creeps into these verse/chorus dominant structures, they strike me as subdued and out to benefit the song as a whole. This to me is what a guitar solo is supposed to do, rather than the “look at me!!! I’m such a great player” mentality that usually retards the mind of metal.s most respected superstar guitarists. Sure this isn’t the most extreme or brutal death metal album that you will ever hear, but Arch Enemy have found some class along the way and have pumped those creative juices into ensuring that their end result is listenable and entertaining. Look at bands like Dismember. No matter how extreme their tone was, they NEVER lost sight of writing good songs. Isn’t that what death metal is supposed to be about? Writing good music that means something? Somewhere along the way, in the scenes lust to out brutal the next guy, many have lost the basic fundamentals of doing just that. – Marty
CENTURY MEDIA
Worm Gear 