Armageddon, mon amour

I can't help but think of how the past four Arch Enemy albums had sounded if Johan Liiva had remained with the band. If his work in Nonexist and Hearse has anything to say, they would have kicked a little more ass than they did. Hearse is basically a death'n'roll band, in the vein of Entombed's Wolverine Blues, but with a few tweaks. Armageddon, Mon Amour is the third album, and a damned fine one if you give it the chance to rock you to the core.

"Mountain of the Solar Eclipse" gives a swift kick to the cylinder with death-tosterone fueled punkish rock riffs, feathered in Liiva's mix of brutal grunts and some offset snarls. The lyrics are very rock'n'roll/rockabilly but with a dash of the metal mystique:

'This ain't the stair to heaven for sure,
it just takes you to the devil woman's door.
this might just be the seventh gate,
yes, we're talking oppression, destruction and hate!'

"Turncoat" opens with feedback over pounding bass line, then bursts out into some great dual leads and a grinding verse in pure Swedish old school death metal tradition. "Crops of Waste" is a very catchy track with its mix of heavy handed riffs and chorused clean guitars in the verse. "In Love and War" soars in with a majestic melodic hook over bludgeoning chords, then rocking the fuck out. Other favorites for me on this album are "Tools" with its bluesy breakdown riffs and the excellent "Play Without Rules" which sounds like something from Left Hand Path at times, but then includes some spoken word and organs. Raging.

The mix on this album sounds like any other professional Swedish offering: intense and just about perfect. The band really mixes it up, you could consider this a hybrid between Entombed's mid period, Desultory's Swallow the Snake, and Spiritual Beggars' bluesy stoner metal. If you're a fan of Liiva's hoarse vocals or the small death'n'roll sub-category of Swedish death, you should certainly check out Hearse, and this isn't a bad place to start.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Hmm... What would Arch Enemy sound like if Johan Liiva were still around and didn't become something close to a nu-metal band? Hearse is your answer.

Hearse features a reunion of Johan Liiva and Max Thornell, who were bandmates in Furbowl, a melodic death/rock band. Well, add some elements of Arch Enemy's Liiva-days sound, and you've got Armageddon Mon Amour.

Hearse's sound basically seems to me to be those melodic AOR/heavy metal moments that Arch Enemy used to break into or use as choruses, only now they're entire songs and sped up about 100 percent. The album is packed full of ripping, melodic solos that remind me of Mike Amott except dirtier and faster. Johan's vocals are the most inspired I have ever heard them on this album. He really belts out those classic Liiva gutteral grunts, but he manages to sound a bit more blackmetallish instead of his more monotonous, AE-era sound. One thing you get with this Hearse cut that was absent since Arch Enemy's Black Earth album is some pure deathmetal riffing, which is always welcome, though it comes in small doses.

This album will not disappoint any Liiva fan. For those of you who like fast-paced, ripping melodic deathmetal, you get it. For those of you who like the more chugging, thrash-breakdown type pace, you get your share, too. Did you love Mike and Chris Amott's lengthy, noodly, melodic solos? You get them in a more thrash-oriented, sloppy style. Love Liiva's voice? Buy this album.

I'm not giving this release a 100 rating because a few tracks do tend to be just mediocre. For example, Play by the Rules has a very misplaced, uninspired organ solo that is especially odd in a song that is as close to thrash as the album gets. Determination is a pretty great-sounding song as far as guitar sound and solos, but the vocals are horrible... Johan tries some sort of throaty talking that reminds me of Root's Big Boss.

Standout cuts:
-- Turncoat [What I love the most about this track is it opens with a blistering, melodic, tight solo then cuts into pure, fast deathmetal... Then, hey! Another fuckin' awesome solo with Liiva screaming on the top of it]
-- In Love and War [A very epic, majestic-sounding cut. Here is probably the best example of an Arch Enemy AOR interlude becoming an entire song... and goddamn, I love it. The best part is it's AE's AOR interludes as a complete song with ripping melodic deathmetal interludes.]
-- Cambodia [You probably hate my reviews because I constantly use comparisons to other bands' sounds to describe the music. Well, here's a song that is very, very influenced by Iron Maiden. It's just got that Maiden feel, though it's far from galloping. Just a good mid-album track to slow things down a bit to mix it up.]