War Eternal

Although Arch Enemy is one of my favorite melodic death metal bands, I have to admit the inconsistency of their discography. In my opinion, all their works after "Anthems of Rebellion" are fine at best and faint at worst. However, "War Eternal" is a breath of fresh air for me, since, although not introducing anything totally new and using all the elements the band had previously employed in their music, it offers nice-sounding, epic and high-quality melodic death metal. In fact (this attitude is apparently very uncommon among the fans), I enjoy this album more or less as much as I enjoy "Wages of Sin" or "Burning Bridges", if not more.

Opened by a solid intro "Tempore Nihil Sanat", the album descends into a sequence of remarkable and epic songs. The spirit of Arch Enemy is undoubtedly explicit. Alissa's vocals are excellent and more beautiful (although less angry) than Angela's. Amott's riffs are brilliant, and I enjoy them way more than the ones of "Doomsday Machine" or "Rise of the Tyrant". The thing that one instantly notices about the album is its awesome production. Some will probably perceive it as "overly-polished", and, while I agree that it's a move towards mainstream and a step away from Arch Enemy's traditional "rawer" and "angrier" sound, I nonetheless appreciate this experiment, since it makes the record stand out from the rest of the band's discography and contributes to its mood.

The album has multiple remarkable moments, such as the atmospheric intro of "Avalanche", orchestra elements of "Time Is Black" or Alissa's intro scream of "Never Forgive, Never Forget". Even the instrumental tracks are awesome, particularly "Not Long for This World", the atmosphere of which is absolutely stunning. In that sense, "War Eternal" is better than most Arch Enemy albums, in which I love a couple of songs only. True, the album does contain a few mediocre Arch Enemy songs that you will most likely forget a few minutes after hearing them ("As the Pages Burn", "You Will Know My Name", "On and On"), but, considering this is the case for the vast majority of their works and the band's songwriting is practically unchanged since "Wages of Sin", I won't be very critical of them. The album's emotions vary from melancholy and mystery to anger and anxiety, which makes it more diverse and absorbing.

The lyrics, unfortunately, mostly fail to impress. There is nothing new about them and I don't think one could differentiate them from the lyrics of any other Arch Enemy album. Casual "I'm/We're so cool and independent" is mingled with casual "this imagery is so dark and epic". Sure, there are other melodic death metal bands that stick to a particular lyrics style/themes, such as Hypocrisy or Children of Bodom, but both of those, in my opinion, are capable of writing interesting lyrics for most of their albums, which, alas, is not the case for Arch Enemy. To conclude, the lyrics aren't terrible, but could've been better.

"War Eternal" is a great album in terms of nearly everything. Sure, it does not solve the problems the band had developed, nor does it differ significantly from their previous works, but it still offers fresh, catchy, not too uniform music that is not only great for newcomers to get into extreme vocals and death metal as a whole, but also for those who appreciate music with such mood, like myself.

After releasing the fairly criticized "Khaos Legions", an album that, while containing a few excellent songs, still stands as the band's weakest effort, Arch Enemy strike back with "War Eternal", an album that marks the beginning of a new era for these swedish melodeath metallers, due to the departure of long-time vocalist Angela Gossow (now taking the sceptre as the band manager) in favour of Alissa White-Gluz, former vocalist of melodic death metal/metalcore band "The Agonist". Now, you will be wondering, what innovations does the band bring on the table with this ninth full-length?

The answer is: none. At least, nothing really significative. Let me spend a moment talking about Arch Enemy's main issue: the lack of evolution in their musical style. Since the day they became a female-fronted metal act, they stuck to the exact same, commercially succesful formula that made them famous, and they never moved on. So here we go again, another Arch Enemy release, another display of the same, ultimately predictable kind of songwriting. Is "War Eternal" a bad album? No. Is it something we haven't already heard before? Absolutely no.

Now, let's talk about the album. The production is awesome, balanced, it sounds fresh and modern, and one would expect nothing less from Century Media Records, especially considering that these guys are the label's battle horse. No need to dwell in discussions about the musician's skills: the drummer is technically proficient, Michael Amott's and Nick Cordle's virtuosity when it comes to shredding is out of discussion, the bassist just does his job. What about Alissa? Well, as much as I really loved Angela, mainly because of her passion and charisma (she was a good vocalist too, although not extraordinary or mindblowing), I have to admit that Alissa is just on a whole different level. She's amazing: her growls are so deep, threatening and powerful, her screams are out of this world, her diction while singing is perfect, and her voice offers much more means of expression compared to the previous singer. Really, one of the best extreme metal vocalists out there.

Let's get to the music itself. Well, speaking of the guitar riffs department, I have to say Michael Amott got a bit lazy here: there's an overabundance in the use of the open low string (just think to the opening riff of the title track, consisting mainly in a palm muted alternate picking of the sixth string) and of power chords. Considering the memorable riffs he provided in albums like "Wages of Sin", "Doomsday Machine" or "Rise of the Tyrant", one would reasonably expect something more. The solos, on the other hand, are as mindblowingly technical and inspired as usual, and there are some nice guitar melodies and harmonies. The bass isn't relevant at all; the drumming is precise, featuring even blast beat sessions in certain songs.

One thing that I did notice was the fact that the band tried to give a slightly symphonic touch to the record: think to the orchestrations in "Time Is Black", the piano in "On And On", or the ominous orchestral intro to the album, named "Tempore Nihil Sanat" (which in latin means "time heals nothing"). They also added brief instrumentals, which serve as the album's introduction, mid-interlude, or closer, respectively. They aren't particularly relevant, musically speaking, but I'll give them credit for adding to the general atmosphere. Lyrically speaking, this release hasn't much to offer, same old lyrics about life struggles, pain, rebelling against society, taking revenge on those who betrayed you, and so on, although I have to say the lyrics of the tracks Alissa contributed to are considerably more interesting and accurately written.

Speaking of the songs, this album sure has its highlights. Opener "Never Forgive, Never Forget" kicks off the record with energy and raw aggression, thanks to the fast tempo, the blast beat sessions, and an excellent, violent vocal performance by Alissa; then we have "War Eternal", the first single extracted from the album, which slows a bit the pace while retaining a remarkable heaviness, also featuring some spectacular solos and an anthemic chorus; back to anger with "As The Pages Burn", noteworthy thanks to its guitar riff, the harmonies, and the memorable vocal lines, not to mention the catchy chorus. Other highlights include "You Will Know My Name", the balladesque and extremely melodic third single extracted from the album, and "Avalanche", which is distinguished by a contrast between the heaviness of the lines and the over-melodic chorus, featuring also some clean vocals by Alissa. The rest of the platter is generally good, although some songs may suffer from being a bit overlong or from sounding occasionally "fillerish".

All in all, Arch Enemy did it again: with minimum effort, they pulled out an album that resulted extremely succesful in terms of popularity, sales and mediatic attention (it reached nothing less than the 44th spot on the Billboard 200, the best result the band achieved in the US, selling a considerable amount of copies during the first week already). They pleased the fans (a lot of the songs they regularly perform live is extracted from this CD), they pleased most of the critics, the album sold well. Those who were expecting something new from the band, on the other hand, were disappointed, as almost nothing changed in their sound, and probably that's the reason why "War Eternal" gets all this hate. In my humble opinion, "War Eternal" was an honest effort, although far from being the band's best: it's still enjoyable and it does have its moments. Listen to it without expecting something stellar, and it won't displease you.

The problem with metal bands today is that they have this bizarre idea of being able to either maintain a consistent style from one album to the next, or make the equally grievous mistake of evolving their sound. If a band does one, they should have done the other, and vice versa, and frankly any band that does either ought to be ashamed of themselves and just hang it up, or at least that is what most would tend to say on the subject. Then again, simply having the popularity and resources to field a well polished album can bring out the heretic hunters if one isn't careful. Given the impossible quandary that this standard held by some tends to create, one might decide to do something crazy and simply reject the whole premise, and maybe commit the ultimate blasphemy of all time, namely considering an album based on its musical merits.

Arch Enemy are one of many to fall into this quandary, with people going to either side of the fence and either expecting musical Armageddon because of Alissa White-Gluz coming in to replace Angela Gossow, or expecting an overly safe rehash of similar territory to the last couple of albums. To be fair, an album title like War Eternal boasts a massive musical undertaking that ends up falling short of its promises when considering the actual album, but in spite of playing it safe, Michael Amott has managed to put together a decent album that will keep most of this project's core audience satisfied. At times, this album almost stumbles into similar territory as Gossow's crowning achievement with the band The Wages Of Sin, opting for a slightly more power metal-like take on things in line with the Finnish take on the style, but stops just shy of closing the deal.

In a nutshell, one could chalk this album up to being a slightly catchier yet less elaborate version of Khaos Legions, complete with a similarly predictable songwriting method and posh production. The massive sound of this band is further bolstered by a greater helping of symphonic elements than usual for the band, culminating in an opening prelude dubbed "Tempore Nihil Sanat" that reminds a bit of how bands like Heathendom mesh a heavy, down-tuned sound with high fantasy infused classical music. Things take on a fairly fast and energetic approach once the rest of the band chimes in, culminating in a few fairly solid thrash-infused crushers in "As The Pages Burn" and it's more blast-happy cousin "Never Forgive, Never Forget". Nothing gets quite as intense as an offering out of The Crown, but there's a slightly greater helping of speed on here relative to the past couple albums.

For the most part, this is music that is easy to digest, having a few technical wonders spliced into a limited box a time here and there, but largely keeping things predictable and methodical. The obligatory fast but not too fast material that rounds out the promotional songs on here, namely "You Will Know My Name", "No More Regrets" and the title song could very well have been put together by a symphonic power metal outfit like Nightwish or Epica, though those who might fear that the band morphed into one can rest assured that Alissa's vocals, while not a pure carbon copy of Gossow's, sticks to the same uniform harsh style and leave the melodic material to the guitars. Pretty much the only surprises on here is the greater presence of brief instrumental interludes, all of which are loaded with cliche melodic hooks and somber atmospheric elements, and the bonus Mike Oldfield cover on the digipack version, which has essentially been morphed from a folk/hard rock song into a coasting Hammerfall or Dream Evil song with shouted vocals.

The only logical reason for hating an album like this would be for believing that a band absolutely has to change their style significantly. While there is something to be said for a band that stays a little too close to home and doesn't branch out at all even within their chosen sound, that's a pretty easy argument to discard where this album is concerned. By the same token, while Arch Enemy has continued to cleave to a traditional melodic death metal sound throughout their career, they've never really stood out as being the go to band for said scene either. They are basically a band with 2 rather effective gimmicks, and their strongest one is their lead guitarist, as opposed to their vocalist(s), contrary to what many have said. Arch Enemy could stand to think a bit more outside the box in terms of songwriting and maybe not boxing their virtuosic lead guitar breaks into such tight time boxes, but the contents of this album are not terrible, though definitely tried and true by this point. If one already likes this band, it's hard to see this album breaking any hearts.

Will they be any good? Can they match the bands back catalogue? Will the band even continue? What do you do when the one of the leading and most inspiring female vocalists and front-women in heavy metal departs the band? These are some of the questions fans of Arch Enemy resonated when Angela Gossow announced she was leaving the band and going behind the curtains into their management section. Big shoes indeed for former The Agonist singer, Alissa White-Gluz to fill however there is little doubt in anyone’s mind after hearing the latest opus War Eternal that the answer to the above questions is a resounding “yes”.

Of course this isn't the first change of lungs Arch Enemy have had in past years. The quintet replaced Johan Liiva in 2000 with Angela to solidify them as one of the first female fronted death metal bands, and 14 years after: still as inspiring as ever and improved by the reignited fury of Alissa’s vocals.

So now with a worthy replacement vocalist-recommended by Angela herself-the group went into the studio to form their 10th studio album War Eternal. Previous albums by Arch Enemy keep to the melodic side of death metal and you can tell they are very much at home on their new release. However, from the first howl off Never Forgive, Never Forget, you can tell arch enemy are back; back with a vengeance. There a few surprises such as the symphonic haunt of the intro and intermission tracks however there is plenty of swerving guitar riffs and pummeling blast beats to please the old fans.

What gives them their renewed power is Alissa’s contribution to the record. From the soaring choruses of As The Pages Burn and Avalanche to the accessibly epic On And On are landmarks to her different level of dynamics compared to Angela’s harsh snarls complete with the impressive lyrical composition of You Will Know My Name. This goes hand in hand with the classic blast beats from Daniel Erllandsson’s drumming and Michael Ammot’s brutal riffs.

Any doubt that fans of Arch Enemy had prior the release of War Eternal have been well and truly demolished. The tracks on this album can easily stand beside songs off Anthems Of Rebellion or Doomsday Machine but now, improved by the fact they now have a singer that can match their unique sound. A fitting reminder from the new title track lyrics stating: ‘Remember who you are’...

I'll be honest, I was one of the few people that actually listened to Khaos Legions and actually quite liked a lot of the tracks on it. There are probably a few people sitting reading this thinking now that this review is not worth wasting their time on, but I liked (or at the very least could listen to) more than half of the tracks on the album. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with War Eternal.

Obviously, the band was thrust into the spotlight when Angela Gossow announced her departure. I'll admit that I was looking forward to listening to the new album up until that point (even if Chris had decided to call it quits already), but this kind of put me off. It's not to say that without Angela the album was instantly unlistenable, but think back to Johan Liiva's god-awful vocals from the first three albums. They are the biggest reason that I prefer the band's modern works, because Angela delivered exactly what was required while Johan was incredibly inconsistent even from one track to the next. So, to suddenly be told that Angela wasn't going to be on the album suddenly made me wonder if the album was actually going to be any good. Yes, there are better vocalists out there, but she's always delivered (except maybe on Doomsday Machine, but that seems down to whoever put so many layers in her voice) and at the end of the day the band worked very well together. When I heard that her replacement was the girl from The Agonist, my first thoughts were along the lines of "Oh great, Arch Enemy's going for this again." I'm pretty sure every single person that knows anything about the band thought the same thing. Still, maybe I should wait to give her a chance, right?

So I listened to the title track pretty soon after it was released, and the music didn't seem that bad. The vocals took a bit of getting used to, but it could have been much, much worse. Nick's playing was so good that at one point I actually forgot that it wasn't Chris that was playing. At this point things were looking up. Even with 40% of the band's lineup being changed, Arch Enemy still seemed to be putting out some solid stuff, and maybe the new album could bring them back to some degree of respect within the metal community. However, when I heard 'As The Pages Burn' the sinking feeling returned. The song started out well, but Alissa's vocals just didn't fit it for me. Then the chorus was a bit of a letdown. And then the verses started to sound tired. Basically, it was uninspiring and monotonous, and I think this was what put me off of buying the album straight away. Having listened to the album in its entirety now, I know that I won't buy it at all.

Across the whole album there really is nothing to get excited about. The vocals are of a far lower standard than they used to be (although happily they still outclass Liiva's by a huge margin), and I have to wonder exactly why they chose Alissa for the job. Her growls are mediocre at best, and something about them grinds my gears, but I know that she can certainly sing. At least in The Agonist she could show off that part of her skills, but Arch Enemy was never a band for clean vocals and I doubt she'll ever get to use them there. It just seems like a waste.

Not all the blame goes to Alissa though, because Michael's writing has really let him down this time around. There were a few tracks that started really well (for example 'Avalanche' and 'As The Pages Burn' as previously mentioned), but ultimately most of them came to nothing. The song 'No More Regrets' that a lot of people on the internet seem to like just feels a little too much like an attempt to be Dragonforce or another speed metal band along the same kind of lines with no real feeling behind it and don't even get me started on 'Never Forgive, Never Forget'. Even on the band's albums that are viewed very negatively, there was always at least a few gems. Here, the only good song is the title track.

The thing that gets me is that the album was made out to be the band's return to form (although the definition of that is somewhat subjective), but in actual fact is the worst thing they've ever produced. I really disliked Anthems of Rebellion, but this album doesn't even manage to lay a hand on that, never mind Wages of Sin or Rise of the Tyrant. Considering the immense talent of all the musicians in the band, War Eternal was a real letdown. Michael Amott remains one of my favourite guitarists, and I recognise that Sharlee and Daniel are usually incredibly consistent and deliver 99% of the time. Even the new recruits have shown that they are talented elsewhere in the metal industry. I severely hope that the band can come back from such a low with their next release, but I have an awful feeling that this time the ship is going to stay sunk.

I want to be perfectly clear that the derisive title refers to Mike Amott, not Alissa White-Gluz, the band’s new vocalist. Mr. Amott used to be an inspiration as a death metal guitarist, one of my all-time favorites, even. However, over the last decade his songwriting has become a cookie-cutter, paint-by-numbers, faded, photo-copied, re-purposing of all his older work. All of Arch Enemy’s material since “Wages of Sin” has been at best an uninspired rehash of the band’s glory days, and at worst a shameless dry-humping of all us fans willing to pay good money for the next album, which we all hope sucks a little less than the last.

If Arch Enemy’s back catalog isn’t enough (seriously, compare the music on Burning Bridges or Stigmata to the swill that was “Doomsday Machine or Khaos Legions, fucking please!), this same phenomenon is sadly, glaringly obvious in his once incredible stoner rock band, Spiritual Beggars. Sometime around 2001, Mike Amott lost his mojo and entirely forgot how to write new material.

More proof lies in the band’s - let’s be honest, Mike’s - decision to hire Alissa White-Gluz as Angela Gossow’s replacement. With Angela’s departure, the band needs a new vocalist, someone who has a capable death growl that won’t overshadow Mike’s now dwindling guitar creativity. That’s it, those are the only requirements. Being attractive, having a vagina, or the ability to make sultry, fuck-me eyes in music videos are not prerequisites for a vocalist in the Arch Enemy I used to know…and yet, the band chooses a gorgeous woman to yet again lead the campaign to collect our hard earned cash. Worse still, Alissa’s vocal range is stellar; have you heard what she did in The Agonist, or how she filled in as Nightwish’s live vocalist? She’s quite talented, has at ton of range, and yet she’s relegated to a dry monotone death growl for the entirety of War Eternal. Seems like the Arch Enemy Corporation has fallen back on the same “hot frontwoman” gimmick and the same old formula they’ve been using since 2001 to mask the fact that they’ve got no juice in the songwriting department anymore.

War Eternal is a paltry album, played by some of the most indolent virtuosos in the scene. Sure, the two opening tracks are decent, as “Never Forgive, Never Forget” and the title track start the disc out with the best the album has to offer. These two songs, however, comprise the only decent material on the disc.

“As the Pages Burn,” “Stolen Life” and “On and On” (and fucking on and on and on and on) are utterly forgettable filler tracks that further demonstrate that nobody in the band seems to care about whether their songwriting ideas are blatantly recycled or middling. And while we’re weighing the filler, let’s throw in three utterly uninspired instrumentals and a lifeless cover of Mike Oldfield’s “Shadow on the Wall.” That’s a lot of fluff, but we haven’t gotten to the best part yet…

…because the band has chosen to sneakily expand their sound to include keyboards on this disc (instead of leveraging Alissa's wide array of vocal deliveries), and the result is a train wreck that is somewhere between cringe-worthy and utterly laughable. “No More Regrets” hits a sour chorus melody over and over, which manages to ruin the song, while “Avalanche” and “You Will Know My Name” both invoke this new trick with true impotence. The jewel in this crown of shit, however, is the aural abortion, “Time Is Black.” All I can think is that this song has to be the band’s bid for the next James Bond movie’s theme song. Listening to it causes me embarrassment for Mike and crew, in all seriousness.

War EternaL” offers two passable songs, and then shits all over them throughout the remainder of the disc. This album ranks down there with the band’s worst. The most discouraging part of it all, though, is that with the lineup change, Mike and AE have clearly signaled they don’t know they’re perilously close to hitting rock bottom, and will continue flying their craft in the direction of the ground.

Mike needs a break, a walkabout, or a near-death experience to jump start his creativity again. I don’t care if he starts shooting smack, fucking more of his groupies, or gets caught shoplifting dildos - I'll accept anything to get this guy’s brain and guitar on the same page.

As a final ounce of bile for this miserable album, please consider Bill Steer’s/Carcass’ 17 year hiatus. Was Surgical Steel not the most magnificent work of death metal in 2013? Compare the dynamic, passionate, aggressive material written by one of Mike’s former band mates to any of Arch Enemy’s tepid ejaculations in the last decade, and I have what I believe is a strong case not to see another Arch Enemy album released until 2031 (do the fucking math).

I'm not going to lie and act like War Eternal was some big disappointment or surprise to yours truly. To be honest, Arch Enemy have never done much for me, and other than select songs from Wages of Sin and Doomsday Machine, I have always met upcoming material of theirs with a catch-all shrug of insouciance. Give me Colony or The Jester Race instead, which are loaded with hooks and continue to serve as reasonable gateways to harsher auditory realms. The albums fronted by Liiva are good for what they are, but fucking Khaos Legions? Unimaginative and inoffensive at best - merely a vehicle to keep the tour dates rolling along.

The only reason one could conceivably be invested in Arch Enemy in 2014 is regarding the controversial lineup shift. Say what you want (as I have) regarding the post-Burning Bridges material, but Gossow was a solid face for the band. More importantly, her status as one of the few lone females vocalists in a genre naturally dominated by men served as a refreshing change of pace, primarily due to her status as a non-gimmick. She did her best to fit in, and despite the band receiving some ancillary attention for her inclusion, they generally let the music do the talking. Whether or not that music was any good is an argument for another day, but the point remains. So with Gossow out and the band in the throes of a period of identity crisis, they bring in Alissa out of nowhere. The same Alissa who wore stripper outfits with handcuffs dangling off of them for The Agonist.

It may seem gratuitous to dwell on this for so long, but it is necessary because the band promoted her arrival so prolifically; hardly a display of restraint in any event. While Gossow came off as a truly intimidating femme fatale force that could kick even my ass, Alissa is just spineless in comparison. It doesn't help that she looks about fourteen years old, rendering the music videos into the equivalent of a middle school girl throwing a temper tantrum backed somehow by a metal band. To add insult to injury, her harsh vocals just aren't that great. She got more mileage out of her stint with The Agonist due to the prolific use of cleans, cleans which obviously have no place in a stagnant act like Arch Enemy. She doesn't project herself very well, instead using too much of her throat when she screams as opposed to the diaphragm. It just sounds thin and weak, no matter how hard she tries. The lyrics are also complete swill, which is by no means new territory for the band, but should have been rectified the moment a fluent English speaker came on board. What happened there?

This leaves the music itself, which is wholly pyrrhic melodic death at its most refined and stock. The biggest deficit revolves around a marked lack of memorable licks or hooks. This is melodic death metal right? Amott somehow missed that memo, as these songs rumble by with such stock intentions and intensity that they fail to generate anything even bordering on head momentum. The exceptions are actually quite memorable, although one could reasonably chalk this up to a lack of anything worth a damn elsewhere. At any rate, "Stolen Life" is really quite good and to the point. That melodic lead during the chorus screams of Megaman X or something and reminds me why this is such a long-lasting and prolific sub-genre. Damn solid, as is most of "You Will Know My Name," which tries really hard at subtly selling out during the chorus, but is otherwise worth the price of its admission.

The rest is just...there. The title track's riff set has some weight to it, but the lyrics are at their most banal and it really fails to get anything cooking once it breaks out of that short groove sequence during the intro. "Avalanche" sounds damn promising at first, but quickly devolves into faceless genre-posturing. This brings me to the keyboards, which are used rather extensively but fail to add anything to the music. It just comes off as a distraction and embarrassing attempt at adding a faux-epic element to increase the scope of the sound. It simply grinds with the rest of the music due to a general lack of memorability. The only saving grace here could have been the solos, and while most are generally passable, they aren't necessarily worth a second glance, either. "Never Forgive, Never Forget" is the one possible exception here, as it has a pretty decent extended effort by Amott that at least reminded me that the music was playing.

I just don't know otherwise, perhaps my lack of commitment to Arch Enemy in the past has clouded my opinion, but I honestly thought that this perceived freshness would make War Eternal a more exciting prospect. I will never forgive the band for the stolen life that this album has cost me. It just goes on and on and...man I'm bored.

OK, someone's gotta say it...this whole replacement frontperson business Arch Enemy has undertaken could NOT have come at a better time. Not a whole lot has been said about the group in recent years, and things didn't appear all that grand during such a time; Chris Amott left out of the blue, the past couple albums have been pretty lackluster, and attention had begun to cumulatively wane. Then came ANOTHER sudden departure and replacement that thrust the group back into the spotlight, where their welcome thus bade was not without plentiful bouts of uncertainty on all sorts of folks' part. Not that I can blame them; I mean, there are still kids out there who believe Angela WAS ARCH ENEMY! I'm sure a certain Michael and Johan would like to have words with them. But alas. Would this level of scrutiny be unwarranted, or justified, with this latest recording? Let's find out...

After a rather sinister synth intro, it's down to business in a pretty big way with a serious lack of fucking around. A swift punch in the face that is "Never Forgive, Never Forget" opens the door for a medium pace-level of torturous pounding that takes up the majority of the album. Taking a more melodic route with only a few moments of their earlier sense of brutality, AE craft a competent affair that is sure to be seen as a pleasant surprise to those who'd dare think otherwise. The sense of songwriting is tight as all get out, the guitars and drumwork simply devastate, the lead guitar and keyboard harmonies offer plenty of tingles up and down the spine and some tasty dynamic shifts make the best parts shine and the lesser sections a bit dreary. The amount of riffs are of a smaller amount this time around, which is both a good thing in that they don't bludgeon you with a "too much, too soon" approach, but it does render some of the songs a bit more repetitive than they should be despite the RUSHRUSHRUSH! tempos spat out here and there. I guess even the best of us outgrow the shoving riffs and leads down the listeners' throats appeal in favor of something that resembles REAL songwriting. Is I wrong? Probably, but when it works, it works, and comes off as pretty damned inspired nonetheless.

That being said, though, "War Eternal" still suffers from the biggest issue regarding melodic death metal no matter how good or large-and-in-charge the band is; it can only offer so much upon first glance (the title track is the biggest example, I must say...), and at 13 tracks it risks being long in the tooth near the end, but that being said it still seems to offer a a more cohesive set of ideas and movements than the flat dreck of "Rise of the Tyrant" or, more glaringly, "Khaos Legions", though not by a whole lot. It's not all that removed from that which made them a household name around the days of the "Ravenous" music video, but it does sound more inspired than before. As for Alissa's vocals, she thankfully doesn't try to replicate Angela's manly growls and instead opts for a more legit melodeath feel that's more her than anyone else, as best she can, it sounds like. Most of the time her verbal cursing and utterances work rather well given the more actualized style versus her early days in The Agonist (less core, more war), but other times it just doesn't feel like it's enough in certain spots. Still, one can't hold that against the lady regardless of where she came from. I'd like to see YOU do better, ye naysayers! ...too far? My apologies.

At the end of the day this didn't make me a huge Arch Enemy fan, nor did it make me a fan AT ALL, but I can honestly say that this wasn't all that bad in spite of itself and what high expectations other fans and interwebz shit-talkers would dare thrust upon their shoulders. While really only worth a listen or two when the itch for it hits, for straightforward melodic nastiness you can do far worse. Trust me on this.

Definitely better than Khaos Legions without a doubt. Arch Enemy steps up with fury on here. Alissa sounds like a replica of Angela though with moderate variety. The music and intensity is strong and the compositions are reflecting of older AE, sticking to the core of melodic death metal. Nick, their new guitarist replacing the amazing Christopher Amott, did a superb job here. I still favor Christopher, but his endevours are different now that he's no longer with the band.

If this is to be the last AE, it would be a tragedy. I'm hoping with this newer lineup they still have some more albums to belt out. The music on here is a blend of the first 4 albums and the bonus track "Shadow On the Wall" is a good cover. The guitars are heavy and the lyrics are brutal reflecting the songwriting from Michael and Nick. I'd say most of the guitars are in C, making them thick and chunky. There is a mixture too with keys as intros among outros with melodic guitars.

Here it seems like the ideas of the past have reiterated themselves, especially reminiscent of Burning Bridges especially on the outro song entitled "Not Long For This World." Very much like Burning Bridges outro track. The album intro is a lot like what you'd hear from something Cradle of Filth would do. Not saying that they're copying them, just with the keys/synthesizers are much like that of COF. Track 2 belts out some ferocious guitar and vocals not to mention tremendous blast beating that's only on this track.

The leads by Nick are quite technical and well composed and Michael's are like that of his traditional approach to his "feel" like talents. He is less technical than Nick in the lead department. It's good that the band decided to put out a couple of music videos before the album was released in the states. It gave a good feel for what was ahead to hear on here with no surprises. Their path once again isn't reinventing the genre, just doing a praise for it, never abandoning their roots. Alissa's energy is reflectant of Angela's. Deep throat to about the same degree.

I especially like the title track (which is a given) and "You Will Know My Name", of which they also did a video for. These were 2 tracks that glorified the album. The heavy guitars accompanying the intensity of the vocals were quite in unison. All of the tracks to me are good, bar chords, tremolo picking galore, hardcore shredding and music that is with a huge amount of feel thanks to all of the band member's efforts. I think that seeing those videos beforehand gave me hope that this would surpass their previous by a ton!

If your thing is melody mixed with heaviness and production quality that is superb without sacrificing talent in the overuse of technology, War Eternal is some great melodic death metal. The heavy guitar alongside the melodies really shine here, going back to the older days. I still feel no one can replace Christopher Amott, but Nick is quite good, implementing some impressive solos and songwriting ideas. Michael sure picked someone also to emulate Angela. Alissa's intensity is sure there like Angela's was. The band doesn't go mainstream here, they remain true!

Show of hands, who listened to Khaos Legions?

*crickets*

See, 2011 marked a strange time for Arch Enemy. For the first time since the turn of the millennium, nobody gave a shit about the band or the fact that they had a hot blonde growling like a demon. People had finally gotten tired of their shtick, and the grrl power fangirls and horny zitfaced dorks that helped propel them to superstardom in the early 2000s had presumably finally grown up and become a cog in the machine or touched a boob for the first time. Arch Enemy is one of the safest bands in the universe, and Khaos Legions was their wake up call that they needed to do something different, challenge themselves, or even just fucking give a minute amount of effort in order to regain all the fans they'd apparently lost over the course of the decade.

Enter War Eternal, the heaviest, most aggressive, and most creative album they've presented fans with since Black Earth all the way back in 1996. Those soaring melodies are now unlike almost anything I've ever heard, creating soundscapes that elicit haunting imagery and empowering violence. The vocals have been amped up and given a huge amount of diversity, ranging from really deep, Immolation-esque bellows and high pitched shrieky insanity like Nattramn or Maniac. There are little touches of brilliance scattered throughout the runtime that they'd never have dared to touch on before, like much more aggressive drumming, dissonant, twisted riffing, and a new focus on atmosphere above all the straightforward rocking. It's so different from the uninspi-

Yeah you didn't buy that shit for a second, did you? Of course they didn't do anything new, they just replaced Angela with a younger and hotter girl and then wrote Wages of Sin for the sixth time. Because of course they fucking did.

I gotta say, I may have thought their music sucked for the past fifteen years, but I did actually respect Arch Enemy for never overtly sexualizing Gossgow. Amott kicked out Liiva because he was an awful vocalist (and if you disagree, you're in denial), Gossgow got the job because she was a fan who loved those old songs, had a much better voice, and great stage presence and chemistry with the rest of the guys. She dressed like a metal fan, she acted like a metal fan, she just simply was a metal fan and the fact that she was thin and attractive was just a peripheral thing that she and the rest of the guys never put much stock into. When Angela decided to step down from performing, Amott could have hired anybody to fill her shoes, and the fact that he chose Alissa White-Gluz shows that I was wrong all these years and the band really does just want to milk the "hot frontwoman" card. I gave the band the benefit of the doubt and now I look like a fucking idiot. Take one look at the music video for the title track here and you'll see how unashamedly shallow the band has gotten with their image, with Alissa in this sexy skintight outfit with strategically placed rips and tears, moving her hips seductively and pointing at the camera. Gossgow put on war paint and combat boots and raised her fist, White-Gluz gives fuck-me eyes and dances like a stripper. Fuck all of you talentless hacks. You wanted attention? Well fuck you, I'll give it to you, it just won't be anything remotely positive.

War Eternal is, at its core, just another bland and faceless Swedish melodeath album. If you couldn't see this band, you would never care about them; I feel like the band has come to realize this, so they put minimal effort into the musical aspects of their business, instead making damn sure they look good enough to sell tickets and VIP meet and greet packages. The album tries to fake you out a few times, like with legitimately very aggressive verse riffs in "Never Forgive, Never Forget" and "Down to Nothing", and a few melancholic acoustic intros in the middle of the album, implying that they might let the vocals showcase their talents (I mean the girl sang with Kamelot and filled in for Nightwish, she obviously has to have some pipes) by moving the songs into completely unknown territory. But no, there are just three songs in a row with a fakeout intro before going straight back into the old "Iron Maiden with growls" thing the band always does. Alissa is relegated to hitting one note the whole album, and I guess I get it since that's the same note the band has always hit for the past several years and they clearly didn't want to try anything different, but it just hammers home how terrible of a choice she was for the part. She has range, she has diversity, she has talent, but she's pretty and can growl, so just stand there and look pretty and growl.

I realize it seems like I'm letting the outside aspects of the band influence my opinion of this album, and maybe I am, but this is a rare case where such a thing wouldn't be unfair. It all just coalesces into this giant statement that hammers home how hollow the record truly is. There's no passion here, it's just eleven cookie-cutter melodeath songs with two pointless interludes and that's it. It feels like nothing more than a necessary prerequisite for promotional photos and touring. I wish I could explain in more detail precisely why War Eternal is so inconsequential, but really you could just listen to any of the last six albums and understand exactly why. The whole album is full of passionless non-riffs and harmonized leads while a rhythm section exists in the background and some vocals function as white noise in the foreground, that's it. That's the whole album in one sentence. Potentially the worst part is that, like always, the leads are very, very good. This is the first time they've released an album without the greater Amott, but Michael and the dude from Arsis do a fine job of playing off each other, widdly weeing away very frequently and almost always with exciting results. It's such a shame that a talented player can be such an atrocious writer, because as soon as he sits down to write anything that doesn't sound like it could be played on a breezy mountaintop complete with sweeping crane shots of his hair blowing in the wind, he presents one of three inconsequential riffs and seven of nine Iron Maiden melodies layered on top. With the exception of some (admittedly pretty neat) synths in "Time is Black" and "Avalanche", every single song follows the same template with the same key and same tempo and same theme and same everything.

War Eternal is just uncreative and uninteresting and that's really the beginning and end of it. One aggressive riff and one synth line don't make up for the other nine songs of pointless filler, recycled melodies, and uninspired vocal lines. It's melodeath-by-numbers and I can guaran-goddamn-tee you that once I press the "publish" button, I'm never going to listen to this again. It's a pointless nothing-album that inspires no emotion other than all encompassing boredom. There's nothing worthwhile to be found here and all but the most diehard fans of the band are going to find nothing to warrant more than one curious listen. And the band has shown time and time again that they really have no intention of injecting these new hook focused songs with the dark splendor of the older songs, despite that being essentially the only thing the band could logically do at this juncture to make themselves interesting again from a musical standpoint.


Originally written for Lair of the Bastard

War Eternal is Arch Enemy’s tenth album and the first to feature Allisa White Gluz on vocals, since long term vocalist Angela Gossow’s departure from the band. The injection of new blood doesn’t do much to reinvigorate them though, and while not terrible, their latest effort is definitely an underwhelming one.

Alissa’s growled vocals are only decent, while there is a lot of passion behind her rasped growls, they are very one dimensional, and get rather stale over the course of the album. While their’s a certain viciousness to her voice, it’s all one deep raspy growl for the whole album, with little variation. While it’s not the worst growl in death metal, it’s still far from the best, and with many better vocalists out there, you have to wonder whether she was chosen on her vocal ability, or to keep up the appeal of their having a growling female fronting the band.

Musically it’s nothing special either, with riffs mostly consisting of dull chugs and overly melodic cheesy “hooks”. There are a few that rip, such as that killer pounding opening to the title track, but for the most part, they’re decidedly average. While not exactly terrible, there’s very few that are exciting or memorable through the course of the album. The problem extends to the lead guitar too, with Michael Amott playing his predictable saccharine scale runs, which for the most part sound dull and uninspired, not one solo from the album really shreds or has a sense of the epic. A few less solos, and more refinement on some of them might have yielded better results. The cheesy synths on Time Is Black only add to the saccharine cheese of it all, and thankfully they’re only present on a few songs. The drums only follow the music, and with little in the way of interesting fills or any intense blasting sections, as well as a squeaky clean production which takes the bit out of everything except the vocals, the whole thing just feels somewhat neutered, especially when the inaudible bass gives nothing in the way of any extra crunch, and Arch Enemy never get the chance to crush. It’s not a terrible effort, it’s not a good effort, it’s just kind of there, and definitely sits as the most average album of the year so far. The highlight is War Eternal, but that doesn’t say much.

Originally written for swirlsofnoise.com

Arch Enemy is back! After a quick switch of vocalist and guitarist, they've released their tenth studio album. There were certainly enough people complaining about Alissa's vocals when the singles were released, so how did the album turn out? Does it still sound like Arch Enemy? Are there any songs with clean vocals? How loud do I have to play it to blow out my eardrums? All these questions and more will be answered below.

When the War Eternal single came out, I listened to it and thought to myself "yep, that's an Arch Enemy song alright". The only thing that's really changed is the vocal style; the guitars and general song structure are all the same as they've been for the last 18 years. So if you're one of the people that were complaining about the singles, I'm sorry to say you're not going to like this album. Guess what? Alissa is the vocalist for the entire album. However, if you're a fan of Arch Enemy I definitely recommend giving the album a chance and to continue reading this review.

Though War Eternal does sound like an Arch Enemy album for the most part, there are quite a few musical differences from previous albums. It's not because of Alissa either. If you look at the writers for each song, Nick Cordle actually had much more of an influence. War Eternal and You Will Know My Name sound like classic Arch Enemy songs and I could totally imagine Angela doing the vocals for them. But songs like On and On and Avalanche (two that Alissa helped write) stray from the formula and really serve to shake up the flow of the album. On and On just seems more layered and tries interesting sounds that you won't find on previous albums. It even has a breakdown! Something very rarely found in this band's songs, if at all. There's one in No More Regrets too. And yes, Avalanche has clean vocals during the chorus. And yes, they work really well even though this is an Arch Enemy song. Now stop complaining about the vocals.

Speaking of the vocals, Alissa White-Gluz does a great job taking over vocal duties. She brings her distinct and instantly recognizable style and it just works. I don't really have much to say about the vocals. They sound different than Angela's and you either like them or you don't. Personally, I like them. There's also a noticeable lack of songs about anarchy and more focus on personal battles and triumphs.

War Eternal does a good job of playing with the Arch Enemy formula that we've grown to know and love. You never know what to expect. One minute you'll be listening to symphonic keyboards playing in the background, the next a sick solo, and after that you'll be singing along to one of the many catchy choruses. The band definitely has more cooks in the kitchen, but they're able to divide resources effectively and come out with a great multi-layered dish where everything is different but still compliments each other. It's definitely a weird first listen, but the album grows on you very quickly.

There is only one particularly irritating blemish that I need to address. The song Time is Black. It starts off with some forced symphonic elements that aren't really developed enough to be atmospheric. Then comes the main riff which is... alright. Then the symphonic elements keep coming up. They're not utilized well and it really distracts from the song. The whole song keeps going back and forth between a stripped-down sound and parts that are supposed to be atmospheric. It doesn't really fit with the guitars during the chorus or the interlude(s). Whatever. The idea could have been cool if more time was spent on it. The symphonic parts are apparently done by a full orchestra but they just sound like someone fiddling around on a keyboard. It makes the whole song come off as out of tune. Maybe it will grow on me over time, we'll have to see. A much smaller complaint of mine is that there is a slightly awkward transition between verse and chorus in some of the songs.

War Eternal manages to have a nice mix of shaking things up and sticking to the tried and true Arch Enemy formula. It's not perfect but it hits much more often than it misses. Alissa and Nick are great additions to the band and really help to make this album stand out. I recommend any Arch Enemy fan give this album at least two listens. It's worth it. I'll definitely be catching Arch Enemy live when they inevitably come play in Canada.

REVIEW ORIGINALLY FOUND AT http://metalontheside.blogspot.ca/