ARCH ENEMY

Anthems Of Rebellion

Century Media
rating icon 7.5 / 10

Track listing:

01. Tear Down The Walls (Intro)
02. Silent Wars
03. We Will Rise
04. Dead Eyes See No Future
05. Instinct
06. Leader Of The Rats
07. Exist to Exit
08. Marching On A Dead End Road (Instr.)
09. Despicable Heroes
10. End of the Line
11. Dehumanization
12. Anthem (Instr.)
13. Saints and Sinners


Full marks to these Swedish heavyweights for absorbing a female singer into their ranks to replace former, very male, singer Johan Liiva in 2001. Not expected to stand there in a wedding dress and warble sweetly like a songbird (see just about ever other female-led band in Europe),German Angela Gossow in fact goes for the jugular with a bestial growl.

However, when you throw "Anthems of Rebellion" into the CD player, female or not, her voice doesn't knock spots off any other mid-range growler out there, contrary to all the hype and expectation when she first joined.

Mike Amott is similarly a fantastic guitarist, but with all the albums he's released with ARCH ENEMY since departing CARCASS, you always leave an airing of one of them feeling that he's not really stretching himself. To that end, "Anthems…" still isn't quite what he and his band are realistically capable of.

Don't read us wrong — as trad metal comes back into vogue, it's still right up there as polished, riff-heavy albums go — take the Neolithic thrash stomp of opener "Silent Wars" or the "classic" SLAYER-esque metal-by-numbers of "Exist To Exit". But, the problem is everyone's now doing this sort of thing to a high standard, and a bit more invention and texture — besides the undeniably lush solo work and melodies on show — might just add a little extra something. Despite the fact that "Instinct" possesses a potentially horrific KORN-like riff, at least it's a break from the norm and, it has to be said, doesn't sound at all misplaced.

NEVERMORE have recently proved that metal needn't make the same old plays in 2003. So come on Mr. Amott — show us more moves.

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).