December 12, 1996 - Arch Enemy and Black Earth

16 days after my last release a new band joins my library when Arch Enemy released their debut album "Black Earth" on December 12, 1996. But who is Arch Enemy? They are a four-piece melodic death metal band from Halmstad, Sweden consisting of Johan Liiva (lead vocals), Daniel Erlandsson (drums, percussion) and brothers Christopher (lead guitar) and Michael Amott (rhythm guitar, bass). Like the name of the genre suggests, Arch enemy play a pretty heavy style of death metal, but also have some cool melodic parts too. Let's see what the latest heavy band from Sweden is all about!

The album kicks off with it's only single  "Bury Me An Angel" and they immediately show us what Arch Enemy is all about as they dive right into a very fast-paced and pretty damn heavy main riff. The guitar, bass and drums all sound pretty heavy and sweet with Christopher leading the way with some nice thrash-y lead guitar. Liiva's vocals however seem they are trying to match the death metal intensity of the music, but his vocals sound like he's just talking lowly overtop. He doesn't sound awful, but he's definitely not my favourite singer and I think he just falls flat compared to the music, which is pretty cool. After a couple fast verses and choruses they slow things down for an epic guitar solo before speeding up to end a cool intro to these metalheads. Up next is "Dark Insanity" and it follows the same idea with a speedy and plenty heavy main riff and Liiva yelling overtop. He sounds a bit more raspy in this one, which is actually a good thing. The Amott brothers sync up for some catchy harmonized guitars and when they're not synced Christopher is leading the way, including a pretty sweet shredding solo. Erlandsson plays some nice drum fills as they break things down to end another cool song. Track 3 is "Eureka" and it's slower than the first two songs, but it's still nice and heavy and the main riff reminds me a bit of Iron Maiden. Liiva's vocals are loud, but they're just not heavy enough to be death metal. He's tolerable though, especially since there is lots of cool guitars that are the real draw, including another epic solo by Christopher. The next song is "Idolatress" and words don't do proper justice when I say it's another fast and heavy riff because all these riffs are quite different and they're all quite good! But this is another nice thrash-y headbanger and Liiva's vocals fit better on this one as he sings a pretty good chorus. Chris plays a short solo at first, and then takes off for a pretty sweet second half of the solo. They return to the thrash-y main riff to finish off another solid tune. Track 5 is "Cosmic Retribution" and the first couple minutes are similar to Slayer with some incredibly fast guitar work. Then the mods shifts dramatically as we hear some acoustic guitar! It sounds pretty good and it sets the stage nicely for a crazy fast electric solo that sounds pretty brutal. I love how fast this song is and that break was cool too, another pretty sweet song! Up next is a short instrumental interlude called "Demoniality". It's just a short riff repeated, but for a song just over a minute long it's a pretty heavy one! It's a slow headbanger and a fine little interlude. Track 7 is "Transmigration Macabre" and it's probably the fastest song they've done yet!  The verses have a blistering speed that sounds pretty sweet to me, and the slower chorus is quite groovy and catchy! The two go together really well and along with a pretty awesome and lengthy guitar solo, this is easily one of the best songs on the album for me. I was headbanging pretty fierce! The next song is another short instrumental interlude called "Time Capsule" and it's just the Amott brothers with Michael playing some cool acoustic guitar and Christopher playing some slow but epic electric guitar.  They play off each other well and it's another solid little tune. Track 9 is "Fields Of Desolation" and it's actually easily one of the blandest songs on the album. It's not bad by any means, but the riffs and guitars are way simpler on this song and Liiva's vocals are not my favourite either. The song ends with a guitar solo, but aside from a great beginning it's also pretty tame and bland compared to the sweet stuff on the rest of the album. Up next is "Losing Faith" and it's led by some great guitars from both Amott brothers, but especially Christopher leading the way. Liiva's vocals sound much heavier as well and things are pretty catchy for such a heavy song. We hear another pretty sweet guitar solo and they wrap this one up nicely as well. Back to their solid best. Track 11 is yet another instrumental interlude, but this one is an Iron Maiden cover! "The Ides Of March" off their second album "Killers" is certainly an interesting choice for a cover, but it fits the mood of this album pretty perfectly actually! They nail it too with some cool drums by Erlandsson and of course the wonderful guitar leading the way. All the interludes were pretty cool! The album closes out with "Aces High", another Iron Maiden cover! (This time the hit single off of "Powerslave"). The music is pretty good and well done, but Liiva is certainly no Bruce Dickinson and the vocals fall quite flat. Like most of the songs on this album, the vocals are tolerable but not great but the music is some pretty cool metal.

That is the end of "Black Earth" and I thought it was a solid debut album from Arch Enemy. The Amott brothers are both very capable guitarists and the rhythm section can definitely keep up as well. As I said throughout the review, Johan Liiva just doesn't seem like the right fit for this band to me. Nevertheless, he did a decent if not ever fantastic job. I look forward to seeing where Arch Enemy goes from here, but this is my last release of 1996, and so begins the year-end wrap-up! 14 albums this year is a little down from last year, but it's still enough for a pretty good top ten.

Favourite song of the year: All the best songs of this year came off the same album, which kind of tips my hand to the following list. The title track was pretty awesome as well but I have to go with Tool's  "Third Eye" for my favourite, it's an incredible nesr 15 minute ride!

Top 10 Albums Of The Year

1. Ænima by Tool
2. Life Is Peachy by Korn
3. The Great Southern Trendkill by Pantera
4. Morningrise by Opeth
5. Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine
6. Scenery And Fish by I Mother Earth
7. Down On The Upside by Soundgarden
8. Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent by Refused
9. Signify by Porcupine Tree
10. Black Earth by Arch Enemy

Ænima rules all in 1996, but the top 6 albums were all excellent! Heavy music continues to dominate the top of my rankings, and I'm looking forward to where things will progress from here! Onward to 1997!