May 21, 1999 - Burning Bridges

Two and a half weeks after my last release and just a year since "Stigmata" Arch Enemy released their third album "Burning Bridges" on May 21, 1999. Bassist Martin Bengtsson was only on the last album and he is replaced on this album by new bassist Sharlee D'Angelo. Arch Enemy also expand their horizons a bit, branching out from their usual melodic death metal style into some progressive as well as some hardcore bits! This sounds a little more interesting, let's check it out!

The album begins with it's lead single "The Immortal" and it has a nice and fast main riff with some thrash-y guitars from both Christopher and Michael Amott. Johan Liiva sounds solid for him, but his voice is still not my favourite even though it does sound improved. Whichever Amott does the guitar solo does a fantastic job with a long solo that has several pretty awesome parts to it. It's a pretty tight way to kick things off and Arch Enemy sound like a more polished and solid version of themselves with D'Angelo now on bass. Up next is "Dead Inside" and one guitarist plays a catchy rhythm riff while the other plays some pretty cool lesd guitar overtop that goes together nicely. The fast parts of this song sound pretty good, but the slower sections are a little tame and unexciting. Once again there's a pretty freaking sweet guitar solo as we hear some epic and crazy stuff in another lengthy showing before they quickly sever things off at the end. Track 3 is "Pilgrim" and Daniel Erlandsson plays some nice drums behind a pretty melodic and catchy main riff with of course some solid guitars. The chorus on this one is very made-for-radio for these guys and it sounds decent, but it's certainly a weird angle. The more typical death metal parts sound pretty good but even the solo is more toned down on this track and overall it's not one of my favourites even though it has a much more memorable hook. The next track is "Silverwing" and it has a pretty sweet and catchy lead guitar riff that everyone else builds nicely around, including some more nice drums and even some harmonized guitars from the Amotts. The verse is super heavy and Liiva even sounds pretty metal on this one but the chorus is another very melodic and slower one. The solo also has a bit of both worlds as well and of course I really love the death metal parts, but the melodic ones were pretty catchy as well and overall it's a solid song. Track 5 is "Demonic Science" and the Amotts team up for some heavy and cool synchronized guitars while Liiva yells decently overtop on this one. The chorus has a nice stop-and-start rhythm guitar riff as well as some epic lead guitar that goes together nicely. There's a very quick early guitar solo, and then the longer main solo, but the main one is a little too simple for me even though it still sounds epic. Up next is "Seed Of Hate" and it's got some pretty cool guitar as usual, but it falls away for the start of the verse as D'Angelo nicely leads the way on bass while Liiva sings very softly. Their more typical sound emerges for the latter half of the verse and it leads into a similarly catchy chorus. The solo is quite long and epic with lots of cool parts to it and it leads perfectly into a final chorus to finish off this pretty solid tune. Track 7 is "Angelclaw" and after almost a minute of instrumental opening they shift into high gear with a fast main riff that sounds nice and heavy and Liiva sounds pretty gnarly as well. This part is pretty sweet and the chorus is right along the same lines, which just makes the opening all the weirder. The solo starts off pretty groovy and smooth, but then it too shifts into high gear and finishes with some nice shredding! The opening was meh, but everything else was quite awesome! The album wraps up with it's title track "Burning Bridges" and it has a very slow tempo for Arch Enemy, but it sounds pretty epic and it's hard not to slowly headbang along to what sounds like an Iron Maiden intro. Liiva sounds alright yelling overtop of the slow riff, but they never really advance past this and just slowly jam out this riff for several minutes. Eventually it fades into an epic finale with a choir and orchestral music and this part sounds decently epic, but it doesn't really fit I find, it's a weird way to end the album, the whole song is.

That is the end of "Burning Bridges" and I thought it was on par with Arch Enemy's other albums: lots of great guitars and cool metal riffs, but even though he sounds a little improved on this album, Johan Liiva is still just not that great a singer. I think this is actually their worst album yet, and I can't understand why they don't see it. The places they could go...