 
Arch Enemy are one of those bands I’ve loved
and then not cared about repeatedly for many years
now. Every time they release a new album I have
a quick listen to it and in the case of “Doomsday
Machine” I liked a few tracks on there but
not many; whilst “Rise of a Tyrant”
was a great album it didn’t really have
a lasting impression on me, now here we are in
2011 with “Khaos Legions”.
The peak of their career for me was “Wages
of Sin” or “Anthems of Rebellion”
both of which are terrific albums; the best thing
about those albums is they weren’t too complex
they were easy to follow along with great atmosphere
and changes in pace throughout songs. Since then
the band have just started making everything a
lot more technical, I mean if you listen to “Ravenous”
then “Blood on your hands” you will
see what I mean. However I am glad Angela stopped
using effects on her voice because her voice is
definitely better natural, more aggressive and
impressive.
So let’s give them their chance to win me
back over to their side then shall we? After a
couple plays you can see the vast range of different
material they’ve pieces together here from
extremely heavy death metal to having big melodic
songs to add depth and variation thought the record.
“Under Black Flags We March” is a
refreshing song as they’ve gone back to
writing the way they did on older albums but slotting
in technical parts which does enhance the sound.
“Cult of Chaos” has everything; it’s
quick and riffy in some parts, slow and extremely
heavy in others then melodic in some sections.
They dot instrumentals around the album and they
flow into the songs following them almost as an
introduction which is a good idea and they are
only a minute or so long so they don’t drag
on either. A few of the songs have melodic guitar
work with heavy vocals and rhythm work accompanying
them which is great and typical arch enemy fashion;
“Secrets” and “No Gods, No Masters”
are the best examples of this.
“Yesterday Is Dead And Gone”, “Bloodstained
Cross” and “City of the Dead”
are all on the newer style of Arch Enemy with
songs like “Nemesis” and “Blood
on your Hands” a lot of technicality with
the music and an extremely fast pace; for fans
of the quick metal I’d definitely recommend
these songs they’re terrific.
On the whole then they’ve won me back with
this release I recon! The variation and the extensive
range of what they can do has caught my attention
once again, I shall now see if they can win me
back again live at Sonisphere this summer with
a new showcase of tremendous material but how
much will be in their set list? We will see.
4/5
Review by James Webb
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