Unitron "Watch the skeleton dance."

Many people seem to see melodic death metal as a real hit-or-miss genre, rarely being middle of the road. It either misses like a miscalculated golf swing, or hits hard as steel. I see it no differently. While the genre is home to many albums that just fall flat, there's always a handful of hole-in-ones that makes up for any bad shots that may be prevalent.

One complaint I have for melodic death metal, is that it often loses a lot of that raw and aggressive punch that is so essential to death metal. However, Arch Enemy's underrated Doomsday Machine should be the guidebook for how to make a death metal album that has a melodic sensibility but still kicks your ass. As you enter the machine, you're greeted with some of the most piercing and grooving riffing that has ever been present in death metal. I could name off any song to showcase this, but perhaps one of the best examples is the screeching homing missile attack of a main riff of "Nemesis". "My Apocalypse" just crushes with it's pummeling groove. That aggression is contrasted perfectly with a quiet atmospheric bridge, which features echoed-tone chords and a sublime guitar solo. The similarly toned chords that open up "Mechanic God Creation" is one of the best moments on the album, and is just as satisfying to hear every time I listen to it.

Speaking of, the Amott brothers' guitar playing is absolutely phenomenal and among the finest in death metal. Unlike the normal constant chugging of many modern technical and brutal death metal bands, these guys have infectious thrashing hooks and virtuoso soloing. I'm sometimes reminded of Rust in Peace-era Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine's leads with some of the melodies. Sometimes there's even references to neo-classical shredders, such as the main riff in the instrumental "Hybrids of Steel". Angela Gossow's vocals are at their best on this album, and are among the most brutal in metal. Her growls and snarls strike just as much as the guitar licks. Her vocal performance on the first few songs and "Skeleton Dance" is especially fantastic. The whole album just sounds so damn colossal. The rhythm section is commanding, and the production is loud and almost mechanical sounding. The album really feels like a machine being constructed in a clanking and rattling factory.

Doomsday Machine is not only a unique melodic death metal album, but it's quite a unique album in general. I haven't heard an album that blends melodic guitar leads, death, thrash, and groove this well before. The tones and overall sound of the album as well is something that I've yet to hear replicated. One of my all time favorite death metal albums. It's got raw brutality, groove, and crushing aggression all with a sense of harmony. It's a modern classic that still sounds fresh over a decade later. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

adg211288 You’d be forgiven for thinking that based on Doomsday Machine’s first three tracks that it was going to be an exceptional album. Sadly this is not the case as after Nemesis finishes Doomsday Machine steps down a gear, and Arch Enemy just fail to find it again. Nemesis and Taking Back my Soul are good, as is the intro song Enter the Machine, which is one of the few tracks of its kind that has some integrity as a piece of music. It’s the only thing about this album that is better than its predecessor, Anthems of Rebellion.

Mostly this album is made up of tracks ranging from the average to the above average. Sadly the aforementioned Taking Back My Soul and Nemesis actually do still come over the title of above average, that’s how weak this album is. It hasn’t got any mind numbingly boring parts, which is something, no, the only thing to really be thankful for here. Maybe I was letting myself in for a fall after getting my hopes up about Doomsday Machine, something I did because it was credited as Arch Enemy’s best to date in a magazine I read, but this is the weakest Arch Enemy album that I’ve heard so far. Admittedly I haven’t heard them all which is why I say what I’ve heard so far. But I do have all the Gossow era albums to date and this is easily the weakest of those. Don’t believe any hype you hear about this.

It may come as a surprise then that I think Doomsday Machine is actually worth a score of 6. This is because it does have some redeeming factors despite the song writing that is lacking in quality. Angela Gossow provides great vocals and the Amotts, as always, provide some of the best guitar work of modern metal, but the simple fact of the matter is, with no disrespect to Gossow, that Doomsday Machine would sound better with no vocals, and under the name The Brothers Amott, or something along those lines. If it was put out as an instrumental piece it would get a score of about an 8 or maybe even a 9. As it is however, the score I’m giving it seems most appropriate because the songs are not awful, and the musicianship is of a high enough quality not to carry Doomsday Machine into any ‘completely avoid this album’ categories. Fans Only? Yes I’d consider it a fans only category album, unless of course you can get it cheap anywhere, less than half normal price. Otherwise it would be best to steer clear, you’d be wasting your hard earned money. For the more casual fan, there are better Arch Enemy albums out there.