UMUR "Khaos Legions" is the 8th full-length studio album by Swedish melodic death metal act Arch Enemy. It´s the first album with original material since "Rise of the Tyrant (2007)". The band did release "The Root of All Evil" in 2009, which is an album with re-recordings of songs from the first three Arch Enemy albums, "Black Earth (1996)", "Stigmata (1998)" and "Burning Bridges (1999)", so it´s not like they haven´t been active. "Khaos Legions" was released in May 2011 through Century Media Records.

The music on the album is unmistakably the sound of Arch Enemy. This is more or less how they have sounded since Angela Gossow joined the band around the turn of the millenium. A mostly heavy and pounding mid paced melodic death metal style. The tracks are vers/chorus structured and quite easily accessible considering that this is death metal (albeit with a strong traditional heavy metal element). Angela Gossow´s growling vocals are as over-processed as ever and the Amott brothers deliver one sweet melodic lead after another. Their lead work, wether it is harmony lead themes or solos, are outstanding. While I think it´s a kinda cheap trick by now I especially enjoy when they enter neo-classical territory. All tracks are pretty much of equal quality. Few lows but not many highs either.

"Khaos Legions" is a quality melodic death metal albums by one of the leaders of the genre. The fact that it´s maybe a bit too polished, rather formulaic and doesn´t differentiate itself much from earlier releases by the band probably aren´t issues to most of the hardcore fans. As a more casual listener I can´t say I find the album to be a revelation in any way and to me the 54:41 minutes of playing time is a bit of a drag. You can´t deny quality though and this is a well produced, well composed and professionally delivered album fully deserving a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

Mjöllnir Their peak, I'd say. With Angela Gossow now on board, the band took their boldest stride yet down the road to metal stardom. Much more palatable than Johan Liiva's monotonous howl, Angela's uncanny resemblence to Carcass' Jeff Walker is the icing on the cake of an album that represents Mike Amott's best attempt to recreate Heartwork.

It's altogether more polished and straight ahead than the Carcass classic but the signatures are all there. It feels very much like a classic heavy metal record played by a death metal band, the density of the Burning Bridges production giving way to a clean and sharper sound. Metal festival crowd pleasers like Burning Angel, Ravenous and Dead Bury Their Dead have aged nicely and the album flows neatly with memorable riffs never far away. The song structures while traditional are peppered with excellent detail and they nail some sweet melodic hooks like never before.

I can't say they ever were a favourite of mine but this was and still is quite a special effort and stands tall amongst the best albums in last decade or so of metal.

adg211288 Khaos Legions is the ninth (or the eighth if you insist on discounting the 2009 release The Root of All Evil which was new version of old songs) studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy. The album was released in 2011, four years after their last album of original material, 2007’s Rise of the Tyrant.

As far as I’m concerned Arch Enemy hasn’t had the most consistent of careers. They’ve had some really good albums such as Stigmata and Rise of the Tyrant and some generally solid affairs such as Wages of Sin, but they’ve also had some downturns such as Doomsday Machine. Their last full-length of new material I numbered among their best offerings however, so Khaos Legions has a tough act to follow.

The first track is the intro Khaos Overture. It is a good showcase of the guitar skills of the brothers Michael and Chris Amott, but anyone familiar with the band already knows these guys have nothing to prove on that front. I’m of two minds about the spoken word vocals that end this track. On one hand they seem out of place when the start, but works pretty well as a lead in to the first proper song on the album, Yesterday is Dead and Gone. It’s pretty clear from herein that Khaos Legions represents more of the same from Arch Enemy, in that it’s mostly heavy songs with great melodic guitar work topped off with the impressive vocals of Angela Gossow, occasionally broken up with a shorter instrumental piece. There’s nothing new on the table here, so the only thing to really decide is if Khaos legions falls in with the great Arch Enemy albums, or the weaker ones.

Actually where it falls is more on the side of the stronger albums, but it doesn’t really make it up there to sit proudly alongside their best works. Whilst the songs are consistently solid, the album lacks songs that really stick out as a highlight. The aforementioned Yesterday is Dead and Gone comes close to being one, but falls short by a very narrow margin. It starts strong but then falls apart. The same goes for Under Black Flags We March, although in this one’s case it starts pretty average and then builds up into something better. No Gods, No Masters does however stand out from the rest though, as does Bloodstained Cross with its interesting use of lighter sections that add real depth to the track. Thorns in My Flesh is another highlight, but it’s the aggressive and frantic Vengeance Is Mine that takes the medal for the album’s best song. In general though the songs do fall short of greatness, often by those narrowest of margins, although there isn’t a bad track here and as a whole Khaos Legions is far from the worst thing Arch Enemy ever delivered, but neither is in the most impressive.

I said that Khaos Legions had a tough act to follow and it ultimately has failed. However I can’t call the album a total disgrace and I expect that anyone who enjoyed the band’s past releases will likely still enjoy this one to a point. I just hope this isn’t the start of another decline and that next time the quality will be closer to Rise of the Tyrant.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 7.1/10)

UMUR "Anthems of Rebellion" is the 5th full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Arch Enemy. The album was released by Century Media Records in August 2003. The album features the same lineup that recorded the preceeding album "Wages of Sin (2001)" but introduces producer Andy Sneap.

...knowing Andy Sneap´s professional metallic productions, it´s no surprise how "Anthems of Rebellion" sound. But actually the sound on this album doesn´t differ much from the Fredrik Nordström produced sound on "Wages of Sin". And ditto with the songwriting and general style of the music. The band still play melodic vers/ chorus structured death metal. There´s an emphasis on melodic guitar leads and themes, a solid rythm section and the processed growling vocals by frontwoman Angela Gossow. Out of the 13 tracks on the 43:26 minute long album, only very few songs stand out, so even though the songwriting is professional and streamlined, I think the songs lack variation between them. The album needs more songs like the "hit" "Dead Eyes See No Future", that I´m actually able to remember after the album finishes. Also why make an album that sounds almost exactly like a carbon copy of the last album? (Make that a less interesting copy).

Overall there´s no denying that "Anthems of Rebellion" is a very professional sounding melodic death metal album and I´m sure fans of the genre will enjoy the album more than I do, but compared to the band´s earlier albums this one simply lacks bite. It sounds tame and calculated. And to top it off I have to endure almost 45 minutes of the soulless growling by Angela Gossow. She is not able to convince me of her vocal qualities on this album. "Anthems of Rebellion" is a very "safe" album release by Arch Enemy and personally I don´t feel very entertained by the album, but as mentioned above the production is professional, the songwriting ditto and the musicianship is strong ( except the weak vocals), so I would be out of line calling this a bad album. A 3 - 3.5 star rating is warranted. However ff you want to listen to Arch Enemy from this period I´m recommend that you purchase "Wages of Sin" instead.

UMUR Burning Bridges is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish melodic death metal act Arch Enemy. The album was released in May 1999 by Century Media Records. This is the last album by Arch Enemy to feature lead vocalist Johan Liiva, before he would leave to form Hearse. But let me state right away: He leaves with a bang.

The music on Burning Bridges is exceptionally melodic death metal lending equal amounts of inspiration from acts such as In Flames and Heartwork (1993)-era Carcass as it does to 70s hard rock acts like Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash. Add to that inspiration from acts such as Judas Priest and especially Iron Maiden and you´re just about there. The raw vocals ( I struggle to call them growls) by Johan Liiva and some of the most raw riffing on the album lead my thoughts towards death metal, but most parts of the music would probably be better described as melodic heavy metal. This is THE album to take a listen to if you´re a heavy metal fan who would like to take a listen to an easily accesssible death metal album. Burning Bridges would make for a smooth transition if you´re not used to extreme metal.

The band are very well playing and especially the melodic guitar work by Michael- and Christopher Amott stand out as quite exceptional. There are both soaring melodic, fast shredding, hard rock/ bluesy and neo-classical influenced soloing on the album. The neo-classical theme in the end of Demonic Science which in the last few seconds of the song suddenly serves as backing to a guitar line from Still Got the Blues by Gary Moore ( I´m almost 100% sure that´s what it is), is a great example of the richness in detail when it comes to the guitar work on the album. One fantastic melodic theme or solo after another follows the next all the way through the album.

The production is excellent. Powerful and metallic but with an organic touch that again leads my thought towards 70s hard rock.

The melodic death metal genre is a bit of hit and miss for me, but while a large part of the bands in the genre are generic sounding followers ( that´s my personal opinion. Feel free to express/ form your own), Arch Enemy has always stood out as one of the leaders and innovators of the genre. Burning Bridges is their masterpiece and it´s THE album of theirs that I always recommend people to listen to. They may have received more commercial success with the Angela Gossow fronted lineup, but Burning Bridges stand out as their most significant artistic achivement IMO. A 4.5 star rating is deserved.