ARCH ENEMY — Wages of Sin (review)

ARCH ENEMY — Wages of Sin album cover Album · 2001 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
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.
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