ARCH ENEMY — Doomsday Machine (review)

ARCH ENEMY — Doomsday Machine album cover Album · 2005 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
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.
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
It´s not long ago I listened to this one and I have almost the same feelings about the album. It really is quite the mediocre Arch Enemy release.

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