ARCH ENEMY

Location: Halmstad, Sweden
Website http://www.archenemy.net
Genre (s): Death


..:: Biography ::..
Metal titans ARCH ENEMY - whose dynamic cocktail of melody and aggression has earned them massive critical acclaim, a rabid worldwide fanbase and a slot on this summer’s Ozzfest in the US - triumphantly return with Doomsday Machine, their most stunning and dynamic release yet.

Formed by guitarist Michael Amott after his departure from the now legendary Carcass, ARCH ENEMY first garnered praise with the metal milestones Black Earth (1997), Stigmata (1998) and Burning Bridges (1999). These albums were propelled by flawlessly technical dual guitars and a previously unheard of mixture of melody and aggression, which helped them to quickly solidify their reputation as one of the genre’s elite.

However, ARCH ENEMY really began to develop their true potential once outstanding new vocalist Angela Gossow joined the fold on 2001/2002’s critically acclaimed Wages of Sin album (produced by Fredrik Nordström and mixed by Andy Sneap), marking the first time a band of this calibre and ferocity was fronted by a woman. The album was showered with universal praise, from front cover press in worldwide metal magazines to national daily newspapers alike. Naturally, Wages Of Sin proudly claimed a position in all the end-of-the-year “Best Of...” lists, whilst the metal underground had found a new band to champion, and one that would soon show on the live stage that it had even more to offer with Angela bringing a hitherto unseen level of growling and glamour to extreme metal.

It began with a sold-out UK-tour with Opeth and festival appearances across Europe. They then headed over to North America for a 6 week tour supporting Nile, followed 2 months later by another tour in the US, this time headlining with amongst others God Forbid supporting. By the end of 2002, ARCH ENEMY were back in Europe playing their first headlining club shows in several countries before heading back to Japan to take a major slot at the Beast Feast festival with Slayer and Motorhead. On the way back from Japan they briefly stopped on US soil for a number of West Coast headline shows before Christmas, and then took to the road once again for their debut headline shows in Scandinavia at the end of January 2003.

The band’s 2003 album, Anthems of Rebellion, was immediately hailed as a metal masterpiece. Produced and mixed by Andy Sneap, the record proved to be a landmark release for Century Media, as it delivered the label its then-highest first-week U.S. SoundScan sales ever, on the way to becoming one of its 10 best-selling albums of all time. Worldwide press raves continued to pour in - Anthems for example scored an unprecedented 5/5 in both Alternative Press and Kerrang!, Rock Hard Germany made it their “album of the month”, and Metal Hammer Germany stated it to be „melodic, grasping, delicately built but nevertheless a massive hit in your face.”

On the back of such a great response the band headed back out on the road and completed high-profile U.S. tours over the next year with Slayer, Hatebreed, Cradle Of Filth and Iron Maiden, a European Tour with Nevermore, a 2nd European headline tour as well as playing huge European festivals like Download, Rock Hard, Fields Of Rock, Graspop and Tuska, among others.

Late in 2004 ARCH ENEMY returned with the “Dead Eyes See No Future EP” - more than 30 minutes of highest quality metal, including exclusive live tracks recorded in Paris, three fantastic cover songs by Megadeth, Manowar and Carcass, as well as an enhanced version of their amazing “We Will Rise” video clip.

Now in 2005 we have Doomsday Machine and ARCH ENEMY have delivered without doubt the album of their career and are about to redefine the genre that they helped to create.

Founding guitarist and songwriter Michael Amott describes his thoughts on the group’s highly anticipated new album: “I think all great metal needs that killer mix of classic riffs and ripping solos, something that has been a bit of a dying art recently. We are doing our best to recreate that mix on this new album, and one thing I can guarantee is that there will be tons of guitar for fans to headbang to. All in all, I am really happy with the songs and I believe we have found the right balance of melody and brutality - the Arch Enemy trademark!”

The album artwork was created by German multimedia artist Joachim Luetke (Dimmu Borgir, Kreator). Michael Amott comments: “We are all extremely pleased with the artwork for the new album! I had a few ideas initially that I discussed with Joachim on the phone, and when he started sending over images we were seriously blown away – when you work with creative people of this calibre you just let them do what they do, so we just let him get on with it really! He’s a very productive guy, very sharp. He expanded on the Doomsday Machine concept and took it to some really interesting (albeit very dark!) places. It’s one of those great situations when the artwork totally works with the music.”