New Arch Enemy

[Dead Winter]

I've been pretty bored with this band for about 7 years or so, but the new one has elements of old Arch Enemy with Johan. It's got a small amount of filler in respect to the rest of the album, and there are some riffs straight out of Stigmata.

Now if they could just fire Angela and get Johan back.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlWfX4NtJ7Y&feature=related[/ame]

 

[DarkGift]

meh

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

People aren't going to like them even though they're responsible for some killer melo death. The first few albums are amazing. Burning Bridges has arguably the best collection of riffs on a metal album. So raw and unorthodox.

 

[derek]

I just find the riffage tired these days. It's not that it's bad. I could certainly listen to it while driving or passively at the gym, but it simply isn't what metal can and should be in 2011. It panders to a crowd that prefer their metal recycled and with a "metal" attitude that, to me at least, seems to be getting more and more anaemic.

 

[Dead Winter]

I just find the riffage tired these days. It's not that it's bad. I could certainly listen to it while driving or passively at the gym, but it simply isn't what metal can and should be in 2011. It panders to a crowd that prefer their metal recycled and with a "metal" attitude that, to me at least, seems to be getting more and more anaemic.

I actually completely agree with this. I love their old stuff pre-Burning Bridges, but everything after that seems tired even for the late 90's.

I think that the new millennium can be summed up as the death of the hook.

I do like that song, however. I like the beginning riff, but just like so many other bands, they build something that could be killer and then ruin it by not following through. Had the entire song been wrapped around that riff, it would've made the entire album.

The problem is that drummers are lazy...it's actually not the guitarists' fault, imo. Every band does the polka-then-shift-to-double-kick formula in every thrash album. It's way too formulaic.

 

[Dreadful]

by 'death of the hook' you mean that as just a regular observation right? and not "get with the times...that melodic, killer hooky stuff AE doesn't belong in 2011! No more hooks!"

to be honest...I'm sick of this "no hook" nonsense metal has been doing for the last 7 years. It satisfies elitists that like their metal unaccessible even though in reality every metal fan digs all these new albums. I agree with everything above...the first few AE with Johan are the best. I even think Wages of Sin is really good too...after that I was just like "meh"...

edit: to clarify...there are some songs with good hooks that have been released the last 7 years...but as a whole the albums seem much weaker in that regard. Everything seems to be about riffing, playing, and SOUNDING heavier but not actually writing a song that's strong enough. case in point: Death Magnetic. People are saying it's better than the Black Album because it's "thrashier" ...ok...but the songs aren't there. At least to me. I can listen to Unforgiven and Whereever I may Roam, Nothing Else Matters, and the other riffs, melodies on the album and be like "that's well done."

 

[Dead Winter]

by 'death of the hook' you mean that as just a regular observation right? and not "get with the times...that melodic, killer hooky stuff AE doesn't belong in 2011! No more hooks!"

to be honest...I'm sick of this "no hook" nonsense metal has been doing for the last 7 years. It satisfies elitists that like their metal unaccessible even though in reality every metal fan digs all these new albums. I agree with everything above...the first few AE with Johan are the best. I even think Wages of Sin is really good too...after that I was just like "meh"...

Yeah that's what I mean. A lot of metal these days has nothing memorable about it, only bits and pieces of songs. It's almost like they frown on song structure and don't understand that just because it's complex or complicated doesn't automatically mean it's a good song.

I think AE's last good album was Wages, actually. For some reason, Angela just doesn't fit in that band, imo. It's not like she softens the songs or anything because she prefers the most brutal songs, but I think it's just her voice. She can scream but it's not anything so impressive that you wouldn't find in a bazillion other garage bands.

 

[neal]

well you cant really 'blame' it on angela, as the whole direction of the music changed with her. the style on the first three albums had a lot more contrast between heavy brutal riffing leading into soaring guitar hero leads and melodies. the music became a lot more 'streamlined' 'middle of the road' slickly produced all integrated kind of sound, that stripped their little niche they had and made them sound like everyone else in the genre, so they got a pretty standard sounding screamer to fit into their new mediocrity.

and unless something is truly exceptional, i dont need any more melodeath albums, i have plenty.

 

[Deb H]

Been listening to the new Arch Enemy this week. There's a few throw away songs on there, but apart from that it's a sound album. Can't fault the musicianship and I love the production. Perhaps the concept is getting a bit tired now, you know the "we are an army fighting against the world" type thing, but apart from that, I like it.

 

[buzz21]

I wanted to like it - but it just doesn't have anything "new" for me...just the standard riffs with the guitar playing the same sounding melody lines alongside it. I think Wages of Sin was their best effort, and I've liked every subsequent release less and less. There are a few decent parts and the production is good, but after a few days I pulled it from the cd player and it hasn't gone back in.

 

[replicated]

Seems the new album is less cheesy at least. I say it's their best since Anthems of Rebellion.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

WOS was the album that got me into AE. First time I heard Enemy Within I shit myself. Of course I was early in my career as a metal listener and much more enthusiastic than I am now...


If you want NEW good melodeath then look no fucking further than the album of 2011: New World Shadows by Omnium Gatherum. Unbelievable album. And you like hooks...and the second half of the song is just unstoppable.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

maybe one of the best songs in the past ten years:

the pick slides around 4:30 and the epic few seconds immediately after is perhaps the best moment in music..ever!

 

[rebirth]

so true = If you want NEW good melodeath then look no fucking further than the album of 2011: New World Shadows by Omnium Gatherum. Unbelievable album. And you like hooks...and the second half of the song is just unstoppable.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

everyone needs to listen to that Be'Lakor song. It's fucking.... it's menacing! It's unstoppable! The melodies these guys come up with are so fucking despondent and so fucking beautiful.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

another masterpiece

 

[Enemy242]

i dunno what people see in this but i really disliked the new album (and this is coming from someone who liked the last one and didn't mind the albums before it). the riffs in the album just feel super stale and boring, the melodies are generic and tacked on, and overall i didn't feel connected to any song or remember them specifically (it just kinda flowed from boring intro to boring song, to boring interlude, oh shit the album is over). no idea why but this album just really sucked for me and i don't have any bias towards new vs old as i like both new and old. obviously everything up until burning bridges is fucking amazing and kicks the shit out of anything new but i still didn't mind the new stuff when it's put in it's own category (except this new one which i was sadly really looking forward to).

 

[Altitudes]

Most people have a very strong opinion about Arch Enemy but I really don't. The vocals can get very tiring, monotonous, and linear; the guitar riffs and melodies do tend to be predictable, and most the albums they put out have filler tracks, but it isn't like they write bad songs that I outright say suck. The track posted in this thread is cool, I guess I'll check out the album. This band doesn't write anything that sounds new or different, and I think that is the problem.

 

[Dreadful]

Those songs aren't bad, I wouldn't say they're the best...but the first one from Omnium Gatherum is probably the best thing I've heard from them since Spirits of August Light

 

[azal]

I was listening to Burning Bridges last week and was all


Haven't made it through a full Arch Enemy album since Wages of Sin