Disco de Arch Enemy: “Root of All Evil”

My CD player will never be the same. As we speak, I'm sure it has been reduced to a mass of smoldering wires and molten plastic.

Arch Enemy has put together a killer of a release with The Root of all Evil. I don't believe any of the songs on this were re-recorded for the love of money, if you'll forgive the biblical expression. This album is a compilation of songs from early AE albums Black Earth, Stigmata, and Burning Bridges, but to call this album a compilation is doing it a great injustice.

No one blends thrash and death metal musical styles as well as Arch Enemy. Simply put, I have not been able to find a flaw in this album, and believe me, I have tried. The production is impeccable. Angela Gossow's vocals are even more venomous, and noticeably so. The Amott brothers shred the backing with a full-on assault of musical power. Daniel Erlandsson's drumming is of fine quality, and Sharlee's bass bellows beneath the surface.

I think I have a new favorite AE album, if only my CD player can recover.

Buy this. You'll love it. Classic AE! The Root of all Evil gets 4.75/5 stars.

I suppose most people know the history behind this release. Arch Enemy was always one of the better Swedish melodic death metal bands, but it wasn't until they hired a female vocalist (one Angela Gossow, a rarity in a male-dominated genre) that they really received mainstream attention. It didn't hurt that Gossow could belt out throat-shredding growls with the best of her male counterparts. Anyway, several albums into their career with Gossow, the band has decided to revisit some of the songs from the early Arch Enemy albums -

,

and

- that featured Johann Liiva on vocals, this time with Gossow singing.

I'm sure this will seem like sacrilege to the old school Arch Enemy fans that can't get into the band's second incarnation, but I think the band struck the right tone with The Root of All Evil (though Anthrax beat them to the punch with their similarly titled and identically themed

). They're not trying to airbrush history. If that were the case I doubt they would have agreed to such elaborate reissues of Stigmata and Burning Bridges earlier this year. They're simply giving fans a chance to hear studio versions of some of the old songs with the current lineup - not to mention more modern technology and production values. Having Fredrik Nordstrom (Dark Tranquillity, In Flames) producing and Andy Sneap (Nevermore, Testament) mixing and mastering the album doesn't hurt either.

As I expected, the songs all sound great. I'm a fan of both versions of Arch Enemy, so I was really looking forward to this album. Gossow sounds amazing as always, and the band does their part to breathe new life into these old songs. I still prefer the original versions, but it's still cool to hear these remakes. I was a little disappointed that they didn't include new versions of "Sinister Mephisto" and "Burning Bridges", as those are probably my favorites from the Liiva era.

For those who think the Liiva albums are the only Arch Enemy albums worth owning, The Root of All Evil is not going to change your mind. Those who only enjoy the Gossow albums will hopefully look at these older songs in a new light, and will maybe even go back and check out the original albums. Arch Enemy fans that enjoy both eras of the band's history are the ones who will get the most out of this release.

I'm new to Arch Enemy so I'm getting caught up on their material. I didn't realize that this was a re-recording of early material when I bought it. Now, I have no problem with bands re-recording old material, especially of the original production was lacking. The fact that this is early material may explain, however, why the songs don't seem as good. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but my point of reference was my first AE purchase, "Rise of the Tyrant," which blew me away. Still, even weak material from AE is better than what most of these "extreme metal" bands can do.

I would have given this 3.5 or 4 stars but, since, it isn't new material, it has to take a small hit in my book.

Still:

Recommended.

This album is really a fantasitc listening experience, sonically brutal- and the excellent production is only equaled by the players performances.

I really can't put into words just how good this is- just buy it, you'll LOVE it.

With "The Root Of All Evil", it's out - I'm not the world's greatest Arch Enemy fan. Nor am I the most casual one either, I'm somewhere in between. That means I've never heard the first three albums,

,

and

. I hadn't heard of (and just wasn't interested in) the band when Angela Gossow wasn't part of the equation. So this review is coming from someone who has no frame of reference to compare to (except for "Diva Satanica" on Wages of Sin, or the live performances of said songs).

"The Root Of All Evil" has all the elements you could want out of an Arch Enemy album - after all, it's the sound that defined them and launched their career. Daniel's thumping drums, Mike and Chris' prideful and crescending solos - and when you add Angela's vicious vocals on top of that, you know what to expect. It has the drive and the power, and sounds absolutely 100% Arch Enemy - technically, it's all there. But when you put together a collection of songs from three previous albums (that came out before the turn of the millenium), it doesn't provide a cohesive and mindblowing listening experience like

. The connecting thread isn't the melodies or themes, but rather "songs you might've heard before (if only once or twice)". That's not saying that this is a bad album, on the contrary - only that it will rock you without surprises, that there's no exploration of new territory. But I'll be damned if it isn't a nice gift to us "new" fans that won't last long without Angela's voice doing the shrieking.

(This version comes in a neat little mediabook with a white cover and a "pure f-ing metal"-patch, as well as three bonus tracks from the

DVD, which I think is a shame - this would've been the perfect place to throw in their rare cover of Kiss' "The Oath", or even repeat "Walk In The Shadows" for those who never got the "Revolution Begins"-single).