Let's get this out of the way: Back when I was a little mall-goth, with the greasy blue-black hair, the overly tight coat (which I still own and occasionally wear for the hell of it), and the eclectic taste in metal, I had the biggest crushes on three frontwomen. One was Brody Dalle of The Distillers; one was Christina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil; and the other was Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy.
Now that it's out in the open, I can safely say: "I'm going to try and give an unbiased view into the latest Arch Enemy album, The Root of All Evil"
The last Arch Enemy album I listened to was Doomsday Machine back in 2005. Four years on, and one album missed, and I'm getting some re-education in Arch Enemy thanks to The Root of All Evil. I could consider this to be a compilation album, but, I'll be nice and consider it as a new one. Why? Basically, for those not in the know, R.O.A.E doesn't actually feature any new material, technically...
The new album is actually a collection of reworked Arch Enemy songs from the pre-Angela years, back when Johan Liiva was on vocals. I'd not actually listened to any pre-Angela albums, so I could honestly not tell you whether it was good or not. The only difference I managed to pick out was that Johan's vocals were totally the opposite to Angela's. He tends to be more at the symphonic-death end of the scale; while she's way up at the growling banshee end of the scale.
So, what do I think?
I can't say it's brilliant because that would mean I'd be claiming that all Arch Enemy albums before 2000 were brilliant; but, I can say that it's good. It's exactly what the originals were like (when I went away and gave them a listen), but the vocals were sharper, more gutteral, more 'extreme'. The songs had been given the Spinal Tap treatment; they'd started at a 10, and by putting in Angela, they've been turned up to 11 and been given a whole new lease of life.
There really isn't much more to say about this. It's worth it if you're a die-hard fan, or a newcomer who wants to get into the older stuff in an easier way...but, it's nothing amazingly special. It's just a filler album between Rise of the Tyrant and whatever they actually start composing next.
Overall: 7/10 - A new lease of life for some old tracks, bridging the gap between the Liiva years and the decade of Gossow.
Top Track: Demonic Science
