Photo credit: Masa Noda

Photo credit: Lolo666

Angela Gossow: "We are back from the ‘Tyrants Of The Rising Sun’ Asia tour – and it was a fantastic experience! Kawasaki, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka in Japan, then on to Taipei, Taiwan – where we played for the first time ever.. And then on to beautiful and vibrant Seoul, where we haven’t played before either. What a trip!"

Photo credit: Masa Noda

"It was a busy schedule in Japan. We didn’t have many days off on this tour, the only Yen I spent were on foot detox patches, ha-ha… These things rock btw.
I love Japan. Refined, elegant and so wonderfully organized. Not one single bad surprise, everything on time and according to schedule. Many thanx to Creative Man and Layli, who did a superb job as usual and Tetsu & Aya from our label Toys Factory! I would move to Tokyo any day if I could…
Ah, and I spotted Celine Dion on the Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Osaka. She had a whole entourage and film crew with her… I wonder how she liked to travel with the common people… ha-ha"

Photo credit: Hiromi Hagiuda

Michael Amott: “As you some of you might know, we filmed and recorded the Tokyo show at ‘Shinkiba Studio Coast’ on March 8th. We are planning to edit and mix this material this year and release as a DVD… We were of course a little worried if everything would work on the night with the audio and video recording, but it worked perfectly!”.

“There was really no need to worry, we had a great team of people working on the shooting of the concert Mr. Uehara and the Fuji Pacific team did an excellent job of capturing the extreme metal action on stage!
We brought our good friend Paul Smith from London, UK (he edited our ‘Live Apocalypse’ DVD) to Japan to direct the DVD and also film stuff backstage, on the road footage etc. He also filmed interviews with all band members on various locations in Japan. Comparing it to our ‘Live Apocalypse’ DVD, which featured material from all over the world (and concert footage from the UK) this new DVD will be totally focused on ARCH ENEMY in Japan 2008. I am excited to start working on it! I am not sure when we will eventually release this DVD – but I am hoping that it will be in a not too distant future!”

"We also filmed me visiting the ESP guitars custom shop factory in Tokyo (Thanks Makoto Suzuki!) and the BIG BOSS shop and ESP schools in Nagoya (thank you Mr. Nagaya and staff!)"

Michael and a white Ninja V at the ESP custom shop in Tokyo!
Photo credit: PaulSmithMusic.com

"Of course it was also very special to receive the BURRN! trophies in Japan, we brought the trophies on stage in Tokyo to show our gratitude and took some pictures – a very emotional experience to be so appreciated by the readers of the worlds heaviest heavy metal magazine – BURRN!"

*Best Group (Arch Enemy)
*Best Guitarist (Michael Amott)
*Best Drummer (Daniel Erlandsson)
*Best Album (Rise Of The Tyrant)
*Best Songwriter (Michael Amott)

Scans from Burrn! #4 April 208 (c) 2008 by Burrn! Corporation

Photo credit: PaulSmithMusic.com

Michael Amott: "After the Japanese tour we flew to Taipei, Taiwan and played a concert – our first time in Taiwan and we found out that it has a healthy metal scene! We had a great time and our promoter Mr. Space was a very generous host and it was a nice experience. A few of us In the ARCH ENEMY camp went up the 101 tower – currently the tallest building in the world...it was almost like walking on the clouds up there! The Taipei show was intense and fun"

Angela Gossow: "The Taipei crowd was insane! I believe we played our best show of the whole tour that night – a packed, sweaty place, people right in your face (I know barriers are important for security, but they def take away some of the feel and vibe..) and just this pure metal straight in your face delivery.. I wish all shows would feel this good! That night everybody went home with that huge, childish smile on their faces – band and fans alike"

ENEMY WITHIN / TAIPEI 08/03/12

SNOWBOUND / TAIPEI 08/03.13

Angela Gossow: "Many thanx to HJ, Max and Mark for taking such good care of us – beautiful hotel, very nice venue. A little funny story on the side: When Tom ( our tour manager) checked my little room he found the lights to be extremely… well, unfriendly… Looked kind of like in a morgue… Anyway, he asked a girl working there if it would be possible to find some more gentle light, so Mrs. Gossow wouldn’t be blind after her little warm up session in there (which is very cute Tom, btw. I usually warm up in the ladies room and I am already happy when I don’t have to look at toilet seats whilst doing my dodgy scales.) That girl obviously misunderstood him completely. After a few minutes promoter HJ approach Tom to tell him that painting the room in a different, warmer colour would be a bit difficult now at such short notice. A total Mariah Carey/Spinal Tap moment. We broke down and almost cried of laughter after that. And I happily did my warm up in the morgue... To ease the pain on my band mates ears. They usually have to endure 10 minutes of vocal torture prior to another 90 minutes of extreme Angela shouting"

"The Korean crowd was very passionate, singing along to the lyrics and melodies and forming some serious circle pits. The Korean rock and metal scene is rather small, but def loud and crazy! Thank you for inviting us – we hope to come back again sooner than later!"

Too read Angela's full Asia blog go here!

Visit the Official Arch Enemy eBay shop to view special Japanese Arch Enemy items for sale!