"Deceiver, Deceiver" video out now!
- Details
"Deceiver, Deceiver" video out now!
Listen to our new song & watch the video for "Deceiver, Deceiver" ▶️ https://archenemy.lnk.to/DeceiverDeceiver-Single
New Single out now!
- Details
Our new single "Deceiver, Deceiver" is out now!
▶️https://archenemy.lnk.to/DeceiverDeceiver-Single
Watch the video premiere with us today at 6pm CET on our YouTube channel! We'll be joining you in the chat!
New show: Summer Breeze Festival 2022!
- Details
We're super stoked to announce that we'll be playing Summer Breeze Festival, Germany 2022! Get your tickets at www.summer-breeze.de and we'll see you there!
LIMITED & SIGNED #AE25 POSTER AVAILABLE NOW!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary we're bringing you a strictly limited (only 150 available!) and SIGNED #AE25 poster! Only available at @bravado_de and only while supplies last! Get yours now ➡️ https://archenemy.bravado.de
Knotfest Finland 2022!
- Details
We're super excited to announce that we'll be playing Knotfest Finland 2022! Tickets are on sale now via https://www.lippu.fi/artist/knotfest/! See you there!
The European Siege Tour 2021 postponed to 2022
- Details
We’re deeply saddened to announce that „The European Siege“ Tour 2021 with @BehemothOfficial, @CarcassBand & @UntoOtherspdx has been postponed due to the ongoing global situation. All tickets will remain valid for the new dates, so keep them safe. See you all in 2022!
Michael Amott comments as follows:
"Nobody’s more disappointed than us about this, that’s for damn sure. But it is what it is, and we’re already looking forward to getting back to it in 2022! Stay healthy, stay Metal!"
THE EUROPEAN SIEGE 2022
With Arch Enemy, Behemoth + Support by Carcass & Unto Others
Tickets: www.archenemy.net/tour
27.09.2022 IE - Dublin, Olympia Theatre
29.09.2022 UK - Glasgow, O2 Academy Glasgow
30.09.2022 UK - Manchester, O2 Apollo
01.10.2022 UK - Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham
02.10.2022 UK - London, O2 Academy Brixton
04.10.2022 FR - Paris, Le Zénith
05.10.2022 FR - Toulouse, Le Bikini
07.10.2022 PT - Lisbon, Coliseu de Lisboa
08.10.2022 ES - Madrid, Palacio Vistalegre
09.10.2022 ES - Barcelona, Palau Sant Jordi
11.10.2022 FR - Lyon, Le Radiant
12.10.2022 IT - Milano, Alcatraz
14.10.2022 DE - Berlin, Columbiahalle
15.10.2022 CZ - Prague, Tipsport Arena
16.10.2022 HU - Budapest, Barba Negra
18.10.2022 AT - Vienna, Gasometer
19.10.2022 PL - Katowice, Spodek
21.10.2022 DE - Ludwigsburg, MHP Arena
22.10.2022 NL - Den Bosch, Mainstage Brabanthallen
23.10.2022 BE - Brussels, Forest National
25.10.2022 CH - Zurich, Samsung Hall
26.10.2022 DE - Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle
28.10.2022 DE - Munich, Zenith
29.10.2022 DE - Düsseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle
30.10.2022 DE - Hamburg, edel-optics.de Arena
31.10.2022 SE - Gothenburg, Partille Arena
02.11.2022 FI - Helsinki, Ice Hall
04.11.2022 SE - Stockholm, Annexet
05.11.2022 DK - Copenhagen, Forum
06.11.2022 NO - Oslo, Sentrum Scene
The 25 Years Collection!
- Details
The 25 Years Collection - Only available at Bravado (while supplies last)! Get yours now: www.archenemy.net/EUShop 🤘🏻
#AE25 - Last bundle (Will To Power) out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Here’s WILL TO POWER, which comes with a signed card! Get your bundle now: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy the last part of our series “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"After having a very exciting (and long!) run with the “War Eternal” album, we were kind of wondering how we could top that. But ultimately, you can’t really think like that…you just have to try to write the best songs you can, one by one, and hopefully end up with something that is kick ass in the end.
We always write a lot of material and keep circling back around to songs, constantly improving on them. The first song we wrote for this record was “The World Is Yours”, which was already there in demo form while we were still out on the “War Eternal” tour. We had accumulated a fair amount of music, fragments of songs…sometimes just a melody or a riff. But everything needed a lot more work.
In order to get away and focus on putting it all together, and hopefully come up with some new cool stuff as well, Daniel and myself rented a house in Mexico for a two week songwriting session. I know that might sound crazy but “The Eagle Flies Alone” was written by the Gulf of Mexico. I guess the Scandinavian darkness is deeply embedded in our hearts and souls - we don’t actually need to be physically there to create the music that we do. After these two weeks of intense writing sessions (with a few margaritas thrown in for good measure) we had amassed most of the material that became “Will to Power”!
Once we had the instrumental demos finished, Alissa and myself wrote lyrics and discussed vocal arrangements etc. This process was smooth as well.
We basically decided to repeat the exact same recording and mix procedure that had yielded such great results three years earlier on the “War Eternal” record. So we went about recording in various studios on the southwest coast of Sweden and once again mixed and mastered in Örebro by Jens Bogren.
On the song “A Fight I Must Win” we once again got an exquisite orchestral arrangement and recording courtesy of Ulf Janson and Stockholm Session Strings. Legendary Swedish keyboard player Jens Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen, Stratovarius etc) graciously accepted our invitation and played beautifully on “Dreams of Retribution”, “The World Is Yours” and a few other things. Always a pleasure to have guests come in and add their spices to the dish, so to speak. This was also Jeff Loomis’ recording debut with the band after touring with the band for a couple of years. What a great guitarist and dear friend, Jeff has really enhanced the stability and harmony within the band.
We shot two videos with director Patric Ullaeus ahead of the album release. Both “The World Is Yours” and “The Eagle Flies Alone” got an astonishing amount of YouTube views. Especially “Eagle” has taken on a life of its own and become quite the anthem for us.
We did a lot of press, promoting the album as much as we could, and that, along with the relentless touring we’d done seemed to pay off in a big way actually. Will to Power was/is our most successful album to date, and how many bands can say that this far into their career?
We hit the road hard, as usual. It was our biggest and most ambitious tour to date and this time we could really feel that Arch Enemy had reached another plateau. I guess you could say it is well-deserved (depending on your perspective obviously)…one thing is for sure though, it certainly wasn’t an overnight success!
Looking back. I wouldn’t change a thing. There’s been highs and there’s been lows. All valuable lessons that we’ve taken something from and grown. It’s been an absolutely incredible journey so far, and we’re all very excited about the future and the new music we have for you (coming soon!). "
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
#AE25 - "War Eternal" bundle now available!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Who’s here for WAR ETERNAL?! Get your bundle now: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy part 9 of “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"The last show on the “Khaos Legions” tour was in Mexico City on December 6, 2012, a special “Wages of Sin” set celebrating what was then the 10th anniversary of that record. Little did we know that this would be our last show with Angela on vocals. We had decided to take a year off the road and focus on writing and recording a new album during 2013, and that’s exactly what we did in early 2013. However, as the month of May rolled around we were faced with some devastating news.
As most of you will know, this is the point were Angela resigns from the band and we were faced with the heavy question if we should keep the band going or call it quits.
I remember that Daniel, Sharlee and myself had a meeting and discussed our feelings and options. We came to the conclusion that we should keep it going and at least finish the album we’d started working on, release it, and see what happens. We “just” needed a new singer…
Angela recommended her friend Alissa from Montréal, Canada and we liked her voice a lot - so why not give it a shot? As soon as she arrived in Sweden, Alissa quickly proved that she would be a fantastic addition to the band. While jamming the old songs in our rehearsal space, or writing new stuff and recording demos - it all felt really comfortable and sounded killer.
Once again we recorded the album locally in Halmstad, Sweden, engineered mostly by the band, with additional assistance from engineers Staffan Karlsson and Rickard Bengtsson for vocals and guitar solos. We collaborated with Ulf Janson on the orchestral arrangements, that was something new for us, to hear the orchestra instruments playing our music – recorded in ABBA-Benny’s studio in Stockholm nonetheless!
We took what we’d recorded over to mixing engineer Jens Bogren in Örebro, Sweden and working him for the first time was also a great experience - the record came out sounding really fresh and awesome…this was indeed ARCH ENEMY 3.0!
The artwork was our first collaboration with Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu, and the results were really dark and interesting. We shot three videos in just as many days in the Gothenburg area with video director Patric Ullaeus.
We’d kept the singer change under wraps and now it was time to reveal this news and the music we’d been working on to the world. The first single and music video "War Eternal" was released on March 20, 2014 and it was nerve wrecking of course! We were overjoyed to see all the positive reactions, the video and single blew up fast and we started gaining confidence that this just might work out.
We booked a summer tour in 2014 and debuted the new ARCH ENEMY lineup at Turbohalle in Bucharest, Romania on May 23, 2014 and it fit like a glove from that first moment. Perfect.
I would say is that for me personally this was one of the most exciting times in ARCH ENEMY’s history. Starting over in a way and having to prove ourselves again was a thrilling challenge that I embraced. I think we all realised what was at stake here, everything we’d worked so hard for all these years was on the line. These emotions are even reflected in the lyrics to the albums title track, “Back against the wall, in danger of losing it all, search deep inside, remember who you are”. That’s the spirit I certainly embrace. don’t let anything stop you from achieving your dreams.
Through a lot of hard work on the road and an extremely determined mindset amongst the band and our team, we reestablished ARCH ENEMY in the scene and actually exceeded all expectations and goals. At the end of the “War Eternal” campaign we found ourselves on a much higher level than ever before. It truly was a magical time for us and we are deeply grateful to the fans for their support. "
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
#AE25 - "Khaos Legions" bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Happy 10th anniversary to “Khaos Legions” (2011)! Get your bundle now: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy part 8 of “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"Rise of the Tyrant” was released in 2007 and then we didn’t put out a new studio album of all-new material until 2011. This was an untypical longer gap between releases for us, but we actually did stay busy in those years in-between. We mixed and released the “Tyrants of the Rising Sun” (Live in Japan) DVD/CD/Vinyl set in 2008 and that same year I was a part of the reunion of CARCASS, which for me lasted up until the summer of 2010. I had recommended Daniel for the drummer position in that group as well, so we were touring intensively around the world during a couple of years there outside of ARCH ENEMY.
In 2009 we went into the studio with ARCH ENEMY and re-recorded a selection of songs off the first three albums, with Angela on vocals and Andy Sneap mixing. I am not a huge fan of re-recording older music, but somehow we had agreed to do this and we went ahead and got it done. We named the project “The Root Of All Evil”, and lo and behold - it becomes a huge seller in Japan, and also did well for us around the rest of the world and we ended up touring extensively on what is essentially not a “real” album.
The thing was, we had recently parted ways with a manager of 10+ years and become essentially self-managed with Angela doing most of the managerial tasks. In fact, the separation with our old manager became lyrical for inspiration the song “Thorns in my Flesh”. All this upheaval turned out for the best in the end, as we quickly realised that we got a lot more opportunities and were able to really make a lot more out of it in this new DIY business setup we had created, so in that way this was a positive and exciting time for us.
During this period I also wrote and recorded a SPIRITUAL BEGGARS album (2010’s “Return to Zero”) and we played a few shows in Europe and Japan. So I was actively playing with three bands between 2008 and 2010, we’d even sometimes be playing the same festivals - so that meant pulling double-duty and in some cases I even performed with all the three bands at the same festival. It was a little intense and of course something we couldn’t keep up forever.
The CARCASS reunion touring was a lot of fun and certainly successful, but I also knew we had to get back to ARCH ENEMY at some point and continue our work.
At this point I was also eager to write and record new music. I remember that we did a lots of full band rehearsals with ARCH ENEMY, preparing for this album in Sweden. Angela wrote some powerful lyrics as usual and Sharlee contributed to the music writing on a few songs, which was something he hadn’t done in a long time.
Although some really killer stuff came out of these sessions, it was quite strenuous to be honest. I think we were pulling in different directions at this point and in hindsight I can see that there was no way we could keep this version of the band going much longer. That’s how bands are, it’s relationships - and most relationships don’t last forever.
We recorded the “Khaos Legions” album at Sweetspot Studio, close to Halmstad, Sweden - a place we’ve used a lot of the years. We had Rickard Bengtsson engineer and co-produce the album with us, the same situation as on the “Doomsday Machine” sessions a few years earlier.
A couple of the members were becoming a little less enthusiastic during this time - which was frustrating for the rest of us, but we got on with it and hoped it was a temporary slump and they’d get more motivated once we‘d hit the road again. We brought in a few guests on the album, most notably ex-Mercenary singer Mikkel Sandager adding some melodic vocal parts and our friend Per Wiberg made a welcome return on keyboards.The mix was done by Andy Sneap in the U.K., once again we initially had different plans to mix in Sweden but that didn’t work out and Andy graciously stepped in and saved the day once again. He’s good dude, that one!
There’s a lot of music on this record and we had a few really awesome tunes on it like “Yesterday’s Dead and Gone”, “No Gods, No Masters”, Bloodstained Cross” and “Under Black Flags We March”. These are all songs that have seen a lot of action in our live show since they were first released on the “Khaos Legions” album.
I enjoyed working with talented artist Brent Elliott White on the album cover, the image of the band members as post-apocalyptic freedom fighters was inspired by Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People.
During the early days of the tour that followed, Chris quit the band for the second time. Although disappointing of course, it wasn’t unexpected. This however didn’t slow us down, we quickly found a younger American guitarist who came in and did a great job helping us finish up the touring we had booked as we went around the world once again.
To be honest, it was a moderately successful time for the band. At this point we were comfortably cruising along, but not breaking new sales records or even musical ground. I didn’t like to admit at the time - but it had become a little stale. Had we reached the end? "
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
#AE25 - Rise Of The Tyrant merch bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. The exclusive merch bundle for RISE OF THE TYRANT (2007) is OUT NOW - get your bundle here: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy part 7 of “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"After wrapping up the “DOOMSDAY MACHINE” tour in Latin America we headed home to Sweden and made the sudden decision to bring back Chris on guitar. It was with mixed feelings we let Fredrik Åkesson go, as he had been a great addition and nothing but cool to work with during the two years he toured with us. After his departure Fredrik quickly landed on his feet as a member of OPETH, I was delighted when I heard that news. Anyway, Chris wanted back in, and it seemed like the right thing to do for the band and the fans at the time. Myself and Daniel had been writing and demoing a lot of music but when Chris came back into the picture we still had time to develop some of the songs even further with his input.
After making a few albums with Andy Sneap in the U.K., we thought it could be interesting to go back to Fredrik Nordström and try to capture some of the vibe we had with him twiddling the knobs on our first records - and in some ways we succeed in doing so! The studio had moved to a new location in the countryside so the atmosphere was not the same as before in that regard, but Fredrik hadn’t changed! I really liked his approach to producing Angela’s vocals and he was always great with guitar tones. It was a pretty straightforward and easy album to record. In the end though, I remember we were not entirely happy with the mastering, but I just listened back to it now for the sake of writing this and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like how wild and guitar heavy it is!
The two videos we shot for “Revolution Begins” and “I Will Live Again” marked the first time we worked with director Patric Ullaeus, a relationship that has lasted to this day.
The spoken intro to the title track is taken from the controversial cult film CALIGULA (1979), with actor Malcolm McDowell as Caligula proclaiming himself a god in front of the Roman Senate. We licensed the rights to use that sample from Penthouse Magazine for a few hundred bucks.
Another movie reference can be found in the song “The Day You Died”, with the lyrics being inspired by the Japanese animated war tragedy film “Grave of the Fireflies”(1988).
We enlisted Niklas Sundin to do the artwork, Niklas had been responsible for designing a lot of artwork for us including the “Wages of Sin” and “Anthems of Rebellion” album covers, and he created another one of my favourite artworks this time. We once again had Per Wiberg come back in and play some keyboards on the album, although we actually forgot to credit him on the album (!).
Upon the album's release we toured with MACHINE HEAD in the USA, Australia and Europe and then went off on our own to Japan and China (our first show there). We continued touring and in March 2008 we returned to Japan again for a full Japan tour and filmed the “TYRANTS OF THE RISING SUN” (2008) concert film at Studio Coast, Tokyo. I’m glad we have that moment in time immortalized with that DVD/CD/vinyl release, The setlist at that time featured a lot of songs off “RISE OF THE TYRANT”.
Even if the “RISE OF THE TYRANT” album maybe didn’t spawn any big “hits” for us (although it was a major record for us in Japan), I have to say it’s a special one as far as guitar moments are concerned. I think some of our best riffs, solos and melodies are featured here. “Intermezzo Liberté" is an instrumental piece I enjoy playing live on tour to this day, and after revisiting this album I now wish we’d play more songs off this record again in the future.
So, in 2008 everything was seemingly running smoothly for ARCH ENEMY now but there was yet another dark cloud on the horizon…"
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
#AE25 - Doomsday Machine bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. It’s time for one of YOUR favorites: DOOMSDAY MACHINE (2005) - get your bundle now: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy part 6 of “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"I remember the writing sessions for this album being really good and our joint efforts spawned some strong material, songs like “Nemesis” and “My Apocalypse” flowed out us during the sessions in our rehearsal room and we eventually felt confident that we were ready for the next studio album.
After recording our previous effort in the U.K., the idea we had for this one was to record close to home in Sweden around our local area in the south west of Sweden with a local engineer/producer, Rickard Bengtsson. For the mix, we booked someone in Stockholm that had mixed RAMMSTEIN records. I have to say that I was personally a little skeptical about the choice of mixing engineer, but the rest of the guys were really into the idea so I went along with it, got to stay open minded about these things! The recording process was a little chaotic as it all took a lot longer than it should have and we ended up using three different studio locations simultaneously, in order to get it all done. Basically, for various reasons, it was just a complicated album to record - but we got it done in the end!
The album cover was made by Joachim Luetke, German artist, it’s one of my favorite covers we’ve had – then again I’m obsessed with skulls! At a festival in Spain a year later I met Peavy Wagner from the band RAGE and he told me he is the owner of the actual skull on our album cover, he explaind he has a very large collection of human skulls and bones… He’s the nicest guy though, I swear!
The search for a new guitarist had lead us quickly to Greek player Gus G, who signed up for the upcoming Ozzfest tour in the USA that was coming up and he also threw down a guest solo on “Taking Back My Soul”. Great guy and a fantastic player, we had some fun times on that tour! Gus couldn’t commit to the massive touring campaign we had lined up after Ozzfest, so I had to search for yet another guitarist and some people recommended Swedish guitarist Fredrik Åkesson from Swedish melodic rockers TALISMAN (since many years now he plays with OPETH). I already knew him a little bit and made the phone call. Fredrik came down to jam with us in the South of Sweden and proved to be great fit, very aggressive player with cool attitude. With this new lineup we started touring like maniacs around the planet. We did quite a few US tours in 2005/2006 including the Ozzfest and Megadeth’s Gigantour runs as well as a few headline and co-headline tours of our own. ARCH ENEMY had become a heavily touring band, spending less and less time back home in Sweden.
All the hard work we did on the road along with the efforts of our team at the label and management eventually payed off as it became one of our most sold albums, certainly in the North America. The last thing we did on the “Doomsday Machine” campaign was out first longer tour in South America, which was just really awesome and very wild!
Upon our return to Sweden we however had some tough decisions to make, as well as write and record the next album…"
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
European Tour 2021 - Get your tickets now!
- Details
If you thought we forgot about our upcoming tour with Behemoth, Carcass & Unto Others - you're wrong 😉 Get your tickets now ▶️ www.archenemy.net/tour! See you there! 🤘🏻
#AE25 - "Anthems Of Rebellion" merch bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Who’s here for “Anthems Of Rebellion”? Hands up!
Get your bundle now: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy part 5 of “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"During the “Wages of Sin” campaign, things had really become quite busy and the wheels were rolling faster and faster in the Arch Enemy world. Tour offers and opportunities kept coming in all the time and we just went with the flow and worked as hard as we could. It was an exciting time and we learnt a lot and we were becoming a much better live band for sure!
I remember we played the last show on the “Wages of Sin” world tour on a Friday and started pre-production for “Anthems of Rebellion” on the following Monday with producer Andy Sneap. Looking back on it now, that was just crazy schedule… This was the first album we did not record in Sweden. Due to all the touring, we didn’t have a proper overview of the material we had written at sound checks and hotel rooms etc, so Andy flew over to Sweden for a few days of preproduction before we headed over to his studio in Derbyshire U.K.
It was really useful to get Andy’s input and we got a lot of work done before we relocated to the U.K. and began tracking the album.
Listening back to the album today I can hear that we were influenced by the large amounts of touring we had done leading up to it, the songs were written for the live stage. The arrangements are definitely more streamlined and have a “don’t bore us - get to the chorus” attitude. Chris brought in a skeleton idea for the music that became “We Will Rise” which we fleshed out together in the rehearsal room and I wrote the lyrics for it. Daniel started contributing some riffs as well, so the album was a collaborative effort. We also had Chris do some singing on the record, like on the intro of “We Will Rise”, the chorus of “End of the Line,” as well as trading vocal lines Angela on the verses of “Dehumanization”. We were trying new things in the production aspect, some of it worked well and some things maybe not so much, but you learn by doing and I don’t regret any of it.
We had gotten the offer to tour with SLAYER in the States and this was one of the reasons why we were hurrying up to get a new record out in time for that. We shot a video in Sweden for “We Will Rise” and at the time the video got a nice push in North America from the TV shows Headbangers Ball and Uranium, which I think, alongside the long SLAYER tour, helped make “Anthems of Rebellion” give our label Century Media their highest first-week Soundscan sales in the United States.
In retrospect, “AOR” is maybe not my favourite ARCH ENEMY album, but I certainly have fond memories of this era of the band and I know that it was the record where a lot of fans discovered us. Songs like “We Will Rise” and “Dead Eyes See No Future” remain in rotation in our live show to this day - and that says it all really!"
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
#AE25 - Wages Of Sin merch bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Get your “Wages Of Sin” (2001/2002) bundle now: http://bit.ly/AE25Years!
Enjoy part 4 of “Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott”!
"We started putting songs together for the “Wages of Sin” album around the tours we did on the “Burning Bridges” cycle. That’s how we do it in ARCH ENEMY, the writing process and collecting of ideas never really stops - it’s a continuous thing. Around this time it had become increasingly clear that Johan was not able to make touring around the world with ARCH ENEMY a priority in his life. Johan will be the first one to admit that he prefers to do music as hobby, fitting it in around his day job. That’s totally fine, music IS a fantastic hobby for a lot of bands and people… But the rest of us were eager to explore how far we could really take the band - we enjoyed the touring lifestyle and spreading our music as much as possible. And to be honest, we didn’t have a whole lot else going on in our lives – this is what we wanted to do, all the time. Parting ways is never easy and it was sad to see Johan go, possibly more for myself than anyone else, him being one of my oldest and dearest friends, (something that remains true to this day). But I knew in my heart that the decision was for the best - for everyone involved - in the long run.
The story about how we found our singer Angela Gossow has been told many times - it’s so well documented that there’s maybe no real need to repeat it once again here? However I can say that this was a pretty radical choice of singer at the time…it was practically unheard of back then to have a female singer growling and screaming, at least coupled with the notoriety, musicianship and songwriting skills found in a band like ARCH ENEMY. After the initial rehearsals with her we felt that this was an exciting direction musically, Angela had a really killer voice and undoubtedly a striking look to match it - but little did we know how much of an icon and influence Angela would become in the Metal scene. I’m glad we didn’t know actually, it might’ve added a little too much pressure to the whole thing. Instead we just enjoyed putting the music and lyrics together, crafting the songs for what would become “Wages of Sin”.
In December 2000 this new ARCH ENEMY lineup entered Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden once again. The studio had now moved to a new and much bigger location. Fredrik Nordström had also switched over from analogue 2” tape to Protools at this time, so this was our first all digital recording. Per Wiberg came down from Stockholm and added various keyboards, including the now iconic piano intro to opening track “Enemy Within” and the Mellotron on “Snowbound”. We had decided that we wanted to mix the album in U.K. with Andy Sneap, and I remember Fredrik being a little sceptical about that, as well as not being too keen on our decision to hire a new singer. A lot of things were changing at this time in ARCH ENEMY and I don’t blame him for wondering what the hell we were doing!
The recording process must’ve run smoothly though as I don’t recall any problems or issues. We knew we had a strong collection of songs going in, but as we kept adding instruments and parts to the album we began to sense the power of the album that we were creating. This feeling increased tenfold during the mix with Andy at his old Backstage Studios facility in Derby, U.K., Andy had an incredible talent for making everything super clear and punchy and hearing ARCH ENEMY in this way was super exciting. We had kept identity of Angela under wraps but once we completed the album, we had to start thinking about how to approach announcing the news to the world. We decided to make some samples of the new music available online, without revealing the identity of our new vocalist…obviously this started a huge guessing game amongst the fans about who it was. A lot of interesting names came up, however nobody even guessed it was a female singer. This was quite a source of amusement for us at the time…
Eventually we delivered the album to our Japanese record label. A release date and promotional tour was booked and put together. Upon its release, “Wages of Sin’ immediately outsold our previous records in Japan, they accepted the singer change and loved the album. The Japanese fans had supported us since day one in a big way, so this was a huge relief for us.
But we had run into some other problems… Our management company at the time had a big disagreement with our record company Century Media, leading to a delay of the European and U.S. release by almost a full year! Consequently, we were just sitting around at home waiting around for things to get resolved while there were many thousands of “Wages of Sin” CD copies imported and sold out of Asia to the rest of the world during those 12 months. We were frustrated and definitely believed this would hurt the release outside of the Japanese market - but if it did, we never noticed. Once the album received a worldwide release in March 2002, it was like an explosion of enthusiasm and activity unlike anything we had previously experienced with the band. “Wages of Sin” catapulted us into a whole other level, and it was amazing to be a part of it. We started touring like maniacs around the world and I think we almost forgot what our homes looked like - be careful what you wish for, right?
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
#AE25 - Burning Bridges bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Give it up for “Burning Bridges” (1999)! Head over to http://bit.ly/AE25Years to get your copy of the bundle!
Arch Enemy 25th anniversary random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott, part 3/10:
"BURNING BRIDGES (1999)
I have very fond memories of writing and rehearsing for the “BURNING BRIDGES” album. Daniel was back on drums and we’d recruited a friend of mine, Sharlee D’Angelo, on bass. We had some really great songs coming together, tracks like “The Immortal”, “Silverwing”, “Seed of Hate” showed us stretching out and getting into some new areas musically. Per Wiberg (SPIRITUAL BEGGARS, ex-OPETH etc) came to the studio and played the Mellotron keys on the album’s last song, the ultra-heavy Doom Metal title track. It was enjoyable to experiment a little bit and play around within what we now were beginning to define as the musical style of ARCH ENEMY.
We returned for a third time to Gothenburg to work in Studio Fredman with producer/mixer Fredrik Nordström, a natural choice as our previous trips to his studio had yielded pleasing results. Fredrik also contributed keyboards as usual, adding his personal touch to the sound beyond his obvious talents as a studio engineer. Having Sharlee onboard also turned out to be pivotal to the shaping the bands sound with his powerful tone and colourful bass lines. Chris and I were taking the guitars further than ever before, we were all highly motivated and inspired. Exciting times. We spent two intense weeks recording and mixing “BURNING BRIDGES”. I vaguely remember drinking ridiculous amounts of beer in the local bowling alley at night to celebrate what we had created in the studio, followed by a lot of coffee in the mornings to get our heads back straight. Wash, rinse, repeat, ha! Although, I have to say we were very focused on the task at hand and we somehow got it all done in those 14 days in the studio.
This turned out to be the last album with Johan Liiva on vocals, and maybe ironically this is my favourite “Johan album”, he really delivered a stellar vocal performance on this one. After the release of the album we quickly went on tour in Europe as the opening act on a package with IN FLAMES, CHILDREN OF BODOM and DARK TRANQUILITY. Amazing package, hell of a great time. R.I.P. Alexi Laiho!
That year we went back to Japan for the third year in a row... A very successful headline tour with Swedish band WITCHERY as the opening act. I can not emphasise enough how important the Japanese fan base was to the band, they kept us alive at the time. The intensity and rawness of that tour is perfectly captured on the “BURNING JAPAN LIVE 1999” album, released in Japan early 2000.
In January 2000 we went to USA for the first time, as the opening act for dark progressive Metal band NEVERMORE (featuring future ARCH ENEMY guitarist Jeff Loomis). That run was really memorable for many reasons, sharing a bus with NEVERMORE was...well, very interesting shall we say? But what a great band they were. R.I.P. Warrel Dane.
These were the last shows with Johan on vocals. Much has been said about that sudden change of singers in ARCH ENEMY back then and I’ll talk about in the next instalment...
To summarise, this was a fun and carefree record to make and the last of its style and vibe for ARCH ENEMY. The 90’s had drawn to a close and things were about to become very interesting for us..."
Upload your photos on Instagram or Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our anniversary page!
#AE25 - "Stigmata" Bundle out now!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Now it’s time for “Stigmata” (1998)! Head over to http://bit.ly/AE25Years to get your copy of the bundle!
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
Check out part 2 of “Random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott” 😉
"Arch Enemy 25th anniversary random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott, part 2/10: Going into the second album was a very different experience to the first one. Our drummer Daniel had mysteriously disappeared and was nowhere to be found. Enter Peter Wildoer, another great Swedish musican, with Peter behind the kit we proceeded with the (limited) touring on the debut album (three shows in Japan 1997 and a dozen or so dates in Europe). We had also recruited bass player Martin Bengtsson for the live shows.
Upon returning back home from Japan and Europe, we almost immediately threw ourselves into rehearsals with Peter on drums to work up material for a new record. The writing was a little more thought out this time and not quite as spontaneous or wild as before, that’s just the frame of mind we were in at the time. We came up with some cool tunes though, a slightly more technical approach in the riffs and drums, certainly a lot more guitar solos and the songs were getting loooonger!
At this time we also found a new label home with Century Media Records for the world outside of Japan (where we continued to work with the same label that had kicked ass with our debut over there).
We returned to Studio Fredman in Gothenburg and recorded/mixed the “Stigmata” album in 12 days. Unfortunately, Johan Liiva got really sick and it affected his vocal performance...although he pushed through like a champ and got it done, in hindsight we should’ve waited for him to get better. You live and learn from these experiences.
We sent the album off to the Japanese label and awaited their response. They got back to me with a request for us to deliver two faster songs, in the style of the debut album. That was a little unexpected and stressful I remember, but I accepted the challenge and quickly put together “Beast of Man” and “Diva Satanica” with the guys. Daniel had appeared on the scene again with a reformed version his original band EUCHARIST, whom we actually did some shows together with in Europe and we had reconnected with him, which in the end led to Daniel rejoining ARCH ENEMY in time to record those two additional songs with us. Daniel has obviously occupied the drum throne in this band ever since.
Another issue was the album cover we had created for “Stigmata” together with Swedish designer Segerfalk X (who also designed the now very familiar circular ARCH ENEMY symbol at this time!). Japan and USA were fine with the artwork we had submitted, but the European Century Media office wanted another cover and commissioned a piece from Belgian artist Kris Werwimp. That’s why there are different sleeves for this album in Japan/USA/Europe. Also the selection of tracks and order etc differed between the various markets - also later reissues had yet another different sleeve - all quite confusing!
When “Stigmata” came out we went back to Japan and headlined shows there for the first time which was really great. We also played the German Wacken festival that summer and a few other things, but not a whole lot of touring really.
Having a real worldwide proper release for the first time through Century Media made a big difference and we did a fair bit of press for the album. I talked to media all around the world and I recall that some (especially American) journalists didn’t really understand what we were trying to do, especially concerning all the guitar solos we had in the music. I guess that’s how it goes when you’re kind of creating something that is not currently in vogue. Everyone kind of caught up later anyway, so it’s all good!
Historically, I always maintained that “Stigmata” was of my least favourite ARCH ENEMY albums (probably to do with that my personal life was a complete shambles at the time) but in recent years I’ve come around, and I believe that there are some really great standout tracks and interesting musical moments on the record. We jumped in to the next album pretty quick after this and the following album and chapter of the band was about to unfold only one short year after “Stigmata” came out..."
25 Years Of (Pure F*cking) Metal Insanity!
- Details
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, we’re bringing you strictly limited merch bundles for every studio album we've ever released. Head over to http://bit.ly/AE25Years to get your copy of the "Black Earth" bundle!
And welcome to our new series called "Arch Enemy 25th anniversary - random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott" 😉
"Arch Enemy 25th anniversary random fun facts & memories with Michael Amott, part 1/10: The first song I wrote for the band was “Bury Me An Angel” and I knew I needed a killer drummer for this project but didn’t have anyone specific in mind. Luckily I was introduced to Daniel Erlandsson through a mutual business partner in 1995. We rehearsed only three times, just the two of us, as a guitar/drum duo. As soon as we started playing together I had a strong feeling this was going to be something quite special, Daniel was a 19 year old drum phenomenon - everything we played sounded absolutely killer!
I reconnected with Johan Liiva from my old days with CARNAGE for the vocal position and drafted my younger brother Chris to share the lead guitar duties with me. When entering Studio Fredman in early 1996, we worked super fast and I had everything mapped out in my head. Producer/mixer Fredrik Nordström was a fantastic engineer and a real character on top of that, we ended up doing a lot of recordings together after this. I also played the bass guitar on the album, with the intention to have Johan (Liiva, vocals) pull double duties if live shows would come up. That’s why Johan is sneakily credited as playing bass on the record.
Things worked out differently and we ended up recruiting a bass player later so that Johan could focus on his vocals live. The recording and mix was done during 9 very intense days on analog 2” tape. Not a computer in sight. I’ve seen people listing an Arch Enemy demo tape in our discography, but in truth there never was a demo and our first recorded effort was “Black Earth”, our debut album. There was very little money around and I’d sleep on friends couches or on the studio floor.
We did a photo session during the mix days in the studio and this was actually the first time that the whole band was gathered, meaning that it was the first time that everyone met each other. “Hello, I’m so and so and I’m playing on this record too”. The album was picked up by a Japanese record label, which turned out to be very important for the bands career. In the rest of the world, “Black Earth” came out on a very small indie label, meaning no promotion budget and no push in the industry. We did receive some great feedback from the Metal underground, but we had yet to make a big impact. The Metal music scene in the mid 90s was different and the style we were doing, blending Death/Thrash with Hardrock/Heavy Metal harmonies and solos wasn’t the “in thing” at that time.
Getting invited to tour in Japan in 1997 as a support act for U.K. Doom Metal band CATHEDRAL changed everything for us. We discovered we had a fanbase that loved the hybrid of styles we were doing. This was the spark that was needed in order for us to carry on and make the second album..."
Upload your photos on #Instagram or #Twitter & share your personal #ArchEnemy memories by using #AE25 and get the chance to have your post featured on our #anniversary page!
OSLO DATE ADDED TO THE EU TOUR 2021!
- Details
EUROPEAN TOUR 2021!
- Details
We're super stoked to announce the EUROPEAN SIEGE TOUR 2021 with Behemoth, Carcass & Unto Others!
Michael Amott comments: "As we’ve been going through these troubled and challenging times lately, I think we all need something to look forward to. A reason to believe, right? Well....this is it!!"
Stay safe and see you next year!
2021-09-28 IE – Dublin, Olympia Theatre
2021-09-30 UK – Glasgow, O2 Academy Glasgow
2021-10-01 UK – Manchester, O2 Academy Manchester
2021-10-02 UK – Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham
2021-10-03 UK – London, O2 Academy Brixton
2021-10-05 FR – Paris, Le Zénith
2021-10-06 FR – Toulouse, Le Bikini
2021-10-08 PT – Lisbon, Sala Tejo
2021-10-09 ES – Madrid, Palacio Vistalegre
2021-10-10 ES – Barcelona, Palau Sant Jordi
2021-10-12 FR – Lyon, Le Radiant
2021-10-13 IT – Milano, Alcatraz
2021-10-15 DE – Berlin, Columbiahalle
2021-10-16 CZ – Prague, Tipsport Arena
2021-10-17 PL – Katowice, MCK
2021-10-19 HU – Budapest, Barba Negra
2021-10-20 AT – Vienna, Gasometer
2021-10-22 DE – Ludwigsburg, MHP Arena
2021-10-23 NL – Den Bosch, Mainstage Brabanthallen
2021-10-24 BE – Brussels, Forest National
2021-10-26 CH – Zurich, Samsung Hall
2021-10-27 DE – Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle
2021-10-29 DE – Munich, Zenith
2021-10-30 DE – Düsseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle
2021-10-31 DE – Hamburg, edel-optics.de Arena
2021-11-01 SE – Gothenburg, Partille Arena
2021-11-03 FI – Helsinki, Ice Hall
2021-11-05 SE – Stockholm, Annexet
2021-11-06 DK – Copenhagen, Forum