Arch Enemy - Revolution Begins

\r\nAlthough I have been following Arch Enemy from the early beginning of their career I must say that after Johan Liiva‘s departure and his replacement by Angela Gossow I kind of started to keep a small distance considering my previous attachment to them. It was not Angela’s vocals that really bothered me as it was the lack of astonishment and the huge impact their first era’s releases had upon me although the fan base of the band is growing more and more over the years. However, I still could acknowledge the fact that their extreme sound and the great guitar work on every of their albums were rising a large pull on me up to even "Anthems Of Rebellion". Their last release "Doomsday Machine" unfortunately was a big disappointment though, since their musical direction seemed to be getting lost over boring experimentations and uninspired and more mainstream sonic flavors. "Revolution Begins" is the proclamation of the follow up full length album "Rise Of The Tyrant". The cd opens up with the track "Revolution Begins", an interesting composition that kind of reminded me "We will Rise" of the "Anthems Of Rebellion" album but nothing to be drilling on about. The second track "Blood On Your Hands" appealed in a greater manner to me with its faster pace and the pounding relentless drumming sounding reminiscent of their musical attitude on "Stigmata" or "Burning Bridges".The guitar section is just amazing and here I should also mention the return in the group’s ranks of Michael Amott’s brother, Christopher and that this could only be a well worthy factor. The third song is a cover on QUEENSRŸCHE’s classic "Walk in the Shadows" with a quite well done performance and last track is "I Am Legend / Out For Blood – Live", recorded earlier in 2007 when the band toured in South America. Going back to the first two songs of this release which are and the main focus concerning their forthcoming full length effort, I can’t say I was that impressed. "Revolution Begins" is a rather mediocre composition while from the other hand "Blood On Your Hands" is far more better revealing some decent doses of that somewhat lost aggressiveness of the band’s early days with a blistering riffage, supported by a crushing and technical drumming unleash. Summing up I must also mention that the band returned to Studio Fredman to record with famed producer/mixer Fredrik Nordstrom instead of Andy Sneap who worked with the band for their last releases and things got a little better with only objection the drums cut that seem to have been rather low in the mix. Overall, judging by those two songs I get the feeling that "Rise Of The Tyrant" will be a few notches up from their previous work, Angela’s vocals are much more improved and brutally engaging so for now that’s something we’ll have to see.  \r\n

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\r\nVaso Prassa \r\n

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