Arch Enemy
The Root Of All Evil
Century Media
28 September 2008
by Tom Gibbons
No-one could accuse Arch Enemy of not making the most out of their back catalogue – this year alone has seen them re-release Burning Bridges and Stigmata, as well as Manifesto, a Best-Of compilation. But the band have gone perhaps a step too far with The Root Of All Evil. You’ve got to wonder if they just thought “fuck it, why not release yet another batch of re-hashed melodic death metal ‘classics’ and split the cash”?
What we have here is a selection of tracks lifted from Black Earth, Stigmata and Burning Bridges, only re-recorded with the not-so-ugly Angela Gossow on vocal duties instead of original gruffster, Johan Liiva. Which vocalist works for you is purely a matter of individual taste; if you’re into the latest Arch Enemy material and can’t be fucked with going through their 90s back catalogue, then we guess this is for you. Andy Sneap has mixed and mastered The Root of All Evil as close as you can get to perfection for this genre – but this perk is its only real edge over the originals.
New vocals aside, the songs’ scope and texture remains fairly basic, but the delivery on killer tracks like ‘Bury Me An Angel’ is as precise, dynamic and as powerful as you’d come to expect from a leading popular metal band. A highlight is the Amott brothers’ showcase of immense guitar-playing through some seriously badass widdly-widdly solos – albeit over some pretty generic bog-standard metal chord patterns.
Watch Thrash Hits TV: Arch Enemy @ Bloodstock 2009
Cynics (What? Us?) might view this album as a mercenary attempt to to squeeze a few more sales out of a loyal fanbase, or perhaps as a band’s attempt to edit their past. Just make sure you weigh up the context of the album’s importance to you before purchase – there ain’t nothing new here, good as it maybe.
2.5/6
Sounds like: Arch Enemy, obviously.
Top Tracks: Bury Me An Angel, Dark Insanity, Diva Satinica
Arch Enemy – The Root Of All Evil tracklisting
The Root Of All Evil (Intro)
Beast Of Man
The Immortal
Diva Satanica
Demonic Science
Bury Me An Angel
Dead Inside
Dark Insanity
Pilgrim
Demoniality
Transmigration Macabre
6 responses so far ↓
1 Drew // Sep 29, 2009 at 4:28 am
Arch Enemy are just one of those bands that I trust to make a killer album. Skeevy money grab or not, I’ll be shelling out my $14.99. Besides, Angela beasts Johan, not even close.
2 zaruyache // Oct 2, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Angela is a freaking monster. I love her vocals on Demonic Science, so angry
Will buy.
3 ashwaker // Oct 9, 2009 at 3:27 pm
In my hands and ears now.
Wicked re-do, despite the fact The Root of All Evil may be alluding to needing money.
4 Nymik // Oct 22, 2009 at 11:15 am
Johan was a better vocalist than Angela, but he didn’t have tits =\
5 Progressive Nation Interview: Fredrik Akesson of Opeth on being in Opeth, not Dream Theater // Oct 22, 2009 at 5:06 pm
[...] played with them before when I was in Arch Enemy. We did a tour together in America, on the Gigantour with Megadeth, but I knew Mikael a little bit [...]
6 Metal Mark runs out of beer money; meets Chimaira | Thrash Hits // Nov 18, 2009 at 5:47 pm
[...] had an overload of great CDs to hit the shelves. I suggest you pick up include Arch Enemy’s The Root Of All Evil, Blue Record by Baroness, Breathing The Fire by Skeletonwitch, Axe To Fall by Converge, The [...]
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