By Jason Williams
November 12th 2014, House Of Blues, Anaheim CA: For nearly 20 years, melodic death metal veterans Arch Enemy have blasted listeners with their consistent twin guitar attack and brutally charming catchiness. Originally formed by then Carcass guitarist Michael Amott as a side project, with his brother (and now former member) Christopher, Arch Enemy eventually became a full time gig and broke the barriers of the underground metal scene to come out on top as one of the leading bands of the genre. Longtime singer and eventual face of the band Angela Gossow left Arch Enemy earlier this year and brought in multi-talented former The Agonist vocalist Alissa White-Gluz to take over, starting with recording vocals for the new album ‘War Eternal’. Set to melt the faces of many metalheads, they’ve returned to the States, bringing along Teutonic thrash legends Kreator for what was expected to be an evening of quality live metal along with Huntress and Starkill as opening acts. This being the first time ever seeing Arch Enemy without Angela Gossow, it was sure to be a different and unique experience.
Arriving at the venue shortly after 7 PM, I was expecting Starkill onstage, however, it was the second act of the tour Huntress on instead. Frustrated, as the website said the show would start at 7, I found out Starkill went on at 6:30. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy earlier shows, but some kind of notice would go a long way for the fans and the bands playing early on. Starkill were the opening band on the Wintersun/Fleshgod Apocalypse tour last year and I found them to be impressive then. Based off the reactions whenever their name was mentioned by the other acts later in the night, it seemed like this large crowd enjoyed Starkill’s fast melodic death metal approach.
And as mentioned, Huntress was on the stage as I arrived. Seeing their first performance at the 2013 Mayhem festival, I was rather unimpressed. However, seeing any metal band at an outside stage is always challenging, as Mastodon played that same festival and it was absolutely nothing like the quality they displayed the next two times I saw them indoors. So, I was willing to give Huntress a better listen in a smaller and definitely better sounding venue. And it turns out, it was indeed better. The sound was quite clear, and the drumming fairly powerful as well. Vocalist Jill Janus’ singing was far better than when I saw her at Mayhem. Ranging between singing, growling and narration, she exceeded my expectations. Although their style of heavy metal wasn’t too original and somewhat generic for my taste, the crowd really enjoyed their set and I did see a number of Huntress shirts. I did enjoy their last song “Eight of Swords” though. As a live band, I was fine with Huntress and glad the rest of the crowd enjoyed them.
Set List:
01. Spell Eater
02. Destroy Your Life
03. Harsh Times On Planet Stoked
04. I Want to Fuck You to Death
05. Zenith
06. Black Tongue
07. Eight of Swords
Minutes before their set time at 8:05, chants of “Kreator!” reigned all through the venue. Despite the fact that Kreator does very well in the United States on tour, with the seemingly younger crowd as the majority of Arch Enemy’s main fans, I still wondered what reception Kreator would receive. Those doubts were put entirely to rest as they exploded onto the stage with a burst of “Violent Revolution” as the first song of their captivating hour set. Usually played as a second to last song live, it was refreshing to have a change from the norm. Their sound was incredibly powerful. Vendor’so drum parts require a fair amount of dexterity which he possesses in plenty, and with the drum sound perfect in the mix, it made the songs that much more incisive. One cannot forget the inspiring guitar duo that is Sami Yli-Sirniö and vocalist/leader/founder of Kreator, Mille Petrozza. Kreator, much like Megadeth, play my favorite style of thrash: skillful, techinical and riff, upon riff, upon riff. No shortage of riffs were ever found here, as fan favorite “Extreme Aggression” fully displayed their beautiful and brutal guitar work. Sami’s lead guitar playing is incredibly fluid, especially watching him barely move his picking hand, and still capture such gorgeous tones and melodies throughout the fretboard. Mille’s style is more on the aggressive and pure passionate side, with memorable guitar tapping. Sami: Broderick. Mille: Mustaine. Sound familiar? One other aspect I must also mention was Mille’s vocals tonight. It was by far the best I’ve heard him sound in quite some time. That doesn’t mean the past was any lowlight, but just that tonight they were profoundly on-point. Rapid vocal work, screaming highs, and as usual, getting the crowd ridiculously fired up, noticeably with the wall of death for “Endless Pain”. Despite a main support slot, changes in the set from other tours including the underrated gem “Impossible Brutality” off their greatest ‘Enemy of God’, they got a fantastic response.
The crowd was in a chaotic frenzy, mosh pits galore with much of the lyrics being sung throughout. They ended their set to a loud roar of approval from a sweaty crowd. It’s extremely difficult to play right after Kreator, and even through their 11-song destruction, they played the best set of the night and left no doubt in my mind as to why they’re one of the leading metal bands to ever grace the planet.
Set List:
The Patriarch (Intro)
01. Violent Revolution
02. Civilization Collapse
03. Phobia
04. Enemy of God
05. Voices of the Dead
06. Endless Pain
07. Victory Will Come
08. Phantom Antichrist
09. Impossible Brutality
10. Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue for the Elite)
11. Pleasure to Kill
After a short wait till 9:40 and following sufficient recovery from Kreator’s thrashing set, the Arch Enemy video intro went off to a roaring crowd, with “Arch Enemy!” chants spreading all across the land. I was expecting to hear “Never Forgive, Never Forget” as the first song off their newest release ‘War Eternal’, also the best song on that album in my humble opinion. Instead, fan favorite and quite possibly their most well known song, “Enemy Within” started off their 90-minute melodic death metal affair with this crowd. Most fans would cite their first album with former vocalist Angela Gossow, ‘Wages Of Sin’, as their best work, and the crowd reaction to songs from that record told me the same thing. New vocalist and certainly not a rookie, Alissa White-Gluz wasted no time getting in the crowd’s face and rocking the house down. Incredibly talented and well capable of providing a multi-dimensional attack, Alissa’s menancing growls and piercing highs deemed her position as the vocalist for Arch Enemy as the right decision by the band and by no means a mistake. In fact, I found her to be far better than Angela as a vocalist. “You Will Know My Name” received a huge reaction, with the pit increasing in size, and the crowd’s singing along of the chorus lyrics almost overpowering the volume of Alissa’s mic.
A bit of nostalgia for me and a little just plain cold shock was seeing the mastermind of Arch Enemy on stage, guitarist Michael Amott. This man was on what I consider to be one of the greatest melodic death metal albums of all time, Carcass’ 1994 magmum opus ‘Heartwork’. Witnessing his lead work tonight and the purity of his riffing style was something I truly appreciated, and was glad to see his talents in full magnitude. Unfortunately, something that plagued Arch Enemy for much of their set was the bass drums far too high and muddy in the mix. The rhythm guitar got lost in the mix, and although it was fixed to some degree in the middle part of their set, this was a nuisance that hindered their sound. “Dead Eyes See No Future” and “Nemesis” were some of the best received songs of the night. A woman in the crowd was seen crying and singing loudly in emotional joy. It’s always a pleasure to see a fan being captivated by one of the greatest aspects of life: music. My only actual personal complaint, and just my own, was the cutting short of “Blood on Your Hands”, by and large my favorite Arch Enemy track, off their best work in my opinion, ‘Rise of the Tyrant’. But “Revolution Begins” was played in full, so one song off that record was a pleasure to hear, and better one that zero. Despite the sound issues and lack of said song, Arch Enemy put on a solid performance and not one fan left unsatisfied leaving the venue.
Melody, fantastic riffing and powerful emotions were on full display in Downtown Disney, as Arch Enemy and Kreator proved once more how to play quality metal music in a rich and amazing live enviroment. Do not miss either band on any show coming your way.
Set List:
Tempore Nihil Sanat (Prelude in F minor) (Intro)
01. Enemy Within
02. War Eternal
03. Ravenous
04. Revolution Begins
05. My Apocalypse
06. You Will Know My Name
07. Bloodstained Cross
08. Under Black Flags We March
09. As the Pages Burn
10. Dead Eyes See No Future
11. No Gods, No Masters
12. Dead Bury Their Dead
13. We Will Rise
14. Yesterday Is Dead and Gone
15. Snow Bound
16. Nemesis
17. Fields of Desolation
Remaining Tour Dates:
Nov. 14 – The Marquee – Tempe, AZ
Nov. 15 – Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM *
Nov. 16 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
Nov. 18 – Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN *
Nov. 19 – Mojoes – Joliet, IL
Nov. 20 – The Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI
Nov. 21 – Majestic Theatre – Detroit, MI
Nov. 22 – Bogarts – Cincinnati, OH
Nov. 23 – House of Blues – Cleveland, OH