Review Summary: A decent listen first time around, but after that it starts to get repetitive
If you ignore the fact that Arch Enemy are a death metal band fronted by a woman (shock horror!) who sounds even more pissed off than most of her contemporaries, what you are left with is an above average band that have plenty of ammunition left in their magazine to fire. Angela Gossow is perhaps one of the most interesting metal singers of her generation, not in terms of quality, but what she is trying to achieve, and Michael Amott has certainly got a reputation in guitar playing circles, churning out deep, angry guitar lines and wailing choruses. And with “Doomsday Machine”, the bands sixth effort, very little has changed. This results in an interesting listen first time around, but after a while is does start to sound a tad monotonous.
Nonetheless, it is undeniable that, instrumentally at least, Arch Enemy are nigh on flawless. Admittedly, “My Apocalypse” shows one or two flaws when played back again, but the first five on this disk are fantastic. “Nemesis” has some of the tightest, frantic opening guitar lines heard in a long while; backed by the pounding drums of Daniel Erlandsson and a deliciously heavy scream from Gossow, and despite some rather ineffective attempts at gang vocals halfway through, it is still a decent track. Another one worth mentioning is the rather eerie “Carry the Cross”, which has some melodic guitar work overlaying a simple, heavy guitar pattern and solid drumming, and is the best listen on here by far. It also contains a deliciously simple solo which fits the mood just perfectly and only serves the track a favour.
Now then, onto the very subject that has split virtually every single fan in the Arch Enemy camp. Personally, I feel Angela Gossow is a far superior vocalist to Johan Liive, who always sounded a bit bored with proceedings, but she is still not exactly brilliant. Yes, she sounds pissed and angry like all decent death metal acts should, but at no point does she ever do anything groundbreaking to even vaguely distinguish herself from the pack. This, added to the fact that at times her vocal content is horrendous does her no justice at all. Nemesis is probably my second favourite on the record, but just listen to what Gossow is hurtling out of her tortured larynx;
We walk this earth,
with fire in our hands
Eye for an eye
We are nemeses
We are with you
Countless vicious souls
Fight! - Fighting for freedom
United, we stand, we stand
Now then, don’t get me wrong, I love a good fist raising anthem which indeed “Nemesis” is, but you really should listen to this album for the guitar work, not the lyrical content
Plus, when all is taken into account, Gossow, powerful as she is, is not the only problem on display here. Michael Amott and his brother Daniel really do churn out some quality tunes on here. They really do. But by making the guitars the strongest instrument on here, it means that you are subjected to riff after onslaught of riff and, apart from one or two memorable moments, the rest are simply adequate blasters. This is not to say that the guitar playing is in the slightest bit poor-indeed, they are by far this albums highlight, but they just steal the show, leaving very little else the band can produce, collectively and individually to catch up. The bass is virtually inaudible, but it doesn’t matter due to Erlandsson’s stellar performance on the kit, producing blast beats, rapid fires of his snare and great little tinkers on the cymbals to provide a good solid base.
In conclusion, “Doomsday Machine” is put simply classic Arch Enemy-nasty, abrasive, powerful, but lacking the touches around the edges that make this release essential listening. Some great tracks such as “Nemesis”, “Carry the Cross” and “Machtkampf”, full of blistering solo’s and great drumming raise the album up considerably, but awful tracks like “Skeletons Dance” and “Hybrids of Steel” sometimes make you wonder why the band just can’t cut out the filler and provide us with a short, but sweet death metal release.
Recommended Listens
1. Nemesis, because of the beautiful interlude just after the breakdown, and some great riffs
2. Carry the Cross, because it is simple, catchy and for once Gossow doesn’t overstrain everything
3. Machtkampf, simply a great song and a nice, fiddly-twiddly solo
4. Slaves of Yesterday, not exactly the epic curtain closer it should have been, but a decent way to close the album nevertheless.
