Looks comfortable to me. What's up with the rest of the band wearing jackets while their singer is sleeveless? There's no way Swedish men could possibly be comfortable with sleeves on an August day in Germany. It can't be at all cold, because their singer has no sleeves and has plenty of rips for ventilation, which are great on hot days. The inconsistent levels of clothing remind me of that really awkward Dukatalon picture.

@ TheLiberation - Look, I don't mean to bust your balls or anything like that, but the thing you're talking about was amply discussed in the thread for when War Eternal came out. For pages! Now, I'm one of those people that like BH sees this as a continuity move from the band. They've been better known in mainstream metal circles ever since the vocalist was female, so having one female replaced by another makes them retain their fanbase. That isn't rocket science, just good old marketing. If people want to judge the merits of the album on that alone then they're just dumb, since the songwriting/riffs can be good even with the marketing move. In this case however it really isn't (aren't, neither one nor the other)! War Eternal is just vapid recycled crap on auto-pilot, and picking up on my own terms, a clear continuity move in their careers.

Footnote, I'm a big fan of the band, even with Angela.

for both, I nearly fell off my chair laughing at the Dukatalon one.

No idea about the jackets. I can testify myself playing guitar does make the temperature feel a few degrees higher. (Which has been quite helpful recently as it's been damn cold here for whatever reason.)

I'm not arguing whether the album is good or bad, it's just that it seems to me that the people who disliked it found it alright to extend their bashing spree into the pretty far-fetched theory that "they can't write a good album so wanted to milk the hot vocalist thing". (And, repeating for the third time, I'm pretty sure no one would ever consider going this route if the vocalist in question was male.) Which sorry, but is hardly quality reviewing, especially that in the process it pretty much attacks her more than anyone else. I don't want to sound like I'm going to burst into tears from the injustice but I think it's not news on this site that rating the music is more important than conspiracy theories, especially if they have a poor basis. And it seems from the above posts I'm not alone thinking this.

Poor basis? The metal-listening audience includes vastly more men than women. If you think somehow metaldom is free from the same kind of objectification that happens to female characters in video games, you're off your rocker.

Poor basis? The metal-listening audience includes vastly more men than women. If you think somehow metaldom is free from the same kind of objectification that happens to female characters in video games, you're off your rocker.

That being said, I've already spoken on this site about my sentiments on the ridiculous double-standards to which female metal musicians are held, so I really oughta know better than to try again-- particularly in a thread about reviews :v

I won't have a computer for a few days here, so I'll have to stick with a short post, but a massive, hearty LOL to anybody thinking Alissa wasn't a pure marketing move. She has a lot of range but they're just making her do what Angela did. And she's clearly okay with it, because exposure and money trumps showcasing talent sometimes.

And yeah no fucking shit we wouldn't have this discussion if they chose a man. I feel like that's either trying to paint me as sexist or trying to sarcastically imply that Arch Enemy's fans aren't mostly the exact type of people who respond well to attractive frontwomen screaming like maniacs. You're completely off your rocker, Lib. You haven't changed at all.

How did you come to the conclusion I think that?

God dammit, you're thick.

Arch Enemy, like Battle Beast, obviously chose a second frontwoman for marketing reasons as well as consistency - it's what sets them apart from other bands and plus, the eye-candy factor can't be totally ignored...it doesn't make them some kind of insidious plot to make money, but to act like it's all pure artistic expression and not just keeping the bands' gimmicks going, is a bit naive. It's business really. Not to say anything negative about either frontwoman either, they're probably fine artists in their own right (though The Agonist is one of the top five worst things I've ever heard in my life, but that's just me).

I dunno though, there are shitloads of women in metal who don't get any of this thrown at them, so I'm not sure what TheLib's problem is...

Either way, I give up.

First off the bass guitar solo (never thought I'd say that in a DragonForce review)

choruses about fighting for freedom and being the saviours of mankind and all that good stuff

Their 2008 debut Captain Morgan’s Revenge introduced “pirate metal” to the world in a way no band quite had (forget Running Wild, they didn’t really sound like pirates).

I wouldn't put too much stock into it. When somebody starts nitpicking that finely to find reasons to discredit a review they don't agree with, you can pretty safely tuck it away knowing that you didn't really do anything wrong.

Instead of becoming an irrelevant copy of its former years, the band has experimented for the majority of its career over the past fourteen years. In Flames continues to do so and the new album is another big slap in the face of those grown old nostalgics. And that’s the way it has to be.

"This is kluseba's sixteenth win and seventeenth nomination."

He uhh... never ranted about elitists?

Regardless, he is wrong. I can see his point but I always thought Grave Digger was at their best when they were just rocking the fuck out. Bordenthal's voice is much better suited to that than anything else. Hell Funeral is one of the best songs I've heard all year.