War Eternal

OK, someone's gotta say it...this whole replacement frontperson business Arch Enemy has undertaken could NOT have come at a better time. Not a whole lot has been said about the group in recent years, and things didn't appear all that grand during such a time; Chris Amott left out of the blue, the past couple albums have been pretty lackluster, and attention had begun to cumulatively wane. Then came ANOTHER sudden departure and replacement that thrust the group back into the spotlight, where their welcome thus bade was not without plentiful bouts of uncertainty on all sorts of folks' part. Not that I can blame them; I mean, there are still kids out there who believe Angela WAS ARCH ENEMY! I'm sure a certain Michael and Johan would like to have words with them. But alas. Would this level of scrutiny be unwarranted, or justified, with this latest recording? Let's find out...

After a rather sinister synth intro, it's down to business in a pretty big way with a serious lack of fucking around. A swift punch in the face that is "Never Forgive, Never Forget" opens the door for a medium pace-level of torturous pounding that takes up the majority of the album. Taking a more melodic route with only a few moments of their earlier sense of brutality, AE craft a competent affair that is sure to be seen as a pleasant surprise to those who'd dare think otherwise. The sense of songwriting is tight as all get out, the guitars and drumwork simply devastate, the lead guitar and keyboard harmonies offer plenty of tingles up and down the spine and some tasty dynamic shifts make the best parts shine and the lesser sections a bit dreary. The amount of riffs are of a smaller amount this time around, which is both a good thing in that they don't bludgeon you with a "too much, too soon" approach, but it does render some of the songs a bit more repetitive than they should be despite the RUSHRUSHRUSH! tempos spat out here and there. I guess even the best of us outgrow the shoving riffs and leads down the listeners' throats appeal in favor of something that resembles REAL songwriting. Is I wrong? Probably, but when it works, it works, and comes off as pretty damned inspired nonetheless.

That being said, though, "War Eternal" still suffers from the biggest issue regarding melodic death metal no matter how good or large-and-in-charge the band is; it can only offer so much upon first glance (the title track is the biggest example, I must say...), and at 13 tracks it risks being long in the tooth near the end, but that being said it still seems to offer a a more cohesive set of ideas and movements than the flat dreck of "Rise of the Tyrant" or, more glaringly, "Khaos Legions", though not by a whole lot. It's not all that removed from that which made them a household name around the days of the "Ravenous" music video, but it does sound more inspired than before. As for Alissa's vocals, she thankfully doesn't try to replicate Angela's manly growls and instead opts for a more legit melodeath feel that's more her than anyone else, as best she can, it sounds like. Most of the time her verbal cursing and utterances work rather well given the more actualized style versus her early days in The Agonist (less core, more war), but other times it just doesn't feel like it's enough in certain spots. Still, one can't hold that against the lady regardless of where she came from. I'd like to see YOU do better, ye naysayers! ...too far? My apologies.

At the end of the day this didn't make me a huge Arch Enemy fan, nor did it make me a fan AT ALL, but I can honestly say that this wasn't all that bad in spite of itself and what high expectations other fans and interwebz shit-talkers would dare thrust upon their shoulders. While really only worth a listen or two when the itch for it hits, for straightforward melodic nastiness you can do far worse. Trust me on this.