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After three highly regarded studio albums and a live album (In particular 1999’s stunning Burning Bridges), Swedish (Halmstad) melodic death metal act Arch Enemy were left to with the difficult task of finding a suitable vocalist to front the band after Johan ‘Liiva’ Axelsson decided to leave (Or was pushed) after six years with the band in 2001.
Unexpectedly, German vocalist Angela Nathalie Gossow was recruited to take on the position, and after much debate (As to whether Gossow could live up to the legacy left behind by Axelsson’s departure), Wages Of Sin was released in 2001.
For some (Like myself), Wages Of Sin represented a natural progression from Burning Bridges musically, with Gossow more than capable of providing the aggression needed fronting the band in Axelsson’s absence. But for others, Wages Of Sin was a flawed first step forward, and the first sign of Arch Enemy’s decline.
2003’s Anthems Of Rebellion (And it’s companion piece in 2004’s Dead Eyes See No Future EP) only reinforced arguments from both sides as to the worthiness of the bands validity (Although in hindsight, I believe the album was a slight disappointment and that it was missing Arch Enemy’s unique aggressive edginess and sharpness) as leaders in the melodic death metal scene.
So with Gossow now firmly established with the Arch Enemy line up (Alongside guitarists Michael and Christopher Amott, bassist Sharlee D’Angelo and drummer Daniel Erlandsson), this all-important third album is the one that will either see them fall behind the leaders of the genre, or reaffirm their cult legendary status (Guitarist Amott in particular) within the melodic death metal genre.
After several spins of Doomsday Machine, I wish the decision in the above-mentioned equation was that simple to determine. To put it in simple terms, Doomsday Machine lies somewhere in between both damnation and acclaim, without being one of the other.
The album begins impressively with the slower paced two-minute melodic instrumental ‘Enter The Machine’, which slowly leads into ‘Taking Back My Soul’. ‘Taking Back My Soul’ is a solid shift back to Wages Of Sin era Arch Enemy with plenty of aggression within the lead work and Gossow’s death like growled vocals.
But while it’s an impressive start, the follow up track ‘Nemesis’ doesn’t quite manage to maintain the same drive. Through the verses, Arch Enemy absolutely shred (Particularly Erlandsson’s drumming performance), but the chorus simply slows things down too much, and is quite predictable (Especially in the lyrical content) and too melodic by Arch Enemy standards.
Not helping matters is the slow and drawn out ‘My Apocalypse’, where the band attempt to experiment a little more with some sound effects to give the song a different feel (Which is again attempted in ‘Skeleton Dance’ later in the album, but with even worse results), while ‘Carry The Cross’ is too plodding and uninspired for the most part.
But just when you think that ‘Doomsday Machine’ is destined to be a complete failure, Arch Enemy pull out a song like ‘I Am Legend/Out For Blood’. Opening with a melodic eighty-second instrumental section, the song soon kicks in with the fast paced ‘Out For Blood’. Although short, the song manages to incorporate a short atmospheric passage mid way through, some killer blast beats and some great lead work from Amott.
The instrumental ‘Hybrids Of Steel’ allows the Amott brothers to trade off with each other in an otherwise likeable tune (Nothing that really stretches their capabilities too much in other words), while ‘Mechanic God Creation’ is actually one of the bands longer and slower tracks (Running for six minutes) that actually manages to sound interesting and work for the most part. But still, it could have been shortened to transfer it from being simply good, to sounding great.
The final two tracks, ‘Machtkampf’ (Translated as power struggle) and ‘Slaves Of Yesterday’ are both solid Arch Enemy numbers, and better examples of when the song writing manages to meet eye to eye with the talent the band actually has.
Doomsday Machine isn’t a terrible Arch Enemy release, but an inconsistent and unfocussed effort. The best songs certainly match anything from Wages Of Sin, but there are plenty of forgettable tracks too (Which could have easily been slotted into the rather patchy ‘Anthems Of Rebellion’).
Many will argue that Gossow is to blame for Arch Enemy’s drop in quality (And there’s some merit there in regards to the lyrical content), but Amott too must also take his share of criticism (What’s with the rather dull, slow and unexciting music that makes up half of Doomsday Machine?).
Doomsday Machine overall is stronger than Anthems Of Rebellion, but it’s hardly a huge leap forward in terms of consistency. Somewhere deep inside Arch Enemy’s vast collection of songs, there’s the possibility of the band producing a real classic, but the trouble is they just haven’t figured out their strengths from their weaknesses in song terms. » archenemy.net
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