Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions

The first thing to strike you on Arch Enemy’s Khaos Legions is how the rhythm section of Daniel Erlandsson (drums) and Sharlee D’Angelo (bass) launch themselves out of the starting blocks like demons possessed. It’s not just the barrage of double kick and pounding percussion that impresses – although there is plenty of it - but the watertight interplay that instantly endears early album tracks like “Under Black Flags We March” and “No Gods, No Master” with a headbanging groove which is almost impossible to resist.

Once you’ve caught your breath, the second thing to emerge is the sheer quality of the guitar work from Chris and Michael Amott. Sure, the riffs are heavy as hell and suitably pulverising, but not since turn of the century releases like Burning Bridges and Wages Of Sin has Arch Enemy so successfully utilized such restraint and melody in their guitar work, with regular twin leads and harmonies infusing the whole album with a genuinely anthemic stature the band has not realized in recent times.

The structure and tone of the guitars on “Yesterday Is Dead And Gone” even follows the neo-classical trail blazed by Blackmore back in the day, proving that for all the extreme metal window dressing around Arch Enemy, at their blackened heart, this band simply loves its classic metal.

And then of course, we have the distinctive vocals of Angela Gossow to seal the deal. While the four musicians behind her may be exploring very slightly avenues within the core Arch Enemy sound, little has changed in the vocal department with Gossow’s trademark growls still spitting venom and splitting skulls. If anything, the vocals have become harsher and the brutal delivery of songs like “Through The Eyes Of A Raven” is nothing short of vicious.

The vocals benefit from some well-used but not over-used effects, and perhaps the biggest compliment to Gossow is that it’s time to stop thinking of her as a great female extreme vocalist and to simply start seeing her as a great extreme vocalist, period.

Gossow’s vocal style will always be the one divisive factor between fans on either side of the love/hate debate and as thrilling as the abrasive style is, it’s hard not to briefly imagine just what Arch Enemy could achieve with just a tiny bit of vocal variety. It’s probably not on the cards though.

A little like Devildriver’s Beast from earlier this year, Khaos Legions is a towering modern metal album. It’s packed full of songs just demanding to be heard at festivals all over the world and, as good as it sounds on your stereo, in the live arena it will be nothing short of immense.

(released June 7, 2011 on Century Media Records)

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.