When you hear the name Arch Enemy most people will obviously in first instance think of Angela Nathalie Gossow, the woman with the unbelievable brutal voice. Also Michael Amott is a remarkable person, of course because of his history with Carcass, one of the originators of the entire melodic death metal sound. Fourteen years after Carcass created that sound with the record Heartwork, Michael Amott and his partners set another milestone: Rise of the Tyrant.

 

Let's first do some more history. Grunter Angela stepped in on Arch Enemy�s fourth record Wages of Sin and really got Arch Enemy on the map. With the next record, Anthems of Rebellion many people were dissatisfied with the �commercial� and slower sound. With Doomsday Machine they took a big step into the right direction again, but after this release Michael�s younger brother Christopher left the band while he had always been on his side from the beginning. Happily he was back in the band when Arch Enemy was writing their seventh album: Rise of the Tyrant; a furious record which sound lies closest to the Wages of Sin record.

 

Michael Amott had already predicted that this was going to be the ultimate Arch Enemy record. Of course we never trust too much on these kinds of statements, but by cooperating with the same producer as on Wages of Sin, Fredrik Nordstr�m, they made a good step in the right direction. Opening track �Blood On Your Hands� immediately sets the right tone for the entire record, an enormous brutal and furious sound bursts loose in a tempo which we like to hear from Arch Enemy; fucking fast! Towards the end of the song more and more great melodic parts pass by, a stunning tabbed solo and this gives the song a special �epic� feeling. After this very melodic ending I was scared that the second song would be way less aggressive, but oh no, not at all! Arch Enemy manages to get a very well balanced sound between aggressiveness and melody on Rise of the Tyrant.

 

There are some songs on Rise of the Tyrant that aren�t on the full Arch Enemy speed, but that�s okay to get some breath. Slower and faster songs are well alternated. Overall the songs are a bit faster than on Doomsday Machine. The only real failure I find the instrumental intermezzo, three songs before the record ends! Not well placed in my opinion and also unnecessary, because there already are enough resting moments on the record. For the rest there is little space for critique on this record.

 

Rise of the Tyrant together with Wages of Sin can be called Arch Enemy�s best records. After all these years Michael Amott proved, together with his band mates, that he is still on the top of the genre which he co-founded. Every melodic death metal fan should get this one!