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Well yes!... I was the average metalhead who in the mid-nineties bought Metal Shock. The choice initially was purely economic (Metal Hammer cost 7000 and Metal Shock only 4000 lire!) but eventually became more of an affection. I had to repeat the name of the magazine at least three times to my newsagent before he understood and opened the outside display case and handed it to me with a puzzled look. And above all, I relied on Metal Shock's reviews and bought albums even blindly. In this manner, I got a few duds, but also many satisfactions: Arch Enemy - "Burning Bridges" was a clear example.
Considering my (at the time) veneration for extreme metal and all its derivatives, the sound of Gothenburg fit perfectly in my ear canals. In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Opeth, Soilwork, and dozens of bands of the so-called "swedish death metal" found fertile ground in my CD collection. Finally, metal, in a way even melodic, was returning to heavier tracks after the sickly sweet incursions among elves, fairies, and swords typical of the Beer Epic Power Metal.
In the cauldron of bands that emerged, the happy and unexpected surprise was without a doubt Arch Enemy of Michael Ammott. The Swedish guitarist, already an axeman in Carcass's masterpieces "Necroticism" 1991 and "Heartwork" 1993, together with the excellent Chris Ammott (brother and ex-Armageddon) and singer Johan Liiva, gave birth to what would become one of the most renowned bands of modern metal.
After two thrilling albums ("Black Earth" 1996, "Stigmata" 1998), 1999's "Burning Bridges" arrived, and for the occasion, the lineup was enriched by the talented bassist Sharlee D'Angelo (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Witchery). The album in question is the missing link between the two phases of the band, the first more oriented towards the classic schemes of Swedish death (with Liiva on vocals) and the second more melodic, simple, and less interesting (with the blonde Angela Gossow behind the microphone).
Just the opener "The Immortal" would justify buying the album, so powerful it leaves you breathless with an incredible succession of riffs and solos typically classic metal. It's impossible not to mention "Silverwing" which starts with a Thrash pace to then explode into unexpected melodic lines... brilliant! And so the album continues, offering up killer songs never repetitive, but always very inspired like "Dead Inside", "Pilgrim", "Angelclaw", until the doomy final title track that fades into a sad piano melody. 35 minutes of high-level performance and exceptional technique, Ammott shows impeccable variety in songwriting, in addition to a formidable mastery of the instrument (in my opinion among the best extreme metal guitarists alongside Chuck Shuldiner, Dimebag Darrell, and Bill Steer).
From this album onwards begins for the Enemies an inexorable descent into oblivion... into musical nothingness, starting with the forgettable "Wages Of Sin", up to the latest embarrassing productions. Perhaps the choice of the blonde Angela Gossow as lead singer was the only way to focus attention on a band that was sadly drifting away, now devoid of punch, totally confused and banal. Unfortunately, apart from a few bands that managed to reinvent themselves with mixed results (Amorphis, Dark Tranquillity), the rest of the scene has plummeted disastrously into musical garbage: In Flames sadly mimic Korn and metalcore bands, and Soilwork are in a continuous desperate pursuit of commercial success with poor results.
Surely the Swedish death metal that gloriously started from Entombed, Dismember and At The Gates, of which Arch Enemy were among the major exponents, is now a faded memory of a not too distant past, and masterpieces like "Burning Bridges", "The Gallery", "The Jester Race", "The Chainheart Machine" are hard to repeat.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 The Immortal (03:41)
This liquid vision of euphoria
Living a life on borrowed time
Paying the price of immortality
Desperately avoiding our fate
Lead me through the halls of tortured souls
Alone, forlorn... human dignity dethroned
Forevermore - A life never ending
Time stands still as the Immortals keep on breeding
The future is locked within us
All we need is the key
Crying at the fountain of youth
Eternal life is killing me!
Triumphant in chariots they ride
On this arena of the undead
Anoher lap of honour for the...
Vacant galleries
Lead me through the halls of tortured souls
Alone, forlorn... human dignity dethroned
Forevermore - A life never ending
Time stands still as the Immortals keep on breeding
The future is locked within us
All we need is the key
Crying at the fountain of youth
Eternal life is killing me!
The future is locked within us
All we need is the key
Crying at the fountain of youth
Eternal life is killing me!
03 Pilgrim (04:30)
From the womb, to the tomb
An eternal struggle for the holy truth
We are not the first, nor shall we be the last
We shall be followed by thousands more
Study the scriptures - Intensify the faith
The works of men much greater than you or I
From the cradle to the grave
Thousands of immortal souls just waiting to be saved!
Pilgrim man - What are you searching for?
Believe the tales when everything else fails
Pilgrim man - Deep in your heart you know
Your faith is already bought and sold
All my life I served the cross
Always believing my God was a just one
I maimed for you - I killed for you
But looking back at my life
I just don't know anymore...
04 Silverwing (04:06)
Fly with me on a starlit sky
I'll set you free... Yes, it can be
A dream unchased is a life at waste
Never let them conquer your pride
Our love is warm here
Like the image of a distant sun
This star will always shine
And never, ever fade away
Fly on... Silverwing
Fly with me... Stay free... Silverwing
Seeking truths in spirit skies
Which one of you will guide me tonight?
The milky way tastes sour,
Has heaven lost its power?
So let us set sail on this sea of dreams
The moon gets lost in the morning sun
Just let the spinning wheel spin
And let your life begin
05 Demonic Science (05:20)
The human blood is far too thin
The life in it much too fragile
DNA code twisted into form
An ancient dream will now be reborn
Demonic! Science!
A high price for a passion so intense
Demonic! Science!
This world no longer makes any sense
Save the best - strip away the rest
Every weakness, every bleakness will be erased
New flesh for a new world!
Men in white clothes performing the ultimate test
This is the era - this is the time
A new dawn arrives...
06 Seed of Hate (04:06)
Seek of my talents (???), my fear,
Come closer, trust me.
I stand in the falling rain,
There is no joy inside these tears.
I see the world through a twisted and impeded stare.
To be what i have been, to see what i have seen.
Is it a dream, what can i believe?
The memories will haunt me forever more.
Seek of my talents (???), my fear.
Come closer, i trust in you!
I am not the man, you used to know,
I am different, everything is different now.
The way you left me,
You planted a seed of hate in me.
Nothings stronger, stronger than this.
Is it a dream, what can i believe.
The memories will haunt me forever more.
Is it a dream, what can i believe.
The memories will haunt me forever more.
Is it a dream, what can i believe.
07 Angelclaw (04:03)
Angelclaw - A queen of the night
She reigns from her throne of stone
Bringer of evil, a destroyer of souls
Do what thou wilt, lust is her excuse
She'll use you up, suck you dry
This beautiful creature makes you high
Try to break the spell that is cast
Bu she knows you all to well
Angelclaw...
Effigy of a God long forgotten
A sickening ritual
She raises the chalice of blood
The hunt starts again...
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