Arch Enemy
Burning Bridges

THE REVIEW

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.