After slowly declining album after album Arch Enemy, although in the past was a force to be reckoned with, were now content with putting out mediocre album after mediocre album to the point that they seemed to be fading out. Then we learnt the news that Gossow had decided to leave and suddenly the entire metal community were interested in Arch Enemy again. Now that its been announced that Gossows successor is , of previous Agonist fame Alyssa White-Gluz.
Not only having War Eternal as her first recording with the band, but when Amott and co have been so stagnant with their ideas and songwriting this better be a great record. There are moments when War Eternal really does shine, one thing that I am sure everyone shall unanimously agree on , are the guitar harmonies, leads and well, anything that’s shred. They are fantastic, echoing the notes of the rhythm perfectly and building the song to a real crescendo, however therein lies the problem.
Although the guitar work on this album maybe solid, the song writing is not, there are often times when tracks seem to blur into one, with no real stand out riffs or licks, don’t get me wrong its by far the best album they have put out since Doomsday Machine, nevertheless it lacks the hallmarks of a masterpiece, a one click listen soon turns into a skipped song here and there. Although White-Gluz’s vocals are a refreshing new take on the Arch Enemy sound, even if they put out some of the cheesiest lyrics in metal White-Gluz gives a great performance differentiating her enough from Gossow to truly be able to say this is a new stage in Arch Enemy’s career.
By no means is it a bad album, it’s a solid effort by any band. Its just a shame that Arch Enemy really could have outclassed each metal band and claimed their throne once again. Although War Eternal isn’t a masterpiece there are some great songs, the very much Ursula Andrews theme sounding “Time Is Black” and of course the title track of the album has memorable set pieces but the album as a whole falls just short. We might get treated to a thundering riff in “On and On” sprinkled with some great leads, but then comes a pre chorus which doesn’t quite seem to fit. This seems to be the main theme on the album, some fantastic ideas just not as well executed as they could have been leads us to think of this as a great record and will sate Arch Enemy’s fans, but its no masterpiece.
