Doomsday Machine

保持着两年一张的频率，ARCH ENEMY推出了他们的全新专辑“Doomsday Machine”。感觉自“Anthems of Rebellion”之后，ARCH ENEMY的音乐明显变的更加旋律，更趋向于主流化，新专辑似乎有变本加厉的趋势。大量优美动听的吉他SOLO基本已经远离了极端金属的本质，节奏部分，我个人认为其实比上一张专辑更出色，Michael Amott的很多Riffs都颇具有CARCASS乐队后期作品的风采，不过由于速度和音色的不同，味道上感觉有了很大差异。Angela的卖点作用也正逐渐淡化，她的声音越来越男性化，而很多朋友口中的她的美艳，我也从来体会不到。专辑的录音完全体现了大牌风范，只能用杰出来形容！ 这张专辑并不是一张能够令人眼前一亮，一见钟情的专辑，同时也不是一张值得反复揣摩品位的作品，但只要不是非要用极端，残忍，凶狠...的观点来看待，偶尔拿出来欣赏一下总不至于让你心情变的很糟。(死域) by Eduardo Rivadavia One gets the feeling that Doomsday Machine is something of a make-or-break album for Sweden's Arch Enemy. Easily the most commercial effort of the band's career thus far, it signals that dangerous moment in any heavy metal band's existence when, in a bid for acceptance on a wider scale, the bandmembers must risk upsetting the loyal fan base that has carried them thus far. Then again, original diehards already accused Arch Enemy of selling out years before, when they replaced popular frontman Johan Liiva with newcomer Angela Grossow and inaugurated their experiments with more subtle metallic songwriting tricks. And when your man in charge is Michael Amott, survivor of countless heavy metal style battles and long-deceased former bands, guitar-driven overkill is really the only surefire guarantee -- with risk-taking simply a function of the game. Doomsday Machine's "game" begins with "Enter the Machine," a majestic, harmony-laden instrumental that some might find more adequate for a power metal album than anything from Arch Enemy, but which actually proves very fitting as exceedingly melodious songs like "Taking Back My Soul," "Mechanic God Creation," and "Slaves of Yesterday" proceed to be unleashed. The serious thrashing of yesteryear is dominant on only a couple of cuts: the rather average "Machtkampf" and the quite memorable "Nemesis," neither of them sacrificing their melodic touches, as the Amott brothers appear intent on chugging out cleaner, linear riffs instead, and leave drummer Daniel Erlandsson to account for much of the hyperactivity from the rear. As for the front, vocalist Gossow's ragged croak is really put to the test by the band's increasingly melodic and dynamically varied instrumental backdrops, giving rise to legitimate concerns as to whether she has finally transformed from asset to liability. Never an overpowering presence to begin with (calling Karyn Crisis!), at times she totally nails it (such as on the album highlight "Carry the Cross"), while at others she's given the studio processing treatment (see the quasi-industrial "My Apocalypse"), as if in a bid to keep up with the surrounding din. Not that the lyrics handed her by Amott provide much inspiration, either, seeming geared less toward actual meaning than sounding good and functional in a chorus (witness the utterly disposable "Skeleton Dance"). In summary, and regardless of the above reservations, there's no disputing that Doomsday Machine is, fundamentally, yet another immaculately produced Arch Enemy album, forged first and foremost by the vision of Michael Amott's guitar. If that vision lacks for extreme metallic fury because Amott has decided to make Arch Enemy the next Iron Maiden instead of the next Slayer, then at least his cards are laid out on the table, and fans can make up their own minds as to whether they want to follow.