Anthems of Rebellion

ARCH ENEMY乐队已经在极端金属音乐界驰骋多年，凭借五张出色的专辑，他们逐渐获得了旋律死亡金属标志性乐队的地位，也在世界范围内赢得了众多的支持者。尤其在日本，ARCH ENEMY受欢迎的程度异乎寻常的热烈，乐队也积极的回报歌迷的热情。ARCH ENEMY多次在日本演出，官方网站特别设立了日文版本，而2003年7月，继“Wages Of Sin”之后，再一次早于欧美市场一个月推出了乐队的全新专辑“Anthems of Rebellion”。他们的音乐依然强悍，“Silent wars”开头铿锵的THRASH RIFFS足以赢得所有金属迷的好感，而接下来“We will rise”又以类似HYPOCRISY中后期风格的宏大的旋律和声开始，让人领略到ARCH ENEMY优美而不俗气的旋律取向。事实上，除了第一首引子，优雅的原音纯器乐小品“Marching on a dead end road”和做为“Saints and sinners”前奏的迷人的金属旋律“Anthems”之外，其他所有歌曲都体现了乐队固有的特点，在金属应有的力度和美妙的旋律间找到了不错的平衡点。当然不要忘了Angela，做为女歌手，她的嘶吼至今仍让我感觉惊讶。严格说，ARCH ENEMY的音乐听起来有些时尚感，有些模式化，显得过于华丽，但是做为乐队灵魂的Amott兄弟在编曲和演奏上一些细腻的处理方式都让人感觉到一种难于模仿的独特气质，这使得他们的音乐与“庸俗”二字拉开了一段距离。有时候，你甚至从中能够体会到一些CARCASS乐队中后期作品中的“味道，毕竟Michael Amott给CARCASS带来了一些改变，但同时也从CARCASS得到了很多。如果你是一个初涉极端金属的“菜鸟”，那么这张专辑实在是一本不错的入门“读物”。而对于一个终日沉湎于黑、死、碾的“极端老炮儿”而言，这张专辑对你的价值可能最多也就是闲来无事时的“调味品”，但无论如何请不要蔑视它，这张成熟大气的作品中仍然有着足够耀眼的金属光泽。(死域) by Todd Kristel Anthems of Rebellion continues in the same vein as Wages of Sin. Arch Enemy doesn't come up with the most original ideas or riffs, but the twin guitar attack of Christopher Amott and his brother, Michael, is appetizing, tuneful, and rocks out without getting bogged down too much in self-indulgent displays of virtuosity. Vocalist Angela Gossow sounds ferocious, but her singing also sounds too samey at times and may be a too harsh to perfectly fit the band, even though she sounds a bit more polished than the group's previous vocalist, Johan Liiva. Meanwhile,Gossow and Michael Amott provide lyrics that address oppression, alienation, and dehumanization (including a song titled "Dehumanization" and featuring words such as "Sowing a seed of suffering/Upon their fertile hearts/Damned misled children/You never stood a chance"). In general, the lyrics aren't particularly impressive and the band has only mixed success at musically evoking the pervasive sense of menace they seem to be going after. Still, this is a reasonably solid album that should appeal to the band's fans.