If you want to hear the true Arch Enemy, buy the first 3 albums. Johan Liiva is so much better than Angela Gossow ever was. It seems like now all they care about is making money off they're putrid re-recording of songs from the first 3 albums. The vibe is just not them, Angela totally ruins the melodic riffs. I can't see why people envy her so much with her putrid vocals. The music lacks the energy it did of the first 3 albums.

The solos are not as good, the overall playing of the re-recording is just average. The melodic riffs are still there, but when Johan was with them, he seemed to make the music flow more. Maybe I'm just biased about them having a female vocalist. I don't think so though. But the music and energy just isn't there. The vocal effects from Angela are an example of how too much technology went into the playing of this compilation.

What I want to know is what ever happened to Christopher shining on his leads? The band as a whole just put on a sub-par release to eat away at your bank account. The riffs still have the feel of the old, just too much use of the technology into the recordings. Back in the day when technology was sub-par, it showed the bands having talent or not. This one seems to fade in the dust as the music is overusing the technological effects which makes it stale to me.

I'm really saddened by this decline in their ability to perform to where they were on the first 3 albums. Like I said before, maybe they're just after your money and the music is secondary. I think that the reason Christopher left was because of this happening to the band and no longer wanting to play extreme metal anymore. It could be the decline on the whole efforts by the band themselves.

There really isn't anything good to say about this release. Buy the first 3 albums and compare them to where they are now as a band. A lot of people dislike Johan and think that he's just an average vocalist but hell, he made his voice fit the music the most. I'll always feel this way about his time with the band. They made a mistake of kicking him out of the band. If he stayed with them, I'm sure that fans would be able to appreciate them more.

Rating: 4 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
11/04/2012 02:14