I don't know if I'm the first one to notice this, but... Arch Enemy, "Black Earth." Public Enemy, "Fear Of A Black Planet." A bit of a coincidence, no?
But enough of such irrelevant matters. Arch Enemy are one of those bands which consists of ex-members of other bands - in this case, ex-members of Carcass, Carnage and Eucharist. "Black Earth" is their debut album, and it's on the Wrong Again Records label. The CD booklet includes band photos, lyrics, and some pleasant pictures of a woman who has somewhat large fingernails. There are 9 tracks here, including 2 instrumentals, but it's a very short album (a mere 32 minutes).
Exactly why this band have been promoted as something totally fresh and original is beyond me (except that it's a good selling point, of course). I mean, this is a good, enjoyable DM album, no doubt about that - but at the end of the day, it's nothing we haven't already heard before. Imagine a combination of Carcass ("Heartwork" era), Entombed ("Clandestine" era), and the general "sound" of In Flames... and that's what the album as a whole sounds like. To give you some specific examples, the chorus of "Cosmic Retribution" has a riff which sounds a Hell of a lot like the sort of thing that Carcass were doing on "Heartwork," and "Eureka" sounds just like an Entombed song (with a meatier production). Overall the music has elements of the current crop of Swedish DM bands, but with more emphasis on DM riffing than on overt melodies. The song "Fields Of Destruction," however, has a section (chorus?) which comes from the Iron Maiden school of melody, with predictable yet endearing guitarwork backed up with some keyboard in the background. As for the vocals, again they sound like old Entombed - therefore not as high pitched as you might expect.
This is a good DM album which doesn't really have any weak songs... something which is worth checking out if you get the chance, but not worth going too much out of your way for. Satisfying enough, but I think In Flames are still the best at this type of thing.
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