Originally written by Jason Jordan.
Yes Michael Amott can shred with the best of them, but does it really matter when the songwriting abilities just aren’t there? In case you haven’t noticed by now, I’m in charge of dissecting the latest release from this ever-present, Swedish troupe and am not overly pleased with my task due to Doomsday Machine’s lackluster nature. I have no qualms about solidifying claims that Arch Enemy are a talented group, but this latest venture is plagued with many of the same attributes that riddled both Anthems of Rebellion and Wages of Sin.
As I fully expected, the production is undoubtedly top-notch. The instrumentation was tweaked until everything sounded just right, plus it’s not difficult to differentiate one instrument from another. So, yeah, depth and clarity are both abundant. However, Angela Gossow’s growls sound overly processed on Doomsday Machine, which makes for a major detraction as I prefer acoustic vocalizations to tampered (read: tainted) vox. The brothers Amott, though, were seemingly hellbent on lacing this platter with lethal riffage, and I must admit that droves of the aforementioned do emanate from the speakers when any, and all, Arch Enemy material is being played. Unfortunately, the band’s most recent efforts don’t contain much in the way of substantial numbers; more often than not, it seems as though the listener is traipsing about from riff to riff, and the former method makes for less-than-memorable recordings.
Still, as knowledgeable as the group are, I’ll never understand why they chose to commence Doomsday Machine with “Enter the Machine,” when they should’ve clearly broken the silence with the shape-shifting “Taking Back My Soul.” Fanatics – or those (un)fortunate enough to be familiar with Wages of Sin and Anthems of Rebellion – will immediately recognize the recycled melodies. Several other opuses conform to the standards set by “Taking Back My Soul.” That is, they’re of the same length and boast predictable elements. An exception would be the instrumental known as “Hybrids of Steel,” which ditches the vocals in favor of melodic leads, solos, and whatnot.
In my humble opinion, Arch Enemy haven’t crafted anything purchase-worthy since Johan Liiva (Hearse) was fronting the crew. While Doomsday Machine isn’t utterly devoid of arresting ingredients, you probably won’t glean as much satisfaction from this as you will from, say, Black Earth or Burning Bridges. Oh, by the way, I don’t like Carcass, which means I don’t have some immovable chip on my shoulder. Yeah, I said it.
