Band : Arch Enemy
Album Title : The Root Of All Evil
Label : Century Media
Distribution : EMI
Release date : September 2009
Review : CD

“The Root Of All Evil” is the eight studio album of the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy.
This new album features thirteen classic Arch Enemy songs from the first three albums (“Black Earth”, “Stigmata” and “Burning Bridges”), completely re-recorded with the current line-up and thus with Angela Gossow on vocals.
On those first three albums, Johan Liiva was responsible for the vocals, but he was replaced by Angela Gossow in 2000.
I can’t compare the new recordings to the old ones, because I don’t have the original albums in my possession. I guess the songs now have a better production and are played (a little) faster than the original.
But I most certainly like the sound of “The Root Of All Evil”, an album that proves that the classic Arch Enemy songs from the era 1996 – 1999 haven’t lost their impact, even if another singer provides the vocals. The songs still sound fresh and sparkling (or if you prefer another choice of words: brutal and aggressive) in this newly re-recording.
“The Root Of All Evil” contains 13 songs and has a playing time of 52 minutes.
Highlights of the album are “Beast Of Man”, “Demonic Science”, “Bury Me An Angel”, “Pilgrim”, “Transmigration Macabre” and “Silverwing”.
A limited edition, including 3 bonus live tracks (“Bury Me An Angel”, “The Immortal” and “Bridge Of Destiny”), alternate cover colouring, an expanded booklet and an exclusive “Pure Fucking Metal” patch is also available.
Arch Enemy play at the Mass Deathtruction Festival in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) on October 10th 2009 and are undertaking an European tour, named “Tyrants Of Evil” in November/December 2009, with dates at Melkweg Amsterdam (the Netherlands) on December 11th and at Lucky Rijssen (the Netherlands) on December 13th. And I can already predict that Arch Enemy will probably play at the summer festivals like Graspop for instance.

80/100

Erik.