Band : Arch Enemy
Album title : Khaos Legions
Label : Century Media Records
Distributor : EMI
Release date : 30th May 2011
Release : CD

Since their latest studio record ‘Rise Of The Tyrant’ that was unleashed upon us in 2007, Arch Enemy didn’t sit still. They toured their asses off and 2 years later they rerecorded some of their classics from the pre Angela Gossow era in the form of ‘Root Of All Evil’. In the meanwhile the musical mastermind behind the band, guitarist Michael Amott, also found time to do anther Spiritual Beggars cd and went on tour with the reunited Carcass. Now their’s time for a new Arch Enemy chapter and the fans won’t be disappointed in ‘Khaos Legions’. They changed few to nothing when it comes to their sound. Kick as guitar riffs and a pounding rhythm section are still the core of it all along site the demonical roar of the front lady. The intro ‘Khaos Overture’ makes sure goose bumps appear and by the time that’s faded out you’ll be gasping for are when ‘Yesterday’s dead And Gone’ lashes out. Anther highlight follow quickly with ‘Cruelty Without Beaty’ and by that time you’ll also notice the band has paid a lot of attention to the guitar solos and melody witch are all old school heavy metal. They also have 3 instrumentals on here that serve more as interludes and lucky enough it stays with that. But is this what we’re all waiting for? By now we all know what Angela is capable of but album after album it stays more of the same. What’s next? Another 5 year tour? Time will tell. ‘Khaos Legions’ is a more than cool piece of art that once more shows that Arch Enemy is one of the biggest underground acts of this time but it also shows that this will probably stay underground. It’s not like this cd will make sure they sell out Madison Square Garden. It grows, that true but it does not explode. In the meanwhile we keep on thinking why we are constantly reminded of Skid Rows ’18 And Life’ when we listen to ‘Cult of Chaos’.

80/100

Stef Maes.