No stranger to the world of death metal superhero status, Arch Enemy are finally returning with their latest, Deceivers, out August 12 via Century Media Records. Still heavy and melodic as ever, this new record pushes the boundaries of their sound without reinventing the wheel.
“I’m always collecting riffs and musical ideas, maybe a lyric here and there, but it’s not too serious, and I just end up having a lot of these fragments on my phone and computer,” says metal guitar legend Michael Amott about the process behind the record. “The writing process for what eventually became the Deceivers album started becoming more serious and focused in January 2020.
“The way we went about it was pretty much the same as always: Myself and Daniel (Erlandsson, drums) begin jamming and working out the basic song structures, and from that point on, it’s a matter of embellishing on those and building it up. It’s a lengthy process but very enjoyable and creatively rewarding.
While the band have naturally grown and changed, Amott says he believes the band has stayed true to their early musical foundation, and it shows. They still channel the same melody in their lyrics that established them as some of the pioneers of the melo-death genre, and they still do it well.
Of course, we would be remiss not to mention the contributions of frontwoman Alissa White-Gliz, who contributed greatly to the album.
“Myself and Alissa split the lyric writing duties on Deceivers, and I wouldn’t say there is an overarching theme on the album, although we have recently spoken to some music journalists in interviews that certainly have found one–which is cool! One of my favorites that Alissa wrote for this album is “House of Mirrors,” which was born out of her experiences and thought process during times of lockdowns and isolation in 2020. One of the songs that I wrote lyrics for is “Sunset over the Empire,” and I wish it wasn’t as timely as it’s turned out to be now with the ongoing war in Ukraine. But overall, the lyrics go in all kinds of directions and cover a lot of ground.”
The band will be tearing it up this August with six European festival shows and are planning more touring even into 2023. This fall and winter, you can catch them on tour with Behemoth, Carcass, and Unto Others.
“The plan is to go everywhere, all corners of the world … that’s what we usually do, and we’re all looking forward to doing it again,” Amott says.
Watch the video for “In The Eye Of The Storm” here:
For more from Arch Enemy, find them on Facebook, Instagram, and their official website.
Photo courtesy of Patric Ullaeus
