{"id":5519,"date":"2012-05-07T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=5519"},"modified":"2014-07-16T12:15:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T12:15:05","slug":"feature-arch-enemy-05-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-arch-enemy-05-12\/","title":{"rendered":"ARCH ENEMY &#8211; Under Black Flags They March (May 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"title\"><strong>ARCH ENEMY &#8211; Under Black Flags They March<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"smalltitle\">Anthony Morgan<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: 8pt\">May 2012<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/archenemy2012promophoto1.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><strong><em>Arch Enemy (l-r): Daniel Erlandsson, Nick Cordle, Angela Gossow, Michael Amott <br \/>and Sharlee D\u2019Angelo<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>It was confirmed on March 5th, 2012 that guitarist Christopher Amott (Armageddon) had amicably parted ways with Swedish \/ German extreme metallers Arch Enemy, his membership having spanned across two tenures: 1996 to June 2005 and March 2007 to March 2012 respectively. Christopher cited his wish to pursue a solo career as the reason behind his departure, while Arch Enemy\u2019s official statement on the matter reckoned that he \u2018simply isn\u2019t into playing extreme metal anymore.\u2019 The longtime member tendered his resignation in October 2011, but committed to touring until late January.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat gave us plenty of time to find a new guitar player and rehearse with the new guitar player, and all that kind of stuff,\u201d appreciates Michael Amott, guitarist and founder of Arch Enemy. \u201cI think he\u2019s into other styles of music, as we all are. We all listen to a wide variety of music, but when we come together and create music together it sounds like Arch Enemy. You should ask him why he left Arch Enemy though, really. I don\u2019t really know (laughs). We talked about it. It\u2019d been quite obvious for a while that he hadn\u2019t been at his happiest playing with Arch Enemy, and he wasn\u2019t as into it as the rest of us are. He was out of the band between 2005 and 2007, so it didn\u2019t come as a great shock to us when he told us. He wanted to leave and pursue other interests. It wasn\u2019t shocking to us or anything; we were kind of expecting it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The axeman enjoys a normal brotherly relationship with his younger sibling. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly very straightforward, yeah,\u201d he agrees. \u201cWe\u2019re friends and everything, but we probably won\u2019t be making music together anymore. We\u2019re still gonna be brothers though. If he ever needs any help, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same date Christopher\u2019s departure was verified, Nick Cordle \u2013 a member of Virginia death metal outfit Arsis from 2008 until 2012 \u2013 was revealed to be his replacement. \u201cNick was a guitar player who I\u2019d seen play before,\u201d Michael recalls. \u201cHe\u2019d toured with us when he was a member of Arsis. We did a headlining tour in 2010, maybe 2009 \u2013 I can\u2019t remember \u2013 and they were one of the opening acts when we toured in America. I just noticed him, and thought he was a great guitar player and a nice guy. That was about it really. He was in the back of my mind as somebody who could possibly be interesting for Arch Enemy if Chris left the band again, so I kind of knew about him. I didn\u2019t stay in touch with him, but I had his contact info. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just gave him a call back in October, and asked him if he would be interested in learning some of our songs and sending videos of himself playing our songs. I told him we\u2019d fly him over for rehearsals to try it out, and see what the chemistry was like. That\u2019s what we did, and the chemistry was great. He learnt between 35 to 40 songs, so he became too prepared \u2013 he was more than prepared. He learnt a lot more material than we\u2019d asked him to learn. I think that told us that he was very into it, and very enthusiastic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Suffice to say, the Arch Enemy mainman is enamoured with Nick\u2019s playing abilities. \u201cI think he\u2019s very good,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cHe\u2019s technically great, and he can play our stuff. He basically slots right into that position next to me. If you\u2019re gonna play in Arch Enemy you\u2019ve gotta be able to play my riffs, and also play the solos that are on the albums which Chris recorded. He can do that, but he also adds his own flair \u2013 his own touch \u2013 to it. He\u2019s got maybe a slightly more modern style than myself or Chris, and some different techniques. He\u2019s got the same kinds of influences as we do, but I think he just uses different techniques to achieve that sound. He\u2019s a great guitar player, and it\u2019s a lot of fun playing with him. We just finished our first tour with Nick, which was in Asia and Australia. That went really well, so it felt great being onstage with him and having him onstage with us and everything. It was a good atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedleft\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/archenemymichaelamottandnickcordle2012promophoto.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><b><em>Michael Amott and Nick Cordle<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Geographically located in another continent, this might cause logistical problems. \u201cSo far, it hasn\u2019t,\u201d Michael insists. \u201cHe\u2019s staying in Sweden here and there. We flew him in for the tour, and he rehearsed with us for a week. We then flew out to go on tour, but if we get longer breaks in between tours and shows he will go back to his home in America. Other than that though, he\u2019s staying in Sweden here with us. We all live apart anyway; we don\u2019t live in the same town, and we only rehearse really intensively before a tour or recordings. It\u2019s not like we always meet up once a week or twice a week. It more depends on what\u2019s scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The majority of Arch Enemy\u2019s material is penned by the guitarist himself. \u201cI do that together with our drummer Daniel (Erlandsson) in the rehearsal room,\u201d he explains. \u201cI demo up some stuff with him, and knock around ideas. I then just have the other guys come in and add their parts, and that\u2019s usually how it works. We just meet up for a couple of weeks, and rehearse every day or whatever and work on stuff. It\u2019s like most other bands I guess, and not different to most bands I think. We use a lot of other people\u2019s ideas; Daniel has riffs on <em>Khaos Legions<\/em>, Sharlee\u2019s (D\u2019Angelo, bass) got a couple of riffs on <em>Khaos Legions<\/em>, and so has Chris. I just tend to write more than everybody else I guess. I usually start the initial idea of a song, and then the other guys will embellish that with their ideas. They might have another guitar part in addition to what I have that will work really well. It\u2019s just that I usually initiate it. I usually have an idea in my head of what I want. I started the band, and have always written the bulk of the material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Directed by Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company (who has helmed videos for groups such as Dimmu Borgir, Lacuna Coil, In Flames, Sonic Syndicate, and Kamelot), a music video was filmed for the track \u2018Under Black Flags We March\u2019. \u201cPatric\u2019s great,\u201d Michael beams. \u201cHe edits, and everything. He\u2019s just a great guy to work with; he\u2019s very straightforward, and he makes us look good which is no mean feat (laughs). \u2018Under Black Flags We March\u2019 is the fourth video he\u2019s put together for us. We knew we were gonna shoot this video, so we just thought it\u2019d be cool to have Nick do a little solo. There were a couple of things from the original album mix that we thought could be improved upon. We thought \u2018If we\u2019re gonna do that, why don\u2019t we have Nick throw on a little short solo and just introduce him in a way to the fans?\u2019 We thought it\u2019d be something different, something interesting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had the idea for the song itself back in 2006, 2007. I had most of \u2018Under Black Flags We March\u2019, except the middle part with the big harmony guitar part. I just didn\u2019t finish it in time for the Rise Of The Tyrant album, which we put out in 2007. We didn\u2019t have time to finish it, but we had plenty of material anyway. I just put that aside, and then I just picked it up again when we started putting together material for <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> a year and a half ago. That was one of the first songs I started working on again. It was easy to work on something that was almost completed, and just see if we could finish it up. We did, and I think it came together really easily actually. It\u2019s a different song for Arch Enemy; it\u2019s more mid-paced, and almost has a classic metal, Judas Priest type of feel I think. It\u2019s slightly different, but it adds to the overall dynamic of the album I think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether \u2018Under Black Flags We March\u2019\u2019s music video will be the final clip to be filmed from May 2011 full-length <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> is yet to be decided. \u201cWe decide that ourselves,\u201d the founder informs. \u201cWe\u2019re self-managed, and do everything ourselves really. It\u2019s whatever we wanna do, whatever we feel like doing really. We did \u2018Yesterday Is Dead And Gone\u2019, \u2018Bloodstained Cross\u2019, and now \u2018Under Black Flags We March\u2019. I think we might do another one actually, though I\u2019m not sure. I hope so. There\u2019s one called \u2018No Gods, No Masters\u2019 and another song called \u2018Cruelty Without Beauty\u2019 we might wanna do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Weighing <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> against the rest of Arch Enemy\u2019s back catalogue is a difficult task, Michael finds. \u201cI don\u2019t really have that perspective,\u201d he confesses. \u201cI like all the albums we\u2019ve made, really. It\u2019s very varied, covering a wide spectrum of influences \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of different things on there. We poured everything we had at the time into it. Of course, I\u2019m never 100% happy. I kind of like all our albums and what they represent in our history, but I\u2019m never 100% happy. Overall, I\u2019m really happy with it though. The day I\u2019m 100% happy with an album I\u2019ve made I think I\u2019ll probably stop making albums. I always need to feel that I can push further, and create something better. Something even more metal, something even more kick ass. I\u2019m always looking forward to the next one, the next chapter. I\u2019m always making new music.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/archenemymichaelamott2012rotosoundadvert.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>British guitar string manufacturer RotoSound launched a Michael Amott signature string set on March 15th. \u201cI used to use RotoSound a long time ago,\u201d the axeman remembers. \u201cThen I started playing another brand which gave me a great sound for a long time. I then got interested in RotoSound again a couple of years ago though, and I started using them again about a year ago I guess. Somebody approached me saying \u2018Have you tried RotoSound?\u2019, and I said \u2018Yeah, I used to play them all the time.\u2019 It was somebody who worked with the company who said \u2018Why don\u2019t you try them again?\u2019 I did, and I really liked how they sounded. I started using them on tours and a couple of recordings. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the guitar and the guitar sound there are so many different factors, so many different things that come into play. You\u2019ve got the amplifier, and in the amplifier you\u2019ve got lots of different things like different tubes, the wiring, and the actual guitar cables. You\u2019ve got the pickups in the guitar, the wood in the guitar, the neck, and the strings of course. I think the most important thing is probably the guitar player himself, but I think as far as how they sound, I don\u2019t know. I think they just sound really good. To my ears they sound very good; they sound very brilliant and have a lot of great attack, and just a nice tone. Most strings have that for like the first day and then they die, but I feel that these sustain that life for a little bit longer. You can play a couple of shows with them, and they still sound great. I sweat a lot when I play, which really kills the strings. Live I sweat a lot and my hands get really sweaty, and that really kills the tone. I find that these have quite a long life though. I just like the way they sound really. I don\u2019t really know how to explain that anymore (laughs). It\u2019s the feeling isn\u2019t it more than anything else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe decided to go even further, and deepen that relationship with a signature set. With whatever company I\u2019ve been with string-wise, I\u2019ve always had to order specific gauges. There hasn\u2019t been a set of strings out there on the market that are exactly the gauges I use; I\u2019ve just always had to get separate strings for each gauge, and then make my own set out of those basically. It\u2019s always been a custom gauge that I\u2019ve used, because it\u2019s what I feel most comfortable playing for the tuning that I use, and the tension that I want on the guitar. RotoSound offered to release on the market basically my custom set, which is very exciting of course. They\u2019re very open. They\u2019ve got great people, and a great team working at RotoSound strings. It was a lot of fun putting all that stuff together with them, and trying out different strings that they wound for me and stuff like that. They got it right really quickly though, because they really know what they\u2019re doing. It\u2019s great. I love working with them; they\u2019re a great company, and there\u2019s a history there. They\u2019re a really old British company, almost like Marshall Amps and stuff. It\u2019s just got a lot of great pedigree to it, a lot of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From April 13th until the 28th Arch Enemy toured across Asia, a continent where the assortment\u2019s profile is particularly healthy. \u201cWe do quite well all over the world nowadays,\u201d  Michael notes. \u201cWe are fortunate enough that we can tour all over the world successfully, which we do. We go all over Europe, North America, South America, and all of Asia. We don\u2019t only do just Japan; we do China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan \u2013 all over the place really. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAsian culture is very different, but we\u2019ve been over there so many times that we can understand it. We\u2019ve been to Japan 20-25 times maybe over the years, and had a lot of success over there. Arch Enemy remains the biggest extreme metal band in Japan in the last 15 years, so we\u2019ve had a long history, a lot of success, a lot of big tours, and a lot of great album sales over there. The band is very well established in Japan. The culture is really different; they listen to music maybe a little bit more carefully than we do. They\u2019re very detailed, and they\u2019re very into the details. It\u2019s a little bit different, but at the core I think metal fans are the same all over the world really about music. It\u2019s getting a bit more crazy though, a bit more that way, yeah. They used to be a bit more quiet between the songs, but I think they\u2019re getting a bit more rowdy now. I think there\u2019s a European or American influence now, but they listen very carefully to what you play. They come to a show completely sober; they want to hear you perform, and they\u2019re very analytical. If you play one note wrong, they\u2019ll let you know after the show.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedleft\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/archenemy_khaoslegionslarge.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Arch Enemy\u2019s live setlist varies from performance to performance. \u201cWe played a lot of different setlists in Asia,\u201d the mainman acknowledges. \u201cWe had something special where the fans in Japan could vote for their own favourite setlists through a website poll, so we just learnt a whole bunch of different songs for that. That were really obscure songs that they wanted to hear (laughs). Like I said, with Nick we can play about 40 songs with him and we know even more among the rest of us. We just have a wide variety of tunes to choose from now that we can play, and when we\u2019re playing club shows we play longer shows. We play for an hour and a half, and we can incorporate a lot of songs that we wouldn\u2019t normally play at maybe festivals. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt festivals I think we play kind of like an Arch Enemy greatest hits thing. That\u2019s what we do at festivals, but hopefully we can throw in something crazy as well. We also want to play some stuff off of the new album <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> as well. There are some albums we wouldn\u2019t play from at a festival though. It depends, but we kind of change it up a bit as well. Angela (Gossow) keeps on file every setlist we\u2019ve ever played with her. She can see \u2018Oh, we played this festival two years ago in August 2010, and played this setlist.\u2019 She can pull that out, and then we just make sure we don\u2019t play the same again. She basically has that for every territory and every show we\u2019ve ever played with her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arch Enemy\u2019s quicker paced compositions are Michael\u2019s favourites to perform live. \u201cThey get my blood flowing, pumping,\u201d he exclaims. \u201cSongs like \u2018Bloodstained Cross\u2019 off of <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> or \u2018Nemesis\u2019 (from July 2005\u2019s <em>Doomsday Machine<\/em>), songs like that. \u2018Ravenous\u2019 (from April 2001\u2019s <em>Wages Of Sin<\/em>) and all these songs get a great reaction from the crowd live. We\u2019ve got songs like \u2018Dead Eyes See No Future\u2019 and \u2018We Will Rise\u2019 (both from August 2003\u2019s <em>Anthems Of Rebellion<\/em>) that always get a massive reaction live, and have become real staples in the Arch Enemy set. They\u2019re always cool to play because they get such a great reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An eighth Spiritual Beggars is in the midst of being cut. \u201cWe\u2019ve met up a couple of times in the last year,\u201d the guitarist divulges. \u201cI\u2019ve actually written a bunch of songs for that; we\u2019ve actually written and demoed up about ten songs, and we\u2019ve got another three that we haven\u2019t demoed up yet. Those three are just in our heads, or are more simple demos with drum machines and stuff. We\u2019ve got about 13, maybe 14 songs ready to go. The demos sound great, so I\u2019m really excited. It\u2019s always gonna be classic rock inspired, very heavy rock with a lot of Deep Purple, Mahogany Rush, <a href=\"\/site\/black-sabbath-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\">Black Sabbath<\/a> of course, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, and all those old heavy bands. Really cool bands from the early 70s are gonna be in there. These new demos sound really, really killer. I think we\u2019ve stepped it up a little bit in the songwriting. It sounds very, very catchy with lots of energy. I don\u2019t know. To my ears it sounds like a cut above <em>Return To Zero<\/em>, so I\u2019m pretty excited about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna try to meet up in June, finish the pre-production, have some intense rehearsals for a week, maybe do some more demos, and then hopefully start recording or something. We\u2019ve got some time off in the fall I think from the Arch Enemy schedule. There\u2019s a window there in September, October I think, so we might try to record the album then. Hopefully we\u2019ll get a new Spiritual Beggars album out next year in early 2013. That\u2019s an idea that we have, anyway. I do Spiritual Beggars stuff in between breaks in the Arch Enemy schedule. It\u2019s just something that I really enjoy. It\u2019s just a different side of my guitar playing, and my creativity. They\u2019re great guys I play with in that band as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A live Arch Enemy DVD entitled <em>Live Khaos<\/em> is scheduled to be released in 2013. \u201cIt\u2019ll basically just be live stuff from all over the world on the <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> tour campaign,\u201d Michael imparts. \u201cWe put one out in 2004 called <em>Live Apocalypse<\/em>, and that was filmed in London. It was an entire London show, and then we filmed one entire concert in Tokyo, Japan in 2008 which was called <em>Tyrants Of The Rising Sun<\/em>. I think this new DVD is gonna be more different; it\u2019s gonna be from different shows, different festival shows. I don\u2019t think there\u2019ll be one whole show. I mean, there might be. I don\u2019t know. It depends on how many DVDs it\u2019ll have. Maybe it\u2019ll be a two-disc or three-disc DVD, or maybe it\u2019ll be just a single disc. I\u2019m not entirely sure yet. <\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/archenemy2012promophoto2.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><strong><em>Arch Enemy (l-r): Sharlee D\u2019Angelo, Nick Cordle, Angela Gossow, Michael Amott <br \/>and Daniel Erlandsson<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of different material that we wanna put on there. We filmed a really cool small show in Angela\u2019s hometown of Cologne, Germany (on December 13th, 2011), which is very cool footage that looks incredible. We then have another big show from Japan actually (October 15th, 2011), which we did last year in a big stadium in front of 15,000 people. That\u2019s a very big, epic scale show, so that\u2019s a bit different again. Then we have some stuff from the Philippines. We\u2019ve got footage all over the place, really. We\u2019re filming a little bit this summer as well. We film wherever we go. We\u2019re going to South America at the end of the year \u2013 all over Latin America \u2013 so we might film some stuff there as well. We\u2019re gonna try to put it all together sometime. Whatever it is, we\u2019re gonna try to make it very cool and fan friendly. Something that the fans can really sink their teeth into, and get excited about. It\u2019s gonna be from all around the world I think though. Some crazy footage, a bit more chopped up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A ninth Arch Enemy studio effort is provisionally scheduled for issue in 2014. \u201cI try to raise the bar a lot every time, but it\u2019s getting more and more difficult because we\u2019ve made some really damn fine albums,\u201d the founder chuckles. \u201cIt\u2019s getting harder and harder, but we try to raise the bar. We try to push ourselves even further, and come up with new lyrical concepts, new music, new tones, new riffs, new ideas, and new ways of creating extreme metal. I have about three, maybe four new song ideas I\u2019m working on. I\u2019m slowly starting to write new material. Right now the direction sounds very extreme, but I don\u2019t know. We might tone it down a bit (laughs). It\u2019s very busy, I\u2019d say probably more technical guitar wise, more melodic and faster, and not as mid-tempo and heavy as the <em>Khaos Legions<\/em> material. I\u2019d say it\u2019s faster, more uptempo, and with more crazy guitar work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is how it looks right now, but all this might change of course. Things might go horribly wrong, or they might go faster than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael originally earnt notoriety as the guitarist for British extreme metal unit Carcass, recording the albums <em>Necroticism \u2013 Descanting the Insalubrious<\/em> (October 1991) and <em>Heartwork<\/em> (October 1993). Reunion shows took place between 2008-2010 following their 1995 disbanding, though future Carcass plans seemingly fail to include the Swede. \u201cI\u2019m not working with Carcass at the moment,\u201d Michael confirms. \u201cFrom what I hear they\u2019re working on something new, but it\u2019s not with me. I\u2019m not included in it. I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t comment (laughs). I don\u2019t really know what they\u2019re working on so it\u2019s not really for me to say, but whatever it is I wish them well of course. I had a great time doing the reunion shows; we played a lot of shows in 2008, 2009, 2010, and I had a fantastic time at those shows. I\u2019m a very busy guy as well, so I could see why I wouldn\u2019t be included. I\u2019ve pretty much got a full-time thing going on with Arch Enemy, and I\u2019m with Spiritual Beggars on top of that. It\u2019s very difficult for me to fit in a third band with touring and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Khaos Legions<\/em> was released in Japan on May 18th, 2011 through Trooper Entertainment. The album was subsequently issued on May 30th, 2011 and June 7th, 2011 in Europe and North America respectively, all via Century Media Records.<\/p>\n<p><em>Interview published in May 2012. All promotional photographs by Gustavo Sazes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARCH ENEMY &#8211; Under Black Flags They March Anthony Morgan May 2012 Arch Enemy (l-r): Daniel Erlandsson, Nick Cordle, Angela Gossow, Michael Amott and Sharlee D\u2019Angelo It was confirmed on March 5th, 2012 that guitarist Christopher Amott (Armageddon) had amicably parted ways with Swedish \/ German extreme metallers Arch Enemy, his membership having spanned across [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[280,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arch-enemy","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5519"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20325,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5519\/revisions\/20325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}