ARCH ENEMY — Anthems of Rebellion (review)

ARCH ENEMY — Anthems of Rebellion album cover

Album · 2003 · Melodic Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2010-11-08
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Anthems of Rebellion is the album that actually introduced me to extreme metal, mainly thanks to the guitar work of the Amott brothers, which left no doubts in my mind that they are both gods of the guitar. Back then when I was first hearing this I thought that it was the best thing since Metallica’s Master of Puppets, but looking back, I can’t really say that it’s a classic of the genre, with not many of its songs coming in the category of Arch Enemy must-hears, and with some moments of mediocrity (Exist to Exit, Despicable Heroes), it's hardly a masterpiece.

Beginning with one of the most ridicules ‘intro’ type tracks ever, Tear Down the Walls is 32 seconds of a slowly building riff and shouts of what sounds like ‘hey hey’ and that is all there is to it. This isn’t even a case of me thinking that the ‘intro’ track should just be a part of the first proper song, which in this case is Silent Wars, as there is a short pause between the two tracks. It doesn't flow at all. Totally pointless.

The best songs on Anthems of Rebellion are Silent Wars, Dead Eyes See No Future, Leader of the Rats and Dehumanization. These are the only four songs on Anthems of Rebellion that I’d actually call metal anthems, and certainly the only ones that I’d put into that Arch Enemy must-hears category I mentioned already. Instrumental Anthem is short and therefore doesn’t really have a chance to live up to its name. Silent Wars features some great riffs, with many changes so it doesn’t get boring and time changes here and there giving the song good credibility as one that best shows off the band’s skills as musicians. Dead Eyes See No Future has more of this amazing guitar skills and the drumming of Daniel Erlandson is well varied and not so just a continually blast beat and some other bands seem to love so much. There is melody as well as ripping lead solos and even an orchestrated section will a military style drum pattern played over the top, which makes for a well varied song. They manage not to make any of their riffs sound like the last one too and Angela Gossow is able to vary her growl so she doesn’t make every song sound the same. Dehumanization has a great drum intro and even some clean backing vocals in places which adds new outlets to an album even so close to its end. The piano used on this track also gives it a very haunting feel, making it unlike any of the other songs and therefore a standout for me.

Other songs such as We Will Rise, Instinct, End of the Line and Saints And Sinners are almost as good but are not among Anthems of Rebellion’s standouts. They still feature great playing, awesome vocals and good variety but the actual songs aren’t as good. Close, but no cigar.

The mediocre moments as already stated are Exist to Exit and Despicable Heroes. While they still have their moments they just don’t live up to the standard that the best of the album has set. Exist to Exit is the album’s longest track but is perhaps a bit too long (this coming from someone who likes long songs) because it just sounds too dragged out to me. The end for example of a long outro of random guitar squeals, which while it may appeal to fans of that sort of thing end up giving the song less credibility. Despicable Heroes on the other hand is under two and a half minutes in length and is actually the most brutal track on the album. Now I can hear them already, those shouts of: “What is he talking about, calling the most brutal song one of the weakest?” Well I can understand where they would be coming from but it just seems to me that all that the track is all speed and little melody. This is melodic death metal after all. It’s not awful and to be fair it does fit into the rest of the album but when put up against Silent Wars or Dehumanization this song has little to offer the listener.

Special mention however to the acoustic instrumental, Marching on a Dead End Road, proving that this sort of music isn’t always brutal and can succeed in throwing a track like this into what is otherwise a fast, heavy record.

Overall though I find that this album is missing that special something that makes a classic. Certainly it is an exceptional release, but it is my honest assumption that Arch Enemy can do better. They could have done much worse though.