ARCH ENEMY — Khaos Legions (review)

Album · 2011 · Melodic Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2011-06-01
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Khaos Legions is the ninth (or the eighth if you insist on discounting the 2009 release The Root of All Evil which was new version of old songs) studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy. The album was released in 2011, four years after their last album of original material, 2007’s Rise of the Tyrant.

As far as I’m concerned Arch Enemy hasn’t had the most consistent of careers. They’ve had some really good albums such as Stigmata and Rise of the Tyrant and some generally solid affairs such as Wages of Sin, but they’ve also had some downturns such as Doomsday Machine. Their last full-length of new material I numbered among their best offerings however, so Khaos Legions has a tough act to follow.

The first track is the intro Khaos Overture. It is a good showcase of the guitar skills of the brothers Michael and Chris Amott, but anyone familiar with the band already knows these guys have nothing to prove on that front. I’m of two minds about the spoken word vocals that end this track. On one hand they seem out of place when the start, but works pretty well as a lead in to the first proper song on the album, Yesterday is Dead and Gone. It’s pretty clear from herein that Khaos Legions represents more of the same from Arch Enemy, in that it’s mostly heavy songs with great melodic guitar work topped off with the impressive vocals of Angela Gossow, occasionally broken up with a shorter instrumental piece. There’s nothing new on the table here, so the only thing to really decide is if Khaos legions falls in with the great Arch Enemy albums, or the weaker ones.

Actually where it falls is more on the side of the stronger albums, but it doesn’t really make it up there to sit proudly alongside their best works. Whilst the songs are consistently solid, the album lacks songs that really stick out as a highlight. The aforementioned Yesterday is Dead and Gone comes close to being one, but falls short by a very narrow margin. It starts strong but then falls apart. The same goes for Under Black Flags We March, although in this one’s case it starts pretty average and then builds up into something better. No Gods, No Masters does however stand out from the rest though, as does Bloodstained Cross with its interesting use of lighter sections that add real depth to the track. Thorns in My Flesh is another highlight, but it’s the aggressive and frantic Vengeance Is Mine that takes the medal for the album’s best song. In general though the songs do fall short of greatness, often by those narrowest of margins, although there isn’t a bad track here and as a whole Khaos Legions is far from the worst thing Arch Enemy ever delivered, but neither is in the most impressive.

I said that Khaos Legions had a tough act to follow and it ultimately has failed. However I can’t call the album a total disgrace and I expect that anyone who enjoyed the band’s past releases will likely still enjoy this one to a point. I just hope this isn’t the start of another decline and that next time the quality will be closer to Rise of the Tyrant.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 7.1/10)