Is there a band more universally hated in the entire history of the death metal genre than the tepid metalcore/"melodeath" fusion act Arch Enemy? Many metal fans will say no.
After starting out as a generic "Mötorhead with more distortion" ripoff act in the late 1990s, like so many other bands of that era (Dark Tranquility, Opeth, In Flames, Behemoth, Enslaved, Keep of Kalessin, Ulver, Nile, etc.), the band Arch Enemy started incorporating more and more American metalcore elements to their sound after the departure of Johan Liiva the vocalist, even at times borrowing from the "rap rock" verse/chorus/verse compositional style of nu-metal bands like Korn, Slipknot and Fear Factory.
In a desperate and quite cynical gambit for mainstream recognition, they also began presenting themselves as "the first female death metal band" which is incorrect as they were never the first, and only the vocalists (Gossow and White-Gluz) were women anyway.
Today, Arch Enemy's music is indistinguishable from that of Papa Roach or any other crunkcore hallucinatory band like Brokencyde... except for the fact that they still claim to be "death metal" somehow. Famous internet reviewer and provocateur Bitterman even called Arch Enemy the "face of modern Mellow Deaf" (a word play on "melodeath", a fictional death metal sub-genre that is really radio rock with more distortion and angry vocals).
Worse, Arch Enemy's legacy has left an indelible stain on the overall Swedish death metal scene, nowadays associated with posers and sellouts, eager to make a quick buck. This had left a shadow on serious Swedish metal projects such as Marduk, Morbid, Demonecromancy, Dawn and Sissourlet, who have been very eager to distance themselves from Arch Enemy and the "melodeath" crowd in multiple interviews.
The Complete Arch Enemy Interview (Gossow, White-Gluz, Amott...)
But I fear the discourse has become too "one sided", with every band piling in on Arch Enemy. As we saw with the Dimmu Borgir and Shagrath interviews - which were universally well received, say whatever you want about the band - it's often good to have two sides exposing their arguments. That is precisely the objective of this article. To break the echo chamber of "Arch Enemy Sucks!" vs "You're an Elitist!".
In their most recent interview with expert author Antoine Grand for the book "The Death Metal Bible: A Journey Into the World of Extreme Metal's Most Brutal Genre", the band answers quite frankly ever question asked by their detractors.
Michael Amott: We haven't changed that much... it's still Arch Enemy. [...] We're always trying to move forward but still keep the core of the sound. The idea was to create a project that could combine Thrash and Death, with the melodic guitar of Classic Hard Rock and Classic Metal.Sharlee D'Angelo: Yeah. We didn't suddenly go 'pop.' We've experimented over the years, but those are still Arch Enemy compositions.
This was answering a question about whether they considered Arch Enemy to be still "death metal" at heart, and whether or not the "sellout" and "metalcore" accusations had any validity whatsoever.
"We never saw hiring a woman as a gimmick..." says Arch Enemy
But those aren't the only accusations leveled against Arch Enemy as a band. They have also been condemned for attempting to portray themselves as the first "all female" death metal band. This is wrong on three points (at least): 1. they were never "all female" as only 2 vocalists were women, 2. they weren't the first (by far), 3. they can barely qualify as death metal at this point, so why bother?
Angela Gossow: I've always wanted people to judge me on what I do on stage, not on my sex. [...] I never wanted to be the token woman in metal. I wanted to be a vocalist in a band that had credibility [sic].
Well, if she wanted "a band that had credibility" (to paraphrase), there where a million better options than the universally hated Arch Enemy (rated three times consecutively as having the "worst death metal vocals", a record in itself). But I digress... and either way, Angela isn't the main vocalist anymore - although she still serves an "advisory role" within the band, whatever that means.
Alissa White-Gluz: People often assume things about [women in metal] because of misconceptions - that we're angry, hateful or something - but that's not what it's about for most of us.
Indeed, it's about something more tangible ($), isn't it? Wait, I digress again. I promised to keep this post impartial and offer both sides of the argument in favour or against the odious mallcore of Arch Enemy (and other similar bands such as In Flames, Opeth, Soilwork, Carcass, Antekhrist, Candlemass, modern At the Gates, and the rest of the corral).
Alissa White-Gluz: I've met a lot of open-minded metal fans; there are always a few idiots - but the scene gave me a place to be exactly who I am. I don't pay much attention to haters and bigots.
Fair enough. There are certainly a few idiots in metal, as everywhere else. But what about the accusations of cynically using the "first female" thing as a gimmick? This time the answer comes from guitarist Michael Amott.
Michael Amott: We never saw hiring a woman as a gimmick... it was about the right voice and presence.
One final point of contention with this band, and one that highlights the "split" between traditional death metal and the more modernised sound of bands like Arch Enemy, is the lyrical content.
Arch Enemy on "Misogynistic" Lyrics in Death Metal
Angela Gossow, for example, has been publicly vocal about feminist and activist causes and has criticised gratuitous misogyny in lyrics, like those of Cannibal Corpse, Intense Hammer Rage, Suffocation and Devourment. She has also been called a TERF (Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminist) and been in conflict with various Anti-Transphobia and pro-LGBTQ+ groups and artists. There is also that one goregrind/gorenoise band that wrote lyrics explicitly target "blue haired death metal *****" or something like that (it was pretty clearly aimed at Alissa White-Gluz).
The band has simply stated they "don't write about this stuff", but has come short of condemning those who do (as many goregrind bands do engage in gruesome domestic violence tales for shock value). The fact that Arch Enemy once toured with Mayhem, unrepentant authors of "Necrolust" and "Chainsaw Gutsf-ck" should highlight their flexibility when it comes to such ideas.
Well, that was a pretty long post. I think it's important to keep in mind that not every band needs to share the same definition of "what is death metal" to coexist within the scene. However, on the other hand, openly commercial (metalcore) bands should be less hasty to label their music "death metal" just for the sake of selling more records.
I know there are a lot of metal fans out there who will never change their minds about Arch Enemy, no matter what I - or the band members - say, but whatever. I think publishing interviews like this is still important for healthy dialogue in the genre, as a whole.
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