Arch Enemy | ‘Dead Eyes See No Future’
While the title track of this release is hardly the best Arch Enemy track ever, it’s probably one of the least incriminating on their recent “Anthems of Rebellion” album, and it’s got the full EP treatment here, with 8 tracks including an enhanced video clip… whatever that means. Anyhoo, here we go. “Dead Eyes…” sounds, unfortunately, a little too much like modern Arch Enemy by numbers to get me going. Flawless playing, as you’d expect, all round, but their lyrical content has plumbed depths that can only be described as “dumbass” on this outing. The stupid cello part in the middle makes no sense, and even the cheesy key change at the end is just going through the motions somewhat. This song really is a poor choice for an EP, although there’s little else on the album to challenge it.
The live tracks are worth a listen however: Arch Enemy live has always promised more than it delivered for me, so they are a treat. Recorded in Paris in 2004, this is a very, very good mix; that’s what you get for having Andy Sneap do your live sound I guess. The drums in particular are great - I wonder whether he uses triggers or not? For once Angela does a good job (my feelings on her shortcomings have already been aired in the Wacken review) except with the between-song banter, which really is lame and lets the side down badly. Otherwise, these 3 tracks are fantastic, and I would nearly buy this EP for those alone. Nearly, however, is the operative word.
“Burning Angel” was one of the best tracks from “Wages of Sin”, with a great build up and disarmingly simple verse riff, and goes down a treat live. “We Will Rise” is not a great song, and has particularly awful lyrics, although that seems to be the pattern with Angela-era Arch Enemy. At the time this song was released as the promo single for the AoR album, Mike Amott was all talk about how they wanted to cut down on the gratuitous guitar widdle and let the songs speak for themselves. But unfortunately there’s very little on AoR that stands up to comparison with the first 4 albums.
The cover version of “Symphony of Destruction” sucks. End of story. It’s down-tuned by the sound of it, so that it sounds like neither Megadeth nor Arch Enemy. Never mind the fact that they don’t play the right notes… there’s a difference between doing something new and interesting with a cover version and getting it wrong. Also, it becomes clear that Angela “singing like a robot” Gossow’s main problem isn’t, and never has been, her voice: it’s her timing. Her voice is very versatile, very full, very heavy. Her timing is practically non-existent. I don’t want to turn this into a crusade against Angela, so I’ll leave it there, but listen yourself and see what I mean.
“Kill with Power”, by Manowar, is actually quite a suitable song for such an awful singer. Boring song, boring version, and still so down-tuned as not to sound like Arch Enemy. “Incarnated Solvent Abuse” is for many people the gem of this release, but I can’t really see the point, except to say that it’s nice to see Mike playing Carcass again. Honestly, there’s a whole debate to be had about the function of cover versions, but I guess this is not the forum for that. In all, if you liked AoR, and like Angela, then there’s a couple of cute photos in the inlay card you might be intersted in.Otherwise, don’t waste your money. A few good live tracks aren’t worth fifteen quid, and they’re far and away the best thing on here.
2 / 5 -Cathal Murphy ::: 20/02/05