ARCH ENEMY play Observatory/Santa Ana Oct. 24 and Hollywood Palladium Oct. 26; press photo
The metal strains of Arch Enemy shall soon be coming to the Observatory in Santa Ana Oct. 24 for a headline show with Thrown Into Exile.
Concertgoers can also enjoy the Swedish death metal group as direct support on the Amon Amarth: Berserker Tour at The Warfield in San Francisco Oct. 25 and the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles Oct. 26. Special guests also include At The Gates and Grand Magus.
Arch Enemy has played consistently and without any hiatus or breakup since beginning in 1995 in the city of Halmstead. Michael Amott, the group’s lead vocalist and guitar player says that the group has undeniably staked their musical claim outside of Europe and has come to enjoy traveling the world, specifically in the United States, as their regular occupation.
“We play all over the world, every corner of this globe. So, for us it’s a regular thing to go play shows away from Europe. We’re a European band and we’ve been touring in the states for many, many years. It’s great.”
Amott adds that, having played around the world for so many years, he has come to note that the music scene outside of Europe tends to be the same.
“I think there are more likenesses than differences. The fans worldwide all share this passion for this music that we play. Once we’re up on stage and playing, I think it’s all the same, you know what I mean? It’s just a bunch of people enjoying the music and the good atmosphere.”
In addition to receiving praise from fans and critics for music that blends classic metal with some noticeably progressive elements, Arch Enemy has produced an even number of 10 studio albums. Will To Power is their latest and one the group continues to promote since its release in 2017.
Amott describes Arch Enemy’s death metal as being “heavy, melodic and exciting” and cites all manner of heavy metal influences. But he gives special credit for the group having grown up in the metal music scene of Sweden. It’s a combination that was a major factor in crafting Arch Enemy’s aggressively powerful sounds.
“I come from a scene with like death metal, thrash metal, street metal kind of stuff. So, it’s kind of the speed and heaviness of the death metal with a lot of classic heavy metal influences as far as melodies and guitar arrangements and harmonies and stuff like that goes.”
The usually action packed music Arch Enemy creates typically starts off on a surprisingly very somber beginning.
“It usually starts with like a guitar riff or a guitar melody and I just build it from there,” Amott says. “Some songs write themselves in like ten minutes and the others take ten months to finish. There’s really no set form on how we put it together. But usually the writing I’ll do together with our drummer Daniel and we do the demos and stuff like that.”
Though the group often takes time to craft their music, it’s a terrific process with an always wonderful payoff says Amott.
“I love the whole process of making music, putting it all together, writing it, producing it, mixing it. It’s a very exciting process of course from idea into a full-blown song or album. But I think the most rewarding thing is obviously getting on stage and playing for the fans and seeing them sing that song back to you. They’ve been listening to it and they’ve learned the words and the melodies and everything. That’s probably the most rewarding thing is to see how the songs have connected with the fans.”
While often grateful to be able to analytically fine tune their music in the studio, Amott and his fellow Arch Enemy bandmates never fail to enjoy the herculean task of delivering high quality shows whenever they play their impassioned and heavy brand of music live.
“You’ve got one shot so it’s a lot more, how should I say, a high-pressure situation. But I think we all in Arch Enemy really thrive on that. We love stepping up our game and delivering our best every night.”
Arch Enemy will continue to do their best on their current U.S. tour which culminates at the Oct. 26 appearance at the Hollywood Palladium. Amott and his bandmates not only intend to keep busy playing live music but will finally craft some new music.
“We do another European tour after this and then there’s the holidays and everything. Starting next year, we’re going to put a new record together. It’s time to go back into that creative mode and into the studio and stuff like that.”