Arch Enemy
Black Earth

June 2002
Released: 2002, Regain Records
Rating: 5.0/5
Reviewer: Anders Sandvall

Re-released 2002

The classic debut from Arch Enemy has finally been re-released, and also contains three bonus tracks. It was originally recorded in 1996 in Studio Fredman, and is co-produced by Fredrik Norström and Michael Amott.



The music and the lyrics are co-written by the band and are pretty dark and sad. The music Arch Enemy plays can be described as Heavy Metal/Thrash Metal and they do it very well.



The band is composed of:



Michael Amott – guitar

Christopher Amott – guitar

Daniel Erlandsson – drums

John Liiva – lead-vocal, bass



There are nine songs on the album and two of them are instrumental. The instrumental songs are very short--about one minute each. One of the three bonus tracks is “Losing Faith,” which is brilliant. As a huge Iron Maiden fan, I think it’s always fun to hear how other groups interpret their songs. The other two bonus tracks are the instrumental “The Ides of March” from Killers, and “Aces High” from Powerslave.



The album is brilliant and there are no bad songs on it.