I will start with a conclusion: Canadian vocalist Alissa White-Gluz totally dominated the stage and conquered another victory which was swift, conclusive and effective. Just like in a Latin phrase:
“She came, she saw, she conquered”!
Although, this was one of the rare occasions in which it could be felt throughout the whole concert that we are witnessing a concert from a genuine supergroup. Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharist. It was founded by Carcass guitarist Michael Amott along with Johan Liiva. The latter left the band and current members are: Daniel Erlandsson, Sharlee D’Angelo and Jeff Loomis.
The supergroup effect kicked in during fierce arguments among die-hard fans of Alissa and those who worship Michael Amott and/or Jeff Loomis, or in this case, any other band member. Of course, it is a futile dispute as there is no measurement of any of those musicians being better or the best.
The key lies in the fact that the group of great musicians, who are famous as individuals, works together very well and it can be felt that the members are united harmoniously and connected very well as the final result of their work is astonishing!
Arch Enemy published their eleventh album, entitled Deceivers last year. Along with the album announcement came the third single “Handshake with Hell”. The song was listed as Loudwire’s “best metal/rock song” of 2022, after “We’ll Be Back” by Megadeth. The band is currently on a tour through Europe which started in June and ends in August. The band will perform at numerous festivals this summer so there will be more possibilities to see the band live.
The concert opened very explosively with the songs: “Deceiver, Deceiver” and “The World Is Yours”. Some of the other highlights of the concert were performances of: “War Eternal”, “Handshake With Hell”, but also many others. Absolute peak of the concert was the performance of “The Eagle Flies Alone”, which is a favourite song to many. Best part of the encore was “Nemesis” and it was performed so fiercely and explosively that it almost became too hard to believe the endless source of energy the whole band possessed.
The concert was perfect and a real treat. I was somewhat surprised by the fact that no opening acts performed but that fact didn’t interfere with enjoyment from the last night. The band performed 18 songs which was enough to satisfy all the new and old fans of the band. Simply put:
perfect, brilliant and completely fulfilling!!
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