Arch Enemy, Sweden’s unrelenting extreme metal act, has unleashed its latest studio album Khaos Legions. The long-awaited record is Arch Enemy’s ninth studio album, and marks a return to new, original material, after releasing the Tyrants Of The Rising Sun – Live In Japan live DVD/CD in 2008 and the re-recordings album, The Root Of All Evil the following year.
With the group kicking off their world tour recently,
Joe Matera caught up with Arch Enemy’s
Michael Amott to discuss the new album, the evolution of extreme metal and being offered strange gifts from fans.
UG: Khaos Legions is the group’s ninth studio album overall, did the writing and recording process differ in any way to how you approached previous efforts?
Michael Amott: No, it was pretty much the same way as every other album. We still do it the old traditional way where we all get together and rehearse the band first, then throw our ideas out there. Then I will bring in some riffs and the other guys will embellish on that. This album was actually written over a longer period of time because we took a longer break between the last proper studio album, Rise of the Tyrant which came out in 2007. A four year break is unusual for us as we’re used to having an album every two years or so. But that showed on this new record because this time we had a lot more material and ideas.
There are a few instrumentals on the new album too, something that Arch Enemy tends to do regularly, why do you like adding these instrumental outings on your albums?
It is because one of my favorite bands is Black Sabbath would always have instrumentals, little pieces on their albums. Also for me it is a very natural thing to do, and it is not something I think about. I am surprised that other bands don’t do it more often as well. Maybe it is because they can’t do it? To be honest, for us it is a way to build in some dynamics in our music, where we can really show a more romantic, delicate side of our musicianship. Since Angela’s vocals are very hard hitting, the instrumental thing gives it a bit of a breather so that when you begin the next track with a big fat riff full of power it will hit you that much harder after having had a sweet caress from an instrumental.
Speaking of Angela, she tracked her vocals separately in a different studio?
Yeah a friend of ours runs a small studio which is especially designed for vocals only, and not for tracking band stuff. It is walking distance from where she lives and she has access to the studio 24/7, so she can go in there whenever she wants. She can do it at her own pace.
Going back to the album, there were extra tracks recorded during the sessions including several covers?
Yes there were, we recorded like 21 tracks including instrumentals and covers. Fourteen of those made it on to the album. We also, at the same time, mixed some live tracks from a festival we did last year. We mixed five of those tracks, so we were working on a lot of pieces of music, around 26 of them which we were all mixing in the mixing phase. We spent about four months on this album including the mixing.
Do you plan to release these covers in future?
There is stuff already out there, like a bonus disc with the first edition of the new album in certain territories. In Japan there is another edition of the album with some other stuff as a bonus too, but there are still a few songs we haven’t mixed yet but will later and will probably put them out in some shape or form.
"Too many people are now using a lot of software to achieve sounds especially when it comes to effects such as phasers, delays and chorus’, whereas we used more vintage stuff."
For the rhythm guitars it was a very simple set-up; a Marshall JVM series, the 100 watt head with a Mesa Boogie cab. I had an Ibanez Tube Screamer and that was it. It was a simple set up for the rhythm guitars. When it came to the lead guitars I got more old school, there were no plug-ins at all used on this album for effects. I had a set up where I used an old Marshall JCM-800 60 watt head running in a stereo set up which also had an echo delay added to the chain. It was this old Rockman which was designed by Tom Scholz of Boston. I had the wet signal going on a separate channel so I could blend it in as much as I wanted in the mix. The clean tones were from a Roland Jazz Chorus amp.
A Roland Jazz Chorus is something usually associated with metal tones…
Our music is very heavy and modern in a way, so it was nice to have some unique tones. Too many people are now using a lot of software to achieve sounds especially when it comes to effects such as phasers, delays and chorus’, whereas we used more vintage stuff.
What about guitars?
I usually bring between five and ten guitars to the studio, and usually the producer or engineer will say, ‘this one sounds better than that one’. And the one that sounds the best may not always be my signature model. In the studio you usually go with what sounds the best, not because it is a guitar that has your name on it. That is the most important thing. But this time we all played our signature models. I’ve been playing my Dean guitars since 2008, I was happy because I feel real comfortable playing those guitars, the main one I use a lot is the one now is the Dean Michael Amott Signature Tyrant Bloodstorm which I used for the entire album for all the solos and the rhythm guitars.
How do you think your guitar playing has evolved in the fifteen years of the band’s existence?
I think I have definitely evolved. If I listen to our albums I can hear both mine and our evolution but it is not something I think about every day. Obviously I improve in much smaller increments now. You don’t make those giant leaps as a player as when you were younger. If you hear the first couple of albums I played on and then listen to the third one that came out a couple years later, you can hear I am a far better guitar player than on those first two albums. In order to reach that level of plateau now, I really have my style and technique pretty much solidified. If I listen to the last album, Rise of the Tyrant from 2007 and then listen to the new album, I can hear an improvement in my playing for sure.
Aside from Arch Enemy you also are in Carcass and Spiritual Beggars. What is the status with both of those bands at the moment?
With Spiritual Beggars we made a new album last year, the first album we had made in five years. It is more or less a side project thing now because all the other guys are involved in bands and have careers in music with their other projects. I had a bunch of songs I had collected over the years, so I decided we should make a new album, which was what we did. We went to Japan and Greece and are actually going to be doing four shows this summer. Touring Khaos Legions with Arch Enemy is going to be taking three years of my life, it is going to be very full on so there is no time to undertake other projects. And I am not planning to do anything with Carcass in that period either.
Since we touched on the topic of instrumentals earlier, ever had the desire to some day record a solo instrumental album?
You will never see a solo album from me. I just don’t like instrumental records. I am not a big fan and never have been. My favorite guitar players are those in real bands with singers. Players like K. K Downing and Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray of Iron Maiden. They may not be the best players in the world, you know, like they’re not the Vais or Satrianis of the world, but I really can’t listen to that stuff. It bores me to tears really.
Arch Enemy has been labeled as a melodic death metal, does that tag bother you?
I don’t really care what people call us as it is not interesting to me. It’s like I don’t care whether people pronounce my name right, as long as they are saying it. I know what our music is, to me it is extreme metal, but we’re kind of a hybrid band as we fuse a lot of different styles of metal and hard rock into a unique style. Nobody really sounds like us. I haven’t really heard many Arch Enemy copycat bands. Our influences comprise such a wide spectrum of places that I don’t think people can get their heads around it. And we don’t have a recipe for our sound. We don’t have any formula. We approach every song as a unique entity which is one of our strengths. I don’t consider us death metal. I know Angels’ vocals are very hard and extreme but they’re also very intelligible; you can actually hear what she is singing which is kind of rare. And death metal to me is not really famous for its great guitar solos. It is more famed for its insane and brutal riffing. Our whole approach such as the harmonies and the guitar solos come from a different musical world.
"Instrumental outings is a way to build in some dynamics in our music, where we can really show a more romantic, delicate side of our musicianship."
No, I am not into extreme metal anymore these days. I was when I grew up and was cutting my teeth in the late ‘80s. In that whole death metal scene where I was an up and comer back then, it was where people were first starting to take notice of me in Scandinavia through a band I had called Carnage which was a death metal band. But I don’t really like where extreme metal has gone now, it is not something I am a fan of. Before I was doing my own thing I grew up on thrash and loved it and still do. Bands like Slayer and the first few Megadeth albums were so progressive and really interesting to me.
So what do you tend to listen to when at home?
When at home, I listen to music that is quite the opposite of what I play myself. I like stuff with beautiful melodies like old Mike Oldfield or Kate Bush. I love UFO as they are one of my favorite bands, and I like a lot of 70s stuff like Mahogany Rush with Frank Marino.
How does touring with a female in a band compare touring with an all male band?
Angela has been in the band for so long now we don’t really think of things in those gender terms anymore. Angela is very involved in many aspects of the band too as she manages the band as well since a few years. So she brings a lot to the table.
Finally what’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you while on tour?
That is a difficult question as I have been doing it for a long time now, so probably a lot of crazy things have happened. Somebody who has joined us on the road and has never been on tour before will see what our life is like on the road. They will probably see a lot of things that I am probably blind to nowadays because it has become my everyday way of life. Going back to your question, people worship us and we go all over the world, have people screaming out our names and calling us Gods, now that is kind of bizarre I guess. And people show their appreciation in strange ways. You can get anything from pieces of human bones to people throwing a rat onstage!
Interview by Joe Matera
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2011
