Reviewed by:
unregistered, on january 15, 2009
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Sound: Tyrants of the Rising Sun is the newest release from the Melodic Death Metal Band, Arch Enemy. It is a live concert of their performance in Japan recorded earlier this year in March. Their are two different versions of Tyrants of the Rising Sun; a two disc album containing audio from the concert or a DVD with the actual footage of their performance that night. I was very excited when with this latest release from the band, being that Arch Enemy is one of my favorite bands. I had difficulty finding the DVD version so I purchased the CD copy. Upon my purchase of Tyrants of the Rising Sun, I found that the overall sound of this live album was great but did fall a little under expectations. It is aggressive and the playing from the artist are suprisingly key to the original recordings but does sound sloppy at some points, especially on a lot of the solos. The guitars sound great along with the drums, but the vocals are somewhat messy, and not because it was just a live album. Once again the bass is almost invisible as in most of Arch Enemies works which was a dissapointment because that this being a live album, you would be albe to hear the band at a more raw sound.
What I did enjoy from this live recording was the trach list that the band played. Their is a good selection from the promoted album and latest studio piece, Rise of the Tyrant. It was a great suprise to actually hear the song Vultures on the setlist.
There is some older Arch Enemy matarial such as Silverwing and Dark Insanity and of course the juggernaut hits from the Doomsday Album, Wages of Sin, and Athems of Rebellion. One thing that I found truly great about the album were the solo performances by the band members. Both guitarist Chris and brother Micheal have their on guitar solo peices which sound outstanding and show their excellent and unique individual playing styles which is an added extra compared to the Live Apocolypse concert, but just as with the Live Apocolypse concert, there is another pumelling and heart pounding drum solo provided by the very talented Daniel Erlandsson. These solos are their very own tracks on the album and are a great addition. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Angela's vocals are very strong on the album and sound accordingly with the rest of the show, but as stated previoulsly are somewhat messing due to poor production. She delievers a rather close rendition to the track "Nemesis", making it an outstanding performance and one of the best sounding on the album. // 6
Impression: Overall the sound of the album is outstanding and rather enjoyable and is another great addition to Arch Enemy's work. I would recommend this album to any Arch Enemy fan, but more over if you were a fan of the Rise of the Tyrant album. The sound could have been better for a live album but is not bad. There is a lot of energy from the fans that can be heard on the album as they sing along to the songs and their melodies which add a nice element to the entire piece. The best tracks would certainly be the opening, Blood is on your hands, as well as Dead Eyes See No Future, Night Falls Fast, and of course Vultures. It is a must for the avid Arch Enemy fan. // 8
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