ARCH ENEMY’s new studio album The Root Of All Evil contains a selection of completely re-recorded tracks from the band’s first three albums Black Earth (1996), Stigmata (1998) and Burning Bridges (1999) reenergised and unified by the band’s ultimate line-up!
Originally recorded with ever changing band members (i.e. former vocalist Johan Liiva, drummer Peter Wildoer, bass player Martin Bengtsson), The Root Of All Evil presents classic tracks as “Beast Of Man”, “The Immortal”, “Transmigration Macabre” or “Bridge Of Destiny” with the insane vocals of Angela Gossow, several completely new bass lines by Sharlee D’Angelo, the always present guitar wizardry of the Amott brothers as well as Daniel Erlandsson’s merciless punch. The entire project was approached with the idea of having the possibility to re-add these songs to the bands live set and follow up the release with some special touring activity.
The album was recorded at a few different locations in Sweden and produced by ARCH ENEMY with Daniel Erlandsson and Rickard Bengtsson handling the engineering. Finally, this special release was mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap, In the light of ARCH ENEMY finding their defining line-up and a bigger worldwide recognition with 2002’s Wages Of Sin album, it has been a logical decision to update the earlier compositions and present them in the splendour of a 2009 shape. Guitarist Michael Amott adds: “I’m loving hearing these songs with a fresh new sound and performance, everyone in the band did a killer job on it! The production and mix is crushing and heavy as hell - it really makes these old songs shine “ it sounds like a brand new thing!”
The band chose to have the The Root Of All Evil artwork/layout created by Brazilian artist Gustavo Sazes.
Despite their extreme sound ARCH ENEMY is one of the most high profile metal acts worldwide. Since the release of Wages Of Sin in 2002, the group has reached international success through relentless hard work and dedication. The band has played every festival worth mentioning (Wacken, Summer Breeze, Ozzfest, Download, Graspop, Loudpark…), toured with such high-profile acts as Machine Head, Slayer, Megadeth, Cradle Of Filth and Iron Maiden, besides doing their own headlining tours around the world e.g. 2008’s Tyranny & Bloodshred tour in the US & December Tyranny in Europe as well as dates in Asia, Latin America and Australia later this year.
After the success of their last studio album Rise Of The Tyrant (2007), which charted all around the globe (incl. Australia, US & Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK), and last year’s fabulous Live DVD/CD “Tyrants Of The Rising Sun – Live In Japan”, ARCH ENEMY now return with a truly extraordinary studio release dedicated to their worldwide fan base: The Root Of All Evil - a brutal lesson in Pure Fucking Metal!