Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine review
| Band: | Arch Enemy |
| Album: | Doomsday Machine |
| Style: | Gothenburg metal |
| Release date: | July 26, 2005 |
| Guest review by: | VPeter |
Disc I
01. Enter The Machine
02. Taking Back My Soul
03. Nemesis
04. My Apocalypse
05. Carry The Cross
06. I Am Legend/Out For Blood
07. Skeleton Dance
08. Hybrids Of Steel
09. Mechanic God Creation
10. Machtkampf
11. Slaves Of Yesterday
12. Heart Of Darkness [Live in Paris 2004] [Japanese bonus]
13. Bridge Of Destiny [Live in Paris 2004] [Japanese bonus]
Disc II [German limited edition bonus DVD - Live Apocalypse preview]
01. Intro
02. Dead Eyes See No Future [Live in London 2004]
03. Ravenous [Live in London 2004]
+ Nemesis [video clip]
There seems to be a lot of praise for Doomsday Machine, people think this was the comeback album of Arch Enemy after the lacking Anthems Of Rebellion. I didn't listen to Arch Enemy that often until I found the slipcase version of Doomsday Machine for a low price so I decided to pick it up and see what all the praise is about.
I love the futuristic look of the cover and the album booklet, it really gives a post apocalyptic aura and it shows great care - another good reason to buy instead of downloading. The intro really emits the post apocalyptic aura even more; it really sounds like a doom machine is about to be unleashed. And the machine unleashes it's rage on "Taking Back My Soul". The sound is crystal clear and Angela's screams are really crushing and it grabs you directly by the throat and the aggressive melodic riffs set the score just right. "Nemesis" is really a song for live performances especially with the lyric "One for all - all for one we are strong - we are one Nemesis". Now my favourite track of the album "My Apocalypse" has the perfect balance of brutality and melody and I love the added "sonar echo" effect. It gives a vision of a submarine about to strike.
"Carry A Cross" shows a change; it is a nice slower and softer song to fit the mood of the "burden we carry". Unfortunately it is also a bit dull and I really think it would have been better if Angela had've sung clean vocals here. The dullness doesn't end their sadly because "I Am Legend / Out For Blood" starts with an overly boring intro and the anger later in the song doesn't make up for it. It gets even worse all other songs are even more sleep inducing, "Hybrids Of Steel" is now my cure for insomnia since it is the boring "I Am Legend / Out For Blood" intro but only without the anger making up for it. Only "Machtkampf" seems to break the monotony, only to fail again in the later half of the song. It's in the other half that the Doomsday Machine gets a new nickname from me: Doomsday Recycle Machine, since all of those songs recycle riffs a lot. Sorry guys but this album isn't that heavenly as you claim it is. It probably would have been if the rest of the album were just as ace as the first five songs. Instead what we have is an album that is half good but other half containing boring and monotonous songs without character.
The bonus DVD is what it is - some clips of their live DVD and it is a pretty good performance.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 6 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by VPeter | 06.07.2008
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Guest review by
Horlequism
Horlequism
Rating:
9.4
9.4
|
Rating: 9.4 |
Doomsday Machine marks Arch Enemy's third installment in their new millennium Angela Gossow period. This album certainly has the slickest production of all three Gossow albums. Gossow herself has been produced in order to sound harsher vocally, sometimes bordering on black metal screeching on some songs. Fans of previous Gossow albums will enjoy Doomsday Machine but will be sad as this is the last Arch Enemy album with Christopher Amott on it. Amott left the band in the summer of 2005 in order to continue his studies. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.0
9.0
|
Rating: 9.0 |
The 2005 release "Doomsday Machine" by Arch Enemy is yet another example of the band's ability to create brilliant melodic death metal, in their own unique way. Stepping further away from their older, original sound, Arch Enemy has created a new album consisting of songs that vary in speed and overall sound. "Doomsday Machine" is a highly entertaining mix of songs ranging from a slow, haunting intro to blistering, bone chilling riffs. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 9
Visited by: 102 users
| VPeter Posts: 1450  |
sorry that it is so long, I was first afraid that it was going to be to short  I am normaly not used to writing reviews about albums, since I normaly do videogames. advise would be greatly appreciated, next review is going to be shorter and less static.
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| Passenger Lost To Apathy Posts: 1464  |
It's a good review, you just got the rating wrong
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718  |
Written by Passenger on 06.07.2008 at 19:38 I disagree, good review, rating spot-on.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Abattoir Staff Posts: 3695  |
For me it's not that bad album...I quite like it. My rating would be 7.5
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| thesabbathfan Posts: 410  |
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
That's funny that reviewer only likes the first half of the album. I really only like 'Machtkampf' and 'Skeleton Dance' which is part of the second half. 5 from me, very boring album overall.
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437  |
I am not a fan of Arch Enemy but songs 2,3,5,6 are magnificent. They take the album in high standards. Surely the other are boring and stupid but Nemesis is awesome...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| CavaleraBros Posts: 2 |
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Written by CavaleraBros on 15.01.2009 at 19:40 The 6.1 rate is not that low. And to me this is by far the worst Arch Enemy album of all time. All I search when I listen to Arch Enemy is that catchy heavy songs with the amazing solos... the speed of this album is not fast enough to me, only ''I Am legend'' and ''Machtkampf'' break the monothony. The rate looks pretty fair to me too. It's not a bad album, it just lacks the power of the others.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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