Written by Troy Killjoy on 29.09.2011 at 01:37

Written by InnerSelf on 28.09.2011 at 22:37
Can't get through one spin XD and I was a fan

I think I managed like 3/4 of the album or so. Definitely gave up, and like you, I consider myself a fan of the band (or at least someone who likes their early releases).

My friend keep saying that this is a return to the Wages of Sin era but I still can't see that, and probably won't have time to give this any further effort. It sounds completely soulless

Although the band got more skillful and Angela's growls are still amazing this album as it was wrote here above lack soul of previous releases.i gave up on this after second spin ...

Written by Nihillus on 02.06.2011 at 23:53
Beautiful songs full of energy... if this album was an atomic bomb, it would explode, destroying whole universe and leaving the most beautiful mushroom cloud ever seen...

Oh, and for all those haters: Kiss my glorious golden ass!!!

Hahahaha, this guy now rates it 6/10. Can't get a much better evaluation of the album than that.
I have stuck with my 4 for nine months. Utterly redundant, except to the pockets of bandmembers and labelmen

Good guitar playing in the album!

Believe it or not, though this album has been out for a year, I've only just listened to it just now. But wow....This is easily their best since "Wages Of Sin" hell, it's even better! I never thought they'd surpass that release, but they did! I think this is their best work yet! I really don't like Arch Enemy before Angela joined, I thought they were god-awful!
The themes.....wow, Being an Anarchist myself (just like Angela), the content truly speaks to me, it embodies anarchist philosophy in a broader yet more in-your-face than say a Punk band. It's intense! and the music is to die for. Well done Arch Enemy! I really fucking love this! I can actually listen to the entire thing straight through Why anyone would rate this iconic album so low is truly beyond me.

P.S. The Scorpions cover kicks my ass!

Written by [user id=35732] on 27.08.2012 at 00:38

Probably the greatest thing an anarchist can ever achieve is burning the storage where they keep copies of this album.

What does this album have to do with anarchy / why would it concern an anarchist?

Written by [user id=35732] on 27.08.2012 at 16:27

You can ask that from the guy who mentioned anarchism (or read some of the lyrics).

I mocked anarchism and this album (the musical side of it) with a humouristic piece of text.

I see his comment now. That's pretty amusing that anyone could derive that kind of emotion/reaction from something as lyrically vapid as this.

Still though, your joke didn't make a lot of sense

Khaos Legions explores the more aggressive side of Arch Enemy

Am I the only person who enjoyed this one? I know it's more of the same, but the guitar work is okay.. I don't think AE have ever released a masterpiece album, but this sounds like a decent enough sequel to the previous one (imo). They def need to up their game for the next album though.

Okay, I'm just noticing this, but to those of you who are trying to act nasty or act like assholes towards me, all I have to say is.....don't diss or criticise what you don't understand It's a principle I live by, and it wouldn't hurt others to do the fucking same.

seriously though, the content does embody anarchist themes/philosophy.....even before reading the lyrics, some of the song titles alone make that quite apparent.

Basically just another Arch enemy album. Don't get me wrong, it has moments of brilliance, but for me those moments are brief and it's only a matter of time before you wonder whether the band are copying their previous albums. That's not such a terrible thing, just a clear lack of originality. That said, Amott can still whip out some crushing riffs and blistering solos when he wants to, and Gossow hasn't exactly lost her notable vocal style.

I've just given this album another spin, I think the first since I initially heard it not long after it's release. My initial thoughts that it was a weak album overall haven't changed, however, I think the small amount of great songs on this album are amongst the best songs in AE's catalogue. I think I must have overlooked them on my first listen, cos I don't remember loving any of the songs when I first heard it!

Too many of the songs have melodies that seem recycled, and most of the slower moments don't work as well as they did on earlier albums. In fact, "Bloodstained Cross" is pulled back from being a great song to being merely okay, due to it slowing down in a way that doesn't fit the song, and using a very tired melody. "Cruelty Without Beauty" is the one song that has slower parts that really hit hard, and adds to the intensity of the song. This is one song I'd happily place in any personal compilation of my fave Arch Enemy songs. There's some savage riffs in this one, and the slower parts add to the haunting feel of the song. Even the mid-song melody lead doesn't sound rehashed, so it really stands as a great song as a whole. A couple of other songs like the bonecrushing "Vengeance Is Mine" also remind me of why I fell in love with this band in the first place. But overall, the truly biting and cutting moments are few and far between, and overall, the album feels like treading water, and is very "safe". The great side of the band is on show here, but only fleetingly... which is frustrating, because clearly the capacity is still there for another great album from these guys. Shame...

Written by Angelic Storm on 13.12.2013 at 14:57

I've just given this album another spin, I think the first since I initially heard it not long after it's release. My initial thoughts that it was a weak album overall haven't changed, however, I think the small amount of great songs on this album are amongst the best songs in AE's catalogue. I think I must have overlooked them on my first listen, cos I don't remember loving any of the songs when I first heard it!

Too many of the songs have melodies that seem recycled, and most of the slower moments don't work as well as they did on earlier albums. In fact, "Bloodstained Cross" is pulled back from being a great song to being merely okay, due to it slowing down in a way that doesn't fit the song, and using a very tired melody. "Cruelty Without Beauty" is the one song that has slower parts that really hit hard, and adds to the intensity of the song. This is one song I'd happily place in any personal compilation of my fave Arch Enemy songs. There's some savage riffs in this one, and the slower parts add to the haunting feel of the song. Even the mid-song melody lead doesn't sound rehashed, so it really stands as a great song as a whole. A couple of other songs like the bonecrushing "Vengeance Is Mine" also remind me of why I fell in love with this band in the first place. But overall, the truly biting and cutting moments are few and far between, and overall, the album feels like treading water, and is very "safe". The great side of the band is on show here, but only fleetingly... which is frustrating, because clearly the capacity is still there for another great album from these guys. Shame...

Well, why you don't start writing reviews? Seriously, your analysis' has always been spot on.

Anyway, I'm with you on this. New disc is severely awful. Tasteless. Boring. Amateur. Disappoting.

I, for one, was expecting a good record from them and thought they will shut off the critics. But, after KL they welcomed more critics on board and it now feels like their music has lost their shine. They weren't bad enough but now they making one of it very easily.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 13.12.2013 at 15:31
Well, why you don't start writing reviews? Seriously, your analysis' has always been spot on.

Anyway, I'm with you on this. New disc is severely awful. Tasteless. Boring. Amateur. Disappoting.

I, for one, was expecting a good record from them and thought they will shut off the critics. But, after KL they welcomed more critics on board and it now feels like their music has lost their shine. They weren't bad enough but now they making one of it very easily.

I don't have much confidence in my review writing abilities... I think I'm a bit too impassioned for my own good, which makes my reviews too direct I feel. Thanks for saying that though, I appreciate it.

If the whole album was awful, I'd actually be less critical of the band, because it's not that they are no longer capable of making amazing metal, it's just they choose not to do so these days, at least most of the time. And that's very frustrating for me as a fan. The rare moments on this album of actual aggression and intensity makes me rejoice as an AE fan, but ultimately they make me more frustrated than anything else, because I'm thinking "why can't you make the whole album like this?" And I'm left with the feeling that for the most part, the band aren't even trying, just recycling melodies, and making easy listening stuff for their younger fans who love them blindly whatever they do. It's a shame, because the talent is still there without a doubt, they are just wasting it. I can only hope their new guitarist lights a fire under the band and they come back with an album that isn't 70%-80% filler, which is what "Khaos Legions" is.

Written by Angelic Storm on 13.12.2013 at 11:58

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 13.12.2013 at 15:31
Well, why you don't start writing reviews? Seriously, your analysis' has always been spot on.

Anyway, I'm with you on this. New disc is severely awful. Tasteless. Boring. Amateur. Disappoting.

I, for one, was expecting a good record from them and thought they will shut off the critics. But, after KL they welcomed more critics on board and it now feels like their music has lost their shine. They weren't bad enough but now they making one of it very easily.

but ultimately they make me more frustrated than anything else, because I'm thinking "why can't you make the whole album like this?" And I'm left with the feeling that for the most part, the band aren't even trying, just recycling melodies, and making easy listening stuff for their younger fans who love them blindly whatever they do. It's a shame, because the talent is still there without a doubt, they are just wasting it. I can only hope their new guitarist lights a fire under the band and they come back with an album that isn't 70%-80% filler...

You just described the definition of 'Rise Of The Tyrant' although KE is worst.

I never enjoyed ROTT only on the flaws of mixture of "very good songs" to "average sounding fillers". i never had a problem with fillers too to be honest especially with Arch Enemy because they pull it off handsomely. KL do have a couple of good songs and is bit aggressive but then again totality crashed down good songs' feel and enjoyment. "Rise of the tyrant" was totally rip off of "Doomsday Machine" and they cleverly tried to rehash their guitar process but it was clearly visible with the amount of bad production happened in ROTT.

Well, my point is that even if guys have talent and not showcasing them still bloody drag them down to nowhere(even if they had an awesome history). We'll know "great" bands have collapsed to "average" bands and doesn't have anything to do except to defecate poor records and make cash.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 13.12.2013 at 20:48
You just described the definition of 'Rise Of The Tyrant' although KE is worst til yet.

I never enjoyed ROTT only on the flaws of mixture of "very good songs" to "average sounding fillers". i never had a problem with fillers too to be honest especially with Arch Enemy because they pull it off handsomely. KL do have a couple of good songs and is bit aggressive but then again totality crashed down good songs' feel and enjoyment. "Rise of the tyrant" was totally rip off of "Doomsday Machine" and they cleverly tried to rehash their guitar process but it was clearly visible with the amount of bad production happened in ROTT.

Well, my point is that even if guys have talent and not showcasing them still bloody drag them down to nowhere(even if they had an awesome history). We'll know "great" bands have collapsed to "average" bands and doesn't have anything to do except to defecate poor record and make cash.

Well... For me, the benchmark for Angela-fronted Arch Enemy is "Wages Of Sin", which is an amazing album overall, and certainly a match for the Johan Liiva fronted material, even if I prefer him as a vocalist. All of their albums since then have contained some killer material, but also some average/forgettable stuff as well. When I first heard this album, I felt hands down, it was the worst thing the band had recorded. And whilst I may still hold that opinion now, I don't feel it is that much worse than all the other post-Wages Arch Enemy albums, in hindsight. I think a good length of time away from listening to the band has given me a greater sense of clarity when viewing the album today, rather than when I initially listened to it.

I think where this album is weaker than anything else they've done, is the amount of killer songs on this album, is lower than on any of their other albums. And I think the "recycling" issue is a major bugbear when it comes to the songs I regard as the weaker ones. Had this album came out immediately after Wages, and "Anthems Of Rebellion" was their latest album, it could well be I'd view the latter album in a far less favourable light than I currently do. And I might not be so critical of the former album. In any case, the problem with the band these days is not that they can't write stellar material, but that they cannot sustain a high quality of material for an entire album. And this is an issue that has gotten progressively worse since Wages. "Cruelty Without Beauty" is definitely the true gem on the album, and would not be at all out of place were it on one of their best albums. It's just sad that this level of quality seems to be a rarity within the band these days, when it used to be so abundant in the first few years of the band's existence...

In my idea, this album is good, and guitar work is great. This was the first AE album I listened to. Some kind of revolution and rebel, Which I always looked for, YESTERDAY IS DEAD AND GONE. . .

They manage to fuck up a Discharge cover here, which is pretty hard to do when you think about it.

Everything about this is just so... Sub par. I even thought this when I first heard it ages ago when i was really into this sort of thing.

Written by deadone on 18.03.2014 at 05:07

Ages ago? It's only been out for a couple of years. Still has a new album smell in my opinion!

The album is 3 years old... That's like a 6th of my life.

I don't mind bands experimenting, some do that very well and bring something fresh while managing to keep their signature sound but this album ... bored me. I feel nothing specific for any song in particular. That's sad. It's not atrocious either but it's not spectacular.

Heavier riffs than before.This record oozes skill but unfortunately lacks creativity. No God No Master is a masterpiece, lost among bunch of soulless ideas.It seems they don't know what they want in this record and they just picked up the instruments and started to play.Arch enemy was trapped in a loop or repetition and couldn't step forward.

This one's quite awful, they somehow made it even worse than the previous one. At least the production is better. Every single track is ruined by an awful chorus. They all start promising and somehow all get messed up, apart from "through the eyes of a raven". The instrumental song is on point though, as usual, that's something they never mess up at least. Overall, this is some of the absolute most boring and meaningless music I've ever listened to, I really don't get why they play like 3 or 4 tracks from this one in their lives

Every time i listen to the "newer" AE Albums, it gets me always the feeling that thay have no more creativity.