Band:	Arch Enemy
Album:	Tyrants Of The Rising Sun: Live In Japan
Style:	Gothenburg metal
Release date:	November 07, 2008
Guest review by:	Doc G.

Disc I
01. Intro / Blood On Your Hands
02. Ravenous
03. Taking Back My Soul
04. Dead Eyes See No Future
05. Dark Insanity
06. The Day You Died
07. Christopher Solo
08. Silverwing
09. Night Falls Fast
10. Daniel Solo

Disc II
01. Burning Angel
02. Michael Amott Solo (incl. "Intermezzo Liberté")
03. Dead Bury Their Dead
04. Vultures
05. Enemy Within
06. Snowbound
07. Shadows And Dust
08. Nemesis
09. We Will Rise
10. Fields Of Desolation / Outro

Admittedly, until Rise Of The Tyrant came out, nothing Arch Enemy had to offer studio-wise had impressed me all that much. That being said, after seeing them live twice and being thoroughly blown away by the ferocity of those performances the thought of a nice double-disc live album was extremely attractive.

When listening to the previously mentioned album, Rise Of The Tyrant, you can tell some of these songs were written purely for a live setting. Kicking off with the brand-new "Blood On Your Hands" was a perfect choice, the song seems to be built for the sake of creating a perfect intro. The thing that's great about the album is the fact that it is recorded in Japan. Now location may seem irrelevant when it comes to a live album, but one thing I have noticed that is different from European or North American recorded live albums is that the crowd noise seems less frantic, and more controlled. The crowd comes through a lot clearer and almost more disciplined than that of North American or European crowds - everyone chanting along in perfect unison as if the crowd studied the set list before hand. The audience really adds to this album instead of interfering in the music with garbled cheering as I've heard on so many other live albums - this could also be attributed to the flawless mixing though. As with many live albums being released these days, it's a double disc, meaning we get all the added in interludes, intros, extended solos, and stage banter - which is a necessity if you want to get as close to the concert experience as possible.

The downfall about this album is quite ironic - it's too perfect. When you see a band live it's always nice to see them change certain songs up a little bit, and show a few flaws here and there. If it weren't for the audience participation, stage banter, and member solos, Tyrants Of The Rising Sun would sound merely like some compilation of studio recorded songs. They played the songs from the studio albums flawlessly, note-for-note.

Overall Tyrants Of The Rising Sun is a fantastic live album, probably better than most of their studio efforts, but unfortunately the pristine performance really detracts from any real live experience simulation. Next time I would like to see some scars and warts.