Burning Bridges 1999

"Arch enemy is pretty much associated with their present vocalist, Angela Gossow, whose death vocals are rather spectacular. But there was a time before her with Johan Liiva on vocals. Now, the question is, were they as good back then? The answer is "yes", and whether you like the older albums really depends on whether you can live with Liiva's vocals or not.

I can. Thankfully.

"Burning Bridges" is a great piece of ecclectic modern metal, combining elements from death metal with elements from traditional 80s metal and NWOBHM, and it works really well. This genre is the future of metal. The opening track "The immortal" is slightly reminiscent of Slayer before it turns more melodic. "Dead Inside" is quite melodic and contains a couple of nods towards both "Rust in Peace" by Megadeth and Iron Maiden style melodic metal as does "Pilgrim", while "Silverwing" has certain power metal sensibilities to it, as does the Dio-esque "Seed of Hate". The only weak track on the album is the doomy "Burning Bridges", which doesn't quite do it for me.

I think this album will appeal to fans of Ammott-era Carcass, At The Gates, Killswitch Engage, In Flames, Shadows Fall and Ax7, and it should also sit well with both death metal fans and fans of traditional metal... if they can live with the yelled, semi-growled vocals.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"