Swedish Metal Rules

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Warning: This footage contains some sustained stroboscopic effects. If you suffer adverse reactions to this kind of lighting, please do not view.

And with the DVD's feeble attempt at bracing you for what what’s coming, Disc 1 of Arch Enemy’s new DVD – Live Apocalypse – kicks in to gear. Checking out The Forum in London first, which was recorded Dec. 17, 2004 during the Swedish Apocalypse tour, the show starts off with the juggernaut “Enemy Within” (after the intro of “Tear Down the Walls”). This sets the pace for the rest of the DVD, with guitarist brothers Chris and Michael Ammot leading the way. Demonically searing through the PA comes vocalist Angela Gossow. She is hands down the best vocalist in the genre. Its instantly recognizable that she takes her craft seriously and works to strengthen and preserve it. Arch Enemy’s performance blisters because of it.

Running full steam the band charges ahead with “Silent Wars”, “Burning Eyes” and “Dead Eyes See No Future”. Its apparent at this point of the show – actually, pretty much right from the start – how well bassist Sharlee D’Angelo and drummer Daniel Erlandsson keep things running along. The drums are just sick with force on every beat. The band is extremely tight and flawless through the entire performance. The crowd is absolutely eating up every fuel filled second, and shows no sign of slowing down. Several huge pits erupt on the floor as body after body is hoisted above the crowd’s heads. There were even pits raging during the drum solo! The gothic sounding music that was played behind the drum solo added an unexpected creepy vibe. But it worked. Nice to see that there are drummers out there who don’t take the solo for granted, and really try some creative shit (besides the drumming of course, that was phenomenal in and of itself).

After getting through that performance round two starts at the Academy 2 in Manchester which was filmed on Dec. 13, 2005 during the Doomsday tour. Much shorter than the previous show, this event only has 3 songs – “Nemesis”, “My Apocalypse” and “Skeleton Dance” – that were recorded for the DVD. By this time, Chris Amott was no longer in the band and was replaced by Fredrik Akesson. The band just explodes when they hit the stage. Extremely high energy performance.

Disc 2 of this package starts off with four videos – “Ravenous”, “We Will Rise”, “Nemesis” and “My Apocalypse”. There isn’t a whole lot to say about videos – they are what they are. More than likely you may have seen these on Headbanger’s Ball. Great little staples of time.

Heading over to the Tour Tour Tour section of the Special Features, it starts off with the typically lame guy-has-a-video-camera-on-the-bus-everyone-now-say-FUCK scenes. Then thankfully the disc starts slipping in to snippets of previous tours. This part is cool. It ranges from Japan in 2002, the Anthems tour in Norway from 2003 when they opened for Iron Maiden, bits and pieces of being in the recording studio and appearances, a Korean TV appearance from 2003, Japan 2004, Gothenburg Sweden, Australia and Canada 2005 during the Doomsday tour. There is also a section from the UK tour as well.

Following these segments is Gear Talk, My Apocalypse interviews and a slide show of photos.

Overall this DVD is the best metal DVD since Overkill’s “Wrecking Everything Live”. There is no way you could be disappointed.

DON’T FORGET TO CATCH ARCH ENEMY ON TOUR NOW ON GIGANTOUR!