Deceivers

Deceivers is a record on which ARCH ENEMY honed its signature melodic-death-metal design with very high precision. Alissa White-Gluz’s fierce growl, the flowing yet aggressive twin guitars carrying on the Amott lineage, and a dynamic rhythm section push out weight and lyricism at once. Clean vocals are also introduced effectively, the hooks are extremely strong song by song, and for all its extreme musicality it holds an open sense of elation. On “Handshake With Hell,” “Deceiver, Deceiver,” “House Of Mirrors” and “Sunset Over The Empire,” fierce aggression and widely opening melody join tightly, generating strong drive across the album. Songs like “In The Eye Of The Storm” and “Exiled From Earth” carry a dramatic constructive beauty. Keeping the aggression and melody of old while adding modern refinement, it vividly shows the maturity reached by Alissa-era ARCH ENEMY — an accomplished record.