Review of Arch Enemy - Live Apocalypse (2 DVDs)

Arch Enemy is a group that is enjoying about as much success as any metal band can endure while still being considered “underground”, and bearing in mind that they’ll be teaming up with several other great acts on Gigantour 2006 in the coming weeks, they couldn’t have picked a better time to release their first DVD. In a day in age when it seems like several metal bands are monopolizing on the opportunity to release a DVD, there are very few in my opinion that are unleashing a product upon the metal masses that is comparable to the quality that is Live Apocalypse. With a sound that is as good as it gets and several cameras capturing this metal onslaught from a multitude of different angles, this is absolutely one of the finest metal DVD’s I’ve gotten my grubby little paws on. Join me for a look into what you can expect from this package.

The Production: The great Andy Sneap mixed the main show on this two disc set and in all actuality not much more needs to be said after that. Those of us familiar with his work know that in recent years he has been at the helm of some of the most powerful and thunderous sounding releases in metal…period. However, there are a couple of different angles from which we can look at that. While I sat through the main attraction on this feature I totally felt as if 90 percent of what I was hearing sounded exactly like the albums these songs were taken from. Aside from the slight differences in the vocals and some of the lead work I would swear these takes are from the albums because they sound that damn good. The sound on this DVD, which is available in Dolby Stereo, Dolby 5.1 Surround and DTS 5.1 Surround, is absolutely flawless as is almost a given when you’re talking about Mr. Sneap’s work. Now the flip side to that is that it almost doesn’t sound like it’s live because it does sound that damn good, and many fans who enjoy hearing the live sound and all of the little flaws that come along with that raw quality might be disappointed. I reside with the former group of fans that wouldn’t want this DVD to sound any other way. I rate the prod on this up there with some of the best DVD’s in my collection including Lamb of God’s Killadelphia, which also has flawless sound; Dream Theater’s Metropolis 2000, again top notch sound; and Opeth’s Lamentations, which again sounds amazing in comparison to some of the crappier sounding packages that have been released over the past few years.

The Performance: As far as the band’s stage show goes it is also damn near perfect with the band showing that they are one of the best live metal bands out there. As one would expect from a band that has toured basically six months out of each year since its birth just over ten years ago, Arch Enemy and its members are unquestionably at the top of their game. Angela sounds great and works the crowd over by keeping them heavily involved throughout the entire set; the brothers Amott are (were) one of the best dual guitar combinations in metal and that shows during the entire set (Christopher was still in the band at the time of the filming of the main feature); Sharlee D’Angelo is clearly hyped for this night and enjoying every second of it; Daniel Erlandsson is like a fucking machine and is far and away one of the tightest and more creative drummers in today’s underground scene. Although most of the songs are from Wages of Sin and Anthems of Rebellion, the band does toss in a few pre-Angela songs that will always go over well with the Arch Enemy faithful (see set list below). All in all they knew they we’re filming, they acted like they were filming and they performed like they were filming.

The Extras: Firstly it should be noted that Disc One also has footage from late 2005 with the current lineup playing three songs off of Doomsday Machine. Disc Two contains some cool features including a mini-movie, interviews/behind the scenes footage shot during the "My Apocalypse" video shoot and a section called Gear Talk, which has Daniel dissecting his entire kit for us and Michael doing a bit of the same showing off his complete rig. There are also some videos, a slideshow and another little tour movie.

The bottom line is any and all metal bands looking to release a DVD should take note of Live Apocalypse as well as the DVD’s I mentioned above. This is a great package put together with the help of Century Media and it has definitely helped pique my interest in this band again. Kudos to Arch Enemy for releasing one of the better metal DVD’s I’ve had the privilege of getting my hands on.

Main Feature Setlist: Tear Down The Walls/Intro ~ Enemy Within ~ Silent Wars ~ Burning Angel ~ Dead Eyes See No Future ~ Dead Bury Their Dead ~ Bury Me An Angel ~ Drum Solo ~ Instinct ~ Savage Messiah ~ The First Deadly Sin ~ The Immortal ~ Bridge of Destiny ~ We Will Rise ~ Heart of Darkness ~ Snow Bound ~ Ravenous ~ Fields of Desolation/Outro

Release Details

Arch Enemy

Live Apocalypse (2 DVDs)

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