Arch Enemy
Khaos Legions
Release Date: Jun 7, 2011
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Heavy Metal
Record label: Century Media
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy Khaos Legions from Amazon
Album Review: Khaos Legions by Arch Enemy
Fairly Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
It's business as usual for these female-fronted melodi-thrash Swedes... Business as usual for Arch Enemy, ever the bastions of melodic thrash-tainted heaviness. Eighth full-length ‘Khaos Legions’, four years removed from the band’s previous studio effort, provides all of Amott and co’s traditional metallic builds, swelling emotive leads and sweeping harmonised movements.
Based on rating 7/10
Aside from Amon Amarth, no metal band has gotten away with recycling its sound so well for so long as Arch Enemy. For 15 years the German/Swedish band has been churning out the exact same hybrid of melodic death, thrash, and power metal, and it’s gotten to the point where you can pinpoint striking similarities between new songs and old songs. But like Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy has an uncanny knack for making repeated ideas sound fresh, and as a result the band has been able to not only maintain its popularity but sell more albums with each new release.
Based on rating 7/10
The eighth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal powerhouse Arch Enemy (assuming one doesn't count the re-recordings compilation The Root of All Evil) is superficially as strong as anything else in the band's impressive catalog. Since the day frontwoman Angela Gossow joined, Arch Enemy has been one of the most consistent bands in metal, cranking out 11 or 12 fist-pumping, anthemic tracks every couple of years. This album features 11 songs, a silly intro with narration like something from a movie trailer or a video game, and two brief instrumental interludes, one of which treads perilously close to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," but is just different enough to keep the lawyers at bay.
Based on rating 2.0/5
Review Summary: It's a lack of creativity that makes Khaos Legions such a difficult album to listen to.Everything you need to know about Khaos Legions is nicely summed up in the first three songs debuted by Arch Enemy over the last couple months. "Yesterday Is Dead and Gone" emphasizes individuality and freedom. "Bloodstained Cross" is a song about how god isn't real.
'Khaos Legions'
is available now