ARCH ENEMY: Tyrants of the Rising Sun - Live in Japan

Directed by Paul B. Smith

Released: November 2008

I really like Arch Enemy. For mine they're one of the best metal bands to have emerged in the last fifteen years. Obviously their success has brought them their fair share of knockers, who like to point out that they can be inconsistent, a little repetitive on occasion and have made a least one rather patchy album, but the same thing can be said for Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and almost anyone else. Angela Gossow usually cops the lion's share of hate for this group, but really most of that is from people who -- despite what they might tell you -- prefer their metal chicks as keyboard players or sopranos in Goth bands. Arch Enemy is a kick ass band, and Tyrants of the Rising Sun shows them doing what they do best: tearing a bunch of Japanese people some new arseholes as they rip through almost two hours of fearsome metal.

Filmed in High Definition with audio in both digital 5.1 and 2.0 and mixed by the inimitable Andy Sneap, this is a veritable feast of modern metal mayhem from start to finish. Featuring songs from their entire career and from every album (except Stigmata), one could hardly ask for a better set. Japan is like a second home for this band and perhaps because of this they pull out all stops, with a virtually flawless show. Gossow sounds awesome and the Amott brothers guitar team is simply breathtaking. Both Christopher and Michael get solo spots, but Daniel Erlandsson's drum solo is actually one of the clear highlights, though perhaps that could be because he ends with a segue into the beginning of Rainbow's "Stargazer" before the band then takes a right turn into "Burning Angel" to kick off the second half of the set.

Japanese crowds can be notoriously polite and low-key, but for Arch Enemy they go totally insane: circle moshes, barrier-surging and singing along with not only the lyrics but the melody lines. Seriously, in "Nemesis" the crowd is almost louder than the band. This helps to make Tyrants of the Rising Sun one of the very best live performance DVDs I've watched in a long, long time. This has excellent sound and perfectly directed visuals, with quite an interesting tour doco as an added bonus and a couple of promo clips (including two versions of "Revolution Begins" which doesn't actually feature in the set), making an all-round killer package no metal fan should be without.

1. Intro/Blood On Your Hands
2. Ravenous
3. Taking Back My Soul
4. Dead Eyes See No Future
5. Dark Insanity
6. The Day You Died
7. Christopher Solo
8. Silverwing
9. Night Falls Fast
10. Daniel Solo
11. Burning Angel
12. Michael Solo (including Intermezzo Liberte)
13. Dead Bury Their Dead
14. Vultures
15. Enemy Within
16. Snowbound
17. Shadows and Dust
18. Nemesis
19. We Will Rise
20. Fields of Desolation/Outro

Extras:

1. The Road to Japan
2. Revolution Begins (original)
3. Revolution Begins (live version)
4. I Will Live Again (promo)

Rating: 95%