Black Earth

 

Black Earth was released in 1996

Track Listing:

01. Bury Me an Angel

02. Dark Insanity

03. Eureka

04. Idolatress

05. Cosmic Retribution

06. Demonality

07. Transmigration Macabre

08. Time Capsule

09. Fields of Desolation

10. Losing Faith

11. The Ides of March

12. Aces High

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Arch Enemy's debut is a great album.  I started listening to Arch Enemy in the Gossow era, but checked out the earlier work and was impressed.  I bought the CD used from The Exclusive Company and the more recently got the vinyl re-release (both because I love and because I was worried about Blood Dynasty being at then end of my shelf since I got the "blood filled" version.

Bury me an Angel - Great song, great start to the album.  The Amott bothers guitar work his is the best part.  Liiva's vocals in the chorus are strong but the verses are a little weak. 

Dark Insanity - Another great riff-fest.  I love the post verse riff.  So good.  Liiva's vocals are very one dimensional, not much variety

Eureka - Almost has a At The Gates feel with Liiva's vocal delivery here.  This is a strange one where I feel like the vocal are actually the highlight of this song.  The guitars are a little less interesting in this one.  The solo section is real cool though.

Idolatress - Again another riff fest.  Amott has riffs for days.  I guess the theme of this album is weak vocals.  The effect in chorus feels dated and detracts from the song. 

Cosmic Retribution - Man that chorus is excellent.  The change of pace from the brutal downtuned riffing in the verse makes it really stand out.  And then an acoustic break in the middle of the solo is a cool addition.  Really shows their range, I forgot they got this progressive right out of the gate.  Probably their best solo so far on the album.

Demonality - First instrumental song from the band, they typically have per album.  This one is okay, a slow chuggy riff with some weird vocal effects on top

Transmigration Macabre - I get a real thrash feel from this one.  Almost feels like a heavier Slayer song.  Similar in structure to Cosmic Retribution, brutal verse, change of pace chorus.  The solo here is also excellent.  They definitely got more intricate as the album goes on.  Oh and then the double bass kick drums to ride it out.  Awesome ending

Time Capsule - Acoustic guitar and an emotional guitar solo.  Much better instrumental than Demonality

Fields of Desolation - Excellent closer.  Definitely feels like they're coming into their own here.  Some of the best riffs on the album, Liiva has doubled his vocals here and it adds some much needed depths.  A slower number but just has everything you'd want from an early AE song

BONUS SONGS - I have the deluxe edition with 3 bonus songs.  Here's the extras

Losing Faith - Actually feels like the guitars are a little weak here, but this is easily Liiva's strongest vocal effort one the album.  If he sounded this good the whole thing it'd bump it up a half a star

The Ides of March - Iron Maiden cover.  AE loves doing covers (with varying degrees of success) but this one is pretty good.  Nice showcase of Amott's guitar ability

Aces High - Another Iron Maiden cover.  Powerslave is one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums and the opener is a classic.  They nail the instrumentation here, but obviously Liiva isn't Bruce Dickenson.  His take is cool but no match to the original.

Overall Black Earth is a great debut album.  The guitar is incredible but the vocals are mediocre.  Some songs, like Fields of Desolation really show Liiva's potential but he's definitely the weak link on this album.

My biggest complaint is that despite being called "Black Earth" the song of the same name isn't on this one, its on Stigmata.  Black Earth (the song) is probably my favorite of the Liiva era so Im always sad when I grab this album planning on listening to the title track only to remember that's not on here.

With 6 green songs and no red, this one is a must listen

4/5