Arch Enemy

Give or take the odd year, death dealers Arch Enemy have been on one hell of a high over the past decade. While they haven't exactly been loose with doling out albums, 2004's Dead Eyes See No Future was the last effort to really be nailed to the genre's cross. Since then, they've been reigning supreme. Sadly, that rule is about to be usurped by the mid-level appeal of eighth work Khaos Legions. Lost in their scene, the band struggle to infuse new elements into their formula, resulting in an album that's passable but far from adrenaline pumping. Packed with breakdowns, melodic interludes and wanky solos that are out of place, Khaos Legions could prove to be the proverbial banana peel on which Arch Enemy's career slips. Sure, those aural aspects are great ideas, but that's generally when other bands use them, not this one. To carve dangerously close to their territory, that would be like Carcass infusing synth solos into their unbridled grind. Moreover, with 14 songs and almost an hour running time, this is easily one of the band's most bloated affairs, resulting in a few moments of pure aggression fuelled by killer riffs and vocalist Angela Gossow's shredding attack, unhampered by their noodling, mood shifts and general oddities. Neither definitive nor horrible, Khaos Legions is the mid-level pick when all better options have been exhausted.