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Swedish deathmachine - ARCH ENEMY - is ready to unleash their new masterpiece, "Wages Of Sin", upon the die-hard underground fans. It was recorded yet with a new vocalist, namely Angela Gossow from Germany. She was cool enough and answered all my questions in details. Thrash 'til death!!!!!!
Hello Angela! How do you feel as the new vocalist of ARCH ENEMY? Please introduce yourself to the readers (I mean age, hobby, interests, etc.) and shortly tell us how you became a full-time member of ARCH ENEMY.
- I am still very excited about being the new AE-vocalist... can hardly believe it myself. Guess it takes some time to grow into this role. Since 10 years I am an active musician in the metal-scene, besides this I used to work in online-advertisement and studied economies. I stopped this for a while to concentrate on ARCH ENEMY.
Michael and Chris asked me in November 2000 if I want to rehearse with them. They had a demo and a live video I had given to Michael in 1999 when I interviewed him myself for an e-zine. When they discussed the vocalist-situation (they weren't sure if Johan would fit the new material) Chris came up with my name. After rehearsing we went into the studio in December 2000. We recorded a few songs, then the final decision was made: I was the new vocalist of ARCH ENEMY.
Right away I should say I was pleasantly surprised when I listened first to these 4 new songs on the official ARCH ENEMY web site. Your vocals sound extremely killer there and perfectly fit to the overall ARCH ENEMY sound! Are you satisfied with the way they turned out? I hear a cross between CARCASS and HYPOCRISY there. Correct me if I am wrong. Also, please name us your influences.
- Thanx for the compliments! Jeff from CARCASS is one of my favorite vocalists, together with Tom Araya (SLAYER) and David Vincent (ex-MORBID ANGEL). Surely, they influence my vocals. We worked very hard on the vocal-lines in the studio; it is my best performance ever. But I am never satisfied, so next time I will try to top them, haha!
The production on the "Wages of Sin" album is excellent! Sound-wise it is more brutal and intense as "Burning Bridges"! Are you happy with how it sounds? Will you record at Fredman Studios for your next release?
- Andy Sneap is responsible for this incredible KILLER sound!!! We recorded the material at Fredman Studios and Andy mixed it in London. You need a really good production and an excellent mix to get a MEGA sound... This time everything worked out great!
Since I don't have the lyrics to "Wages of Sin", can you tell what some of the songs are about? I particularly like the opening "Enemy Within", "The First Deadly Sin" and the brutal yet melodic "Ravenous". Who is the main lyricist of the band? Where would you say the lyrical inspiration comes from?
- I wrote "Enemy Within". This song copes with depressions... they are like an endless downward spiral, the deeper you fall, the harder it is to get out. Michael and I wrote "The First Deadly Sin" together. This song follows the tradition of "Angelclaw" and "Diva Satanica"; evil women seduce and destroy men, hehe.... The "Adam and Eve"-story, so to speak. "Ravenous": idea and title are from Michael, I wrote the lyrics. An ancient ritual to overtake another person's strength and spirit is to suck out the blood and eat the brain. A great topic for a brutal song. The ARCH ENEMY lyrics are quite clear in their language, when you read them, you will understand the message. Michael writes a lot of lyrics, so do I. So we will share this job from now on. Life is our source of inspiration - weird, frightening and wonderful.
Please give us some info about your former bands. How long were you involved in the underground and how were you introduced to it?
- I discovered metal through a radio-show in the late 80's. Actually, I started with CARCASS, BOLTTHROWER, MORBID ANGEL, DEATH, TERRORIZER - I was a total death-maniac. In 1991 I joined my first dm-band ASMODINA as a vocalist. In 1998 I founded MISTRESS, also death-metal.
Where do you see Death Metal going in these days? Lots of people talking about its second coming, but in my opinion it was, it is, and it will be always up to date. What do you think about this?
- Death Metal is an established style since the late 80's. It never went down - just some over-hyped dm-bands vanished. As long as people need extreme music, it will exist. And why should this need - especially in these fucked up times - go down?
Has ARCH ENEMY played any gigs in support of "Wages of Sin" yet? If so, how was the response? How do people like the new stuff in general? Do you get much mail regarding ARCH ENEMY?
- "Wages Of Sin" will be released in Japan on April 25th - in Europe and USA even later. Then we will start touring, not before... Most people just heard the sound files on www.archenemy.net - we got very good response so far! In the first days after revealing my identity I got over 50 mails per day - good luck, it gets down now. I answered them all, so I had plenty much to do. 
I suppose you still live in Germany. How would you describe your life in Germany? Do you like living there or would you rather live somewhere else? Have you ever been to Ukraine? Do you know anything about the underground scene of Ukraine?
- I live in Sweden and Germany at the moment. Sweden is small, beautiful and very expensive. There I live around Gothenburg, were all the other AE-members stay. When I am in Sweden, we work a lot - rehearsing for example. In Germany, I have a flat in Cologne, a bigger, vivid and open-minded town. There you can get lost in lots of bars and clubs, shop 'til death and enjoy leisure-time. I have never been to Ukraine and I don't know anything about the metal-scene. For me, metal-fans are metal-fans. I don't care about their nationality anyway. And I don't care about the country I live in. I want to live in a place where I don't get bored, where I can be together with the people who are important for me.
Well, it's time to ask you about your favorite bands. Please name us some of them.
- KISS, CARCASS, JUDAS PRIEST, CANDLEMASS, SLAYER, TESTAMENT, THE HAUNTED, RAMMSTEIN, EUCHARIST, ("old") MORBID ANGEL, ("old") ENTOMBED, MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, FAITH NO MORE, TERRORIZER, NEVERMORE.
By the way, what do you think about Michael's previous (and still going) activities, first in CARNAGE, then later on in CARCASS, nowadays in SPIRITUAL BEGGARS and, of course, in ARCH ENEMY?
- I grew up with CARNAGE's raw power, dwelled in CARCASS extreme symphonies, still worship ARCH ENEMY's perfect combination of brutal riffs and sweet melodies and enjoy the heavy rock of SPIRITUAL BEGGARS. He is an excellent musician who shouldn't stop writing good music!
In Japan the release date of "Wages of Sin" will be 25th of April. In what way will it differ from the European one (I mean any other additional bonuses, multimedia, etc.)?
- Both versions will contain extra stuff. That's all I can tell you for now. I promise you will not be disappointed!
Well, I guess that's all, Angela. I wish you the best of luck with "Wages of Sin"! Any final comments?
- Hail to Ukraine! Thank you very much for your support! Keep up the good work and thrash 'til death! Check out www.archenemy.net for the latest news! | 
