Arch Enemy - Fake Metal

Arch Enemy calling their music 'melodic death metal' is a double lie.

Their music isn't melodic, there is no overarching melody, as their banal and disparate riffs aren't melodically or even harmonic related to one another. Melodic means, in the general sense, possessing a sequence of notes forming a coherent relation between the different parts. That's not the case with Arch Enemy's riffs, they are only vaguely tonally similar - which is why they abuse the nu-metal technique of root note chugging, and stay well within the confines of minor scale wankery, which only partially manages to camouflage the randomness of their music. There is an important distinction to make between between bands that use melody as an 'effect' in otherwise rhythmic-based music and bands whose music is based around melody. Unfortunately, Arch Enemy is neither as they aren't melodic.

And their music certainly isn't death metal, unless you count Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and Bullet for my Valentine as death metal as well. What makes death metal? The down-tuned guitars, the growls, the blast beats and distortion? But all these are superficial aesthetics, they don't 'make' a genre, no more than autotune 'makes' pop music. If you played Withdrawal on a piano, would that make it classical music? Onward to Golgotha on an acoustic guitar, would that make it country? Papa Roach is C-tuning, would that - wait, Arch Enemy already did that.

When they say 'melodic' they actually mean 'consonant', and when they say 'death metal' they mean 'down-tuned pop rock'. So what we have left after removing the marketing terms is consonant pop rock. Nothing that different from what Hot Topic sells as 'extreme hard rock' made by run-of-the-mill screamo bands from US suburbia.

This band is the joke that keeps on giving as they brand themselves 'true death metal' all while being the most ridiculous and campy example of pop rock gone 'br00tal'. In fact, I'd venture to say that Arch Enemy can't compete with openly acknowledged pop rock acts like Papa Roach and Bullet for my Valentine, which is why they try to carve out a niche in the non-existent genre of sugarpop metal.