ARCH ENEMY – We are our biggest fan

Extreme metallens vakreste vokalist Angela Gossow ringte en juli kveld opp meg for å prate litt om Arch Enemy’s nye skive Anthems Of Rebellion, og litt om hvordan det er å være metalbabe og frontfigur i et mannsdominerende metalmiljø.

ET – First of all, let me congratulate you with an exellent album in Anthems Of Rebellion.
ANGELA – Thank you very much. You like it, that’s good..hehe.

ET – You must be pleased with it yourself.
ANGELA – Yes, we really wouldn’t release it if we didn’t like it ourself. We are the biggest fan of the band so…hehehe

ET – The tracks on Anthems seem to be more catchy and still a little rougher than on the previous album, Wages Of Sin. Was this something you went for when you were writing the songs?
ANGELA – Yes, since we’d put a lot more time in the songwriting, the songs came out more catchy. It was the first time the whole band contributed in the writing. We wrote on the road and while rehearsing. We also took the kick from the liveshows to the rehearsal room and so the songs came out more catchy and also a bit rougher than before….that’s it basicly.

ET – Why did you choose to have less vocals and more instrumental parts on this record compared to Wages?
ANGELA – Less? I don’t know. Maybe it is……I was probably just lazy when I was doing the vocals…hahahah.

ET – Chris is doing the clean vocal parts on a couple of tracks.
ANGELA – Yes, I heard him singing and I really like his voice. So we wanted it on some of the tracks. And it came out very well.

ET – First pressing has a bonus CD with 6 extra tracks.
ANGELA – Basicly it’s a present for our most eager fans that will run into the recordstore to get our new CD when it’s been released. There’s a couple of livetracks on it that we recorded during the Wages Of Sin tour. 2 remix tracks from Anthems Of Rebellion. I also think there will be visuals and skins on it. You know…lots of little things.

ET – I guess you played the new songs live already.
ANGELA – Yes, we have been playing some of them on the festivals we were playing on.

ET – And the fans seems to like them?
ANGELA – Yes, cuz there’s a very catchy tunes and easy to like.

ET – You have played twice in Oslo with Iron Maiden already this year, and you’ll be back with Nevermore in september. That’s 3 times in a very short time you play in Oslo. You’re not affraid to play too often in the same city and for the same fans?
ANGELA – No…hehehe. Because I think there will be a lot of people to show up to see Nevermore. So I’m not affraid of that no…hehe. I think there are people showing up that want Arch Enemy playing a bit longer than we did on the Iron Maiden gigs.

ET – How was the Maiden gig anyway?
ANGELA – It was great. We got the best sound ever and we got a great lightshow. We used their lights basicly. We had a long sound check. They cooked vegan food for me, and that was great. It was a great experience. The audience was very very good, and we had a really great show.

ET – You’re going to the states soon with Hate Eternal, Evergrey and Black Dahlia Murder, and then you will tour Europe as support to Nevermore. I bet you are looking forward to that.
ANGELA – Yes of course. When you record a new album, you wanna play them live too..hehehe. And there are so many people that haven’t seen us live yet. The world is so big…has so many countries in it…hehehe.

ET – What’s it like to be one of a very few female vocalists in the extreme metal scene?
ANGELA – I think it’s very exciting. It’s very special, cuz no one ask how it’s like to be one of a few male vokalist. I think it’s very interesting, because I see alot of females coming out now. It’s like a new movement with females in metal. There’s a lot of pressure too, but I rather enjoy being a female among lots of males and meeting a lot of gentlemens..hehe

ET – How did you end up in the extreme metal scene?
ANGELA – I don’t know. I just started to listen to it when I was 15. I liked the music, the extremity, the power of it. And since then I’ve been stuck. I didn’t grow up I guess..hehehe.

ET – You were singing in 2 death metal bands before you ended up in Arch Enemy.
ANGELA – Yes, but they were really death metal bands. Arch Enemy is in a totally different league anyway.

ET – I must say you have one of the most brutal voices I’ve heard …not now..hehe but when you’re singing. How do you do it?
ANGELA – Not now? Really? Hehehe. I have had training, different technics and it depends of how you breathe, more and less power. Otherwise I just scream and try to be nice in between…hehe.

ET – You had some problems with your voice about 2 years ago. Are you fully recovered from that?
ANGELA – Yes of course. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing a lot of touring between the albums…hehehe.

ET – When you joined Arch Enemy, what do you feel you brought with you into the band?
ANGELA – Other than selling more records than ever, something happened. New interesting person in the band for the media. I feel like I am a little more majestic than Johan (Liiva). Before when Johan was in the band, they didn’t even rehearse. It was more like a project. When I came into the band I said that I will insist that we rehearse. If I’m gonna be in the band, I have to give up my old life, so it has to be a band, and not a project. So the band has changed, the whole attitude has changed. We are very seriously now, jamming a lot together.

ET – What kind of music do you listen to yourself?
ANGELA – A lot of noise..heheheh. I really like the new Vital Remains, Nevermore and stuff like that.

ET – Is there any other releases that made an expression on you this year?
ANGELA – St. Anger from Metallica really expressed me…hehehe. What the fuck is going on there?  Hehe. I think that they actually got the balls to shock people. Otherwise I don’t know. Can’t really remember. I can’t remember if the stuff was released this year…hehe. I like the new Old Man’s Child, and I really looking forward to the new Dimmu Borgir. I really like the last Satyricon and stuff like that

ET – Anything else you wanna say?
ANGELA – Yes, I really gonna kick your ass again in Norway. And I hope we gonna come again. You made me a bit worried…hehehe..I really look forward to come back to Oslo, cuz we had 2 great shows there. It’s very expencive there. Food was a big problem, cuz I think it was so expencive..hehehe.

ET – There are other cities in Norway too you know…hehe
ANGELA – Yes I know…..and even more expencive I guess…hahahaha..