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Well, well, I didn't think I'd live to see the day. Arch Enemy knocked my block off with Wages Of Sin, but then their subsequent works: Anthems Of Rebellion and Doomsday Machine were both severely underwhelming. I figured Arch Enemy had sold out and we wouldn't see them play with the big boys ever again. I'm glad I was wrong. Some people just hate everything this band has done after John Liiva left the band, and those folks can just quit reading here.

This is certainly their best album since Wages, and it sees the Amott brothers back in the groove with genuinely good riffs and leads. On their last few albums it seemed like they were dumbing down their sound to appeal more to a metalcore crowd, but Rise Of The Tyrant is back to their Death Metal roots with some really hooky riffs. Angela Gossow keeps getting better, as she has added a lot more dynamic to her vocals, which were rather one-dimensional when she debuted with the band. Songs like "The Last Enemy", "I Will Live Again", the title track, and killers like "The Great Darkness" and "Vultures" are what Melodic Death Metal is all about. There are not really any weak spots on this disc, and it pretty much kicks ass all the way through. Heavy, hooky, and intense, this album gains back what this band spent two albums losing. Killer.