Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2012
The most conclusive proof for the existence of God is the existence of the Devil. Hearing Angela Gossow, lead singer of melodic death metallers Arch Enemy, in full flow might well convince you that you’ve encountered the latter and make you pray to the former.
The “death growl” vocal that this beautiful, green-eyed goddess produces on stage is reminiscent of nothing so much as Satan after stubbing his toe, very painfully. And, yes, of course, the locals love the 37-year-old blonde and her band of Swedish metalheads. Why wouldn’t they? Arch Enemy is an experience and a catharsis equal to a thousand hours in a pachinko parlor and cumulatively just as loud.
But how did someone named after the angels acquire such a diabolical voice?
“I discovered death metal when I was 16,” she informs Metropolis from her native Germany. “I was simply singing along to my favorite vocalists, Chuck Schuldiner (Death), John Tardy (Obituary), and David Vincent (Morbid Angel). I did my best to emulate that sound they produced, and one day I succeeded. Being a teenager, I was naturally angry every minute of the day. That definitely fuelled my love for this extreme vocal style as well.”
Nowadays, as a pro touring the world, anger is not so much the fuel in her tank as a sense of power and emotional connection with the audience.
“I feel empowered and wild,” she says of her onstage mood. “I guess it comes across like angry and enraged, but a roaring lioness is not always angry either. It’s just being interpreted that way. My performance is very genuine. I feel very strong and dominant on stage and my voice transports these notions.”
In addition to fronting the band, Gossow is also the band’s manager. With so much depending on the health of her voice box, she is very careful about its maintenance, but she also casts an approving eye over the actions of her fellow band members.
“We usually have a rather chilled evening after the show, enjoy some nice food, a glass of wine, listen to music and hit the shower and go to bed early enough to get a good night’s sleep,” she says of the band’s after-show routine. “If you have pride in being a good performer you have to preserve your energies. We all do this, not just me. As for my voice, I do a quick but effective warm-up before the show and a warm-down after. I make sure I keep fit and healthy and try to get enough sleep.”
What makes this picture of a quiet cup of cocoa before bedtime surprising is that in addition to being in a metal band, the group’s members also share Gossow’s hard-line anarchist and atheist views, including legendary guitar ace Michael Amott, who also plays in Carcass and stoner metal band Spiritual Beggars.
Arch Enemy’s latest album, last year’s Khaos Legions, features tracks with such incendiary titles as “We Are a Godless Entity” and “Under Black Flags We March,” not to mention the album’s title track, with its stirring lyric: “There are many ways to die, but there is only one way to live.”
But although she approves of the uprisings connected with the Arab Spring, Gossow’s anarchism is not the street-fighting, Molotov-cocktail-throwing variety. For her it’s about sending out a message of individual empowerment through the music wherever the band is touring.
“We have found that the passion for this extreme form of music unites people and overcomes those differences in a very powerful way,” she says. “Every audience gets our maximum output of energy and passion. I don’t change my message either, no matter if we play in a Muslim country, in Israel, China or Turkey. I am not afraid of governments or religious extremists. Whatever happens, happens. We practice what we preach. Fuck the system. Be as free as you can be!”
Shibuya Ax, Apr 13 and Yokohama Blitz, Apr 14.
