ARCH ENEMY Frontwoman Reports On ARVIKA, EARTHSHAKER Festivals

ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Angela Gossow has posted the following message on her MySpace page:

"We had two rather bizarre and chaotic festival weekends. The Arvika festival is a weird mélange between disco, pop, gothic, rock and a pinch of metal. The audience there is mostly dressed in stockings with no panties, big pink or red hair, huge boots (and some huge boobs hanging out too) and silly wedding dresses. I was surprised that so many people were squeezing into the tent when we played I had the gut feeling there wouldnt be any metal fans at all. Definitely the most colorful crossover audience we ever had. I got the impression a lot of people didnt know what to expect. When we kicked into 'Nemesis', I saw plenty of jaws dropping down and eyes popping out. They were obviously anticipation the more operatic vocals and were getting quite the opposite. Very amusing.

"Some cool pictures from Arvika — check it out [here].

"Earthshaker Fest we got what the name promised. A violent thunderstorm turned the scenery into a Hitchcock movie later that evening. Previously we had experienced our own little horror flick on stage. Our gear obviously got severely beaten up on the flight into Munich and wasnt working half the time. The poor kid who was teching for us that day was running back and forth to fix one end whilst the other one was breaking down again. We played 'Burning Angel' with one guitar only (Fredrik). In the meanwhile, Michael was going thru his shattered pedals and throwing them all out in the end. When we were about to tear into 'Ravenous', the stage manager screamed '5 minutes max' at us and we stumbled into 'We Will Rise' instead. This is the first ever show since 2001 where we did not play 'Ravenous'. A dark moment in ARCH ENEMY's history indeed. A good moment was the signing session where we got to meet so many dedicated fans. We were sitting there for over an hour until all the posters were out."

ARCH ENEMY will be making their triumphant return to the U.S. this September as part of the Gigantour, which features the legendary MEGADETH, genre titans such as LAMB OF GOD, OPETH and Century Media labelmates INTO ETERNITY, among others. The month-long trek will be the group's fourth and final U.S. run in support of their highly acclaimed album "Doomsday Machine", which debuted at No. 87 on The Billboard 200 chart. Additionally, on August 8, ARCH ENEMY will release their first DVD, "Live Apocalypse", a stunning double-disc set full of phenomenal live footage, in-depth interviews and promotional video clips.

Check out a trailer for ARCH ENEMY's "Live Apocalypse" DVD at this location. The band also completed a new video for the track "My Apocalypse" with director Roger Johansson (IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILLITY, SOILWORK). Watch it online at this location (Windows Media).