ARCH ENEMY's MICHAEL AMOTT: 'Music Is Something That We Still Feel Very Passionate About'

ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott spoke to Knotfest.com about the musical direction of the band's 11th studio album, "Deceivers", which will arrive on July 29 via Century Media Records. He said: "We have a style that we've established in our 25-plus-year careers, but music is something that we still feel very passionate about. That is the driving force. There's always something that we haven't tried. Either 'We've never started a song like that,' or 'we've never used this kind of melody or chord structure,' there's always little new things you can try out. Music is pretty much endless. But we still stay true to the ARCH ENEMY sound. We don't want to stray too far from our roots. And I say that, but recently I listened to our first album, and it's so different compared to what we do now. So there has been a progression, but I think it's been an organic one. Something that has happened naturally. I think we, and maybe me in particular, think about that a lot. You want to have some new elements in every album, I think it's important. We want to do that, but we don't try to do too much in one go."

Amott went on to say that he and his ARCH ENEMY bandmates "are trying something different for this album: we are releasing more singles than we ever have before. It was an idea that came from our record label," he explained. "They wanted to do it this way, and it's a new way of working for us. Usually we release a maximum of two singles, and then the album's out and we're on tour, but these are different times. We haven't been able to tour, and, of course, people listen to music in a different way now, more on a single-based approach.

"All the songs on the album are a bit different and that's what makes it so hard to pick singles," he continued. "Some bands are great at writing the same type of song always. They're great songs, but they have a formula in a way. But there's so many different things that we do. We try to create varied albums with different emotions, different colors, and it makes it difficult when you pick the singles."

Last month, ARCH ENEMY released the official music video for its latest single, "Handshake With Hell", directed by Patric Ullaeus. Before "Handshake With Hell" arrived, fans were also able to check out the previously released album tracks, "Deceiver, Deceiver" and "House Of Mirrors".

This spring, ARCH ENEMY and BEHEMOTH will return to the states to co-headline "The North American Siege 2022" tour with NAPALM DEATH and UNTO OTHERS as special guests, before ARCH ENEMY appears at select summer festivals; the rescheduled "European Siege 2022" tour (with ARCH ENEMY, BEHEMOTH, CARCASS, UNTO OTHERS) will kick off in the fall.