ARCH ENEMY's MICHAEL AMOTT: 'The Writing Never Really Stops'

TotalRock DJ Ník Alexander recently conducted an interview with ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott. You can now listen to the chat below.

Speaking about the songwriting process for ARCH ENEMY's new album, "Will To Power", Michael said: "The writing never really stops; I'm always fiddling around on the guitar. I come up with a little idea, record it and save it. And then piece it all together later on.

"The actual real writing of the new album, 'Will To Power', started about a year and a half ago," he continued. "We started seriously putting together demos and so forth. So it was a fun process. When you've not recorded an album for two and a half [or] three years, it's really fun to get into that creative mindset again and enter the studio.

"People always ask us: 'Do you prefer being onstage playing shows, or do you prefer being in the studio?' But we're greedy — we want to do both, for the balance. We need to write new songs, and then it's a pleasure to go out and play them live onstage as well, of course."

Asked if ARCH ENEMY's newest two members, singer Alissa White-Gluz and guitarist Jeff Loomis, were involved in the writing for "Will To Power", Amott said: "Yeah, especially Alissa. She was heavily involved in writing lyrics for the album. Of course, singing on the album. [Laughs] Also, Daniel [Erlandsson], our drummer, is a big collaborator in the music as well."

"Will To Power" is due out September 8 via Century Media Records. Co-produced by Amott and Erlandsson, the disc was mixed and mastered by longtime collaborator and friend Jens Bogren (OPETH, AT THE GATES, DIMMU BORGIR). The album's captivating cover artwork was designed by Alex Reisfar.

"Will To Power" marks the second ARCH ENEMY album since the departure of longtime singer Angela Gossow and addition of White-Gluz. It will also be the first ARCH ENEMY disc to feature Loomis, who joined the band in late 2014.