BLACK EARTH Feat. Former And Current Members Of ARCH ENEMY: 'Burning Bridges' 20th-Anniversary Tour Of Japan Announced

BLACK EARTH — the project featuring former and current members of ARCH ENEMY performing material from ARCH ENEMY's first three albums live on stage — will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the "Burning Bridges" LP with a Japanese tour in May 2019.

BLACK EARTH is:

Michael Amott - guitar
Christopher Amott - guitar
Johan Liiva - vocals
Daniel Erlandsson - drums
Sharlee D'Angelo - bass

BLACK EARTH completed its first Japanese tour in May 2016.

ARCH ENEMY recorded three albums with Liiva: "Black Earth" (1996),"Stigmata" (1998) and "Burning Bridges" (1999).

Liiva was replaced by German singer Angela Gossow as ARCH ENEMY's lead vocalist in 2000. Gossow exited the band in 2013 and was succeeded by former THE AGONIST frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz, while remaining as the group's manager.

Christopher Amott first left ARCH ENEMY in 2005, only to return to the group two years later. His second, and apparently final, departure came in March 2012.

Liiva told the Marunouchi Muzik Magazine about "Burning Bridges": "The album has a very special place in my heart. The songs are majestic in many different ways. The span goes from doom and gloom, happiness, sadness, hope, anger and so on. I love the energy on that album and I am very satisfied with my own vocal performance, probably the best I ever did. And the production is spot-on too."

Johan also talked about his departure from ARCH ENEMY after the release of the group's third LP. He said: "At first, my reaction was, of course, I felt quite disappointed having to leave the band, but at this very time ARCH ENEMY was in a stage of taking the step up to the next level and I simply was not able to give it a 100%, unfortunately. However, not long after this happened, I already had two new bands going (HEARSE and NONEXIST) that kept me going musically for more than 10 years. When looking back at it, I think it was the best for all of us. The band has been and still is very, very successful and I am perfectly happy with my life just as it is. Especially now when being able to go on stage every now and then with BLACK EARTH."

Liiva said that it is highly unlikely BLACK EARTH will work on new, original music anytime soon. "There are no plans for any album at the moment because of various reasons," he said. "The other guys are very busy with ARCH ENEMY, Chris has his life in the USA and me being busy at my work. Also, this is more like a project that we enjoy and have a lot of fun doing together. Still, ARCH ENEMY is priority number one and to do something like this would mean it to get more serious. But who knows what will happen in the future."