Arch Enemy

When Swedish death metal band Arch Enemy announced in 2001 that original singer Johan Liiva had been asked to leave the band because guitarist Michael Amott wanted "a more dynamic front man," few people expected that new "front man" would be a woman, a then-unknown German singer named Angela Gossow. Since Gossow joined the band, Arch Enemy's recorded four albums (including Doomsday Machine), and the band's popularity has skyrocketed, particularly in the U.S., where it never hurts to have a hot female onstage. But beyond her physical attributes, Gossow is a serious — and formally trained — death metal singer, and this album captures her most powerful, visceral vocals to date. Tracks like "I Am Legend/Out for Blood" and "Machtkampf" illustrate Gossow's demonic grunts (which could easily be mistaken for a male voice on the mic), but also show that she's still pushing her range, spiking her screeches with subtle emotion and pulling from her gut, rather than her throat, for sustained screams. Musically, guitarist Amott (formerly of Carcass) still has some of the harshest, most enviable chops in this genre (check out the blistering guitar work on "My Apocalypse"), and drummer Daniel Erlandsson provides some of the most dexterous drumming in metal today (the timing changes on "Mechanic God Creation" are mind-blowing). Lyrically, Arch Enemy can venture into cheeseland sometimes (particularly on tracks like "Nemesis," where Gossow sings "One for all/All for one/We are strong/We are one"), but Doomsday Machine is still Arch Enemy's most dense, aggressive album . . . that is, until they make the next one, which Gossow says she wants to be even "more crazy."