Arch Enemy - The Root of All Evil

How did this go wrong? This was supposed to be an improvement with the same songs from the first three albums but without Johan Liiva fucking them up. This has the worst mix that I've heard since Death Magnetic. The guitar tone is way too clean for Arch Enemy and the drums are way louder than everything else.

Fredrick Nordstrom should have been in the mixing room instead of Andy Sneap. All of the power of previous albums has been stripped away. But hey, at least I can hear the bass, except its too muddy to for me to tell what notes are being played which is in contrast to the uber clarity of everything else. The only thing keeping me from flying to the UK and punching Andy Sneap in the face is the fact that I'm still a Sabbat fan.

Granted, this isn't the band's fault. It's completely the fault of the mixer. The guitar tone doesn't even sound natural. It has a thick layer of gloss over it that takes away from the crunch that Arch Enemy needs. It's overproduction at its finest to the point where I'd rather listen to these songs with Johan. It's just maddening that an album with such potential is ruined by a record producer. It's now time for me to break out a certain article by Jack Endino who produced the last High on Fire record: http://www.endino.com/archive/arch4-0.html

And even though I said that I would never punch Andy Sneap in the face, that says nothing about you. If you live in the UK and you see this man, please punch him for me. Thanks.



4/10

Edit: I just learned that Unearth's The March was also mixed by Andy Sneap, who apparently also fucked their guitar tone. Seriously, for any UK readers, you live in Europe. Do what Europeans do best and descend upon this guy's house as a pitchfork wielding mob.