Wages Of Sin (Reissue 2023) (Limited Coloured Vinyl)

On ‘Wages Of Sin’, new vocalist Angela Gossow now has to face a seemingly overpowering shadow from the past for the first time. After all, she replaces none other than Johan Liiva, who had already played together with Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott in the original death metal combo Carnage before the latter’s Carcass days. That she has solved this task so brilliantly, is incredible!

Much like 1999’s ‘Burning Bridges’, ‘Wages Of Sin’ is an powerful barrage of complex riffing that alternates between the blindingly brutal and the stunningly melodic, all the while maintaining a level of intensity that is rarely heard on present-day metal recordings. The musicianship, as usual, is impeccable, with the Amott brothers proving once again that they are the masters of their craft, with the bulk of their guitar work owing as much death metal overtones as they appear to be derived from a more traditional hard rock approach, particularly in the song arrangements, which rarely deviate from the conventional.