Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the music video for “Deceiver, Deceiver”, the first new song from Swedish/Canadian/American melodic death metallers ARCH ENEMY in four years, can be seen below. The clip was directed by Patric Ullaeus, who has also previously worked with IN FLAMES, DIMMU BORGIR and AT THE GATES, among others.
When “Deceiver, Deceiver” was first released last month, ARCH ENEMY‘s founder, guitarist and chief songwriter Michael Amott said in a statement: “Wait…what? Has it really been four years since we last released new ARCH ENEMY music? Time flies…especially when you tour the world for a couple of years, decide to take some time off…and then we all get hit with a global fckn pandemic! Everyone’s been through hard times these last couple of years, and it’s beautiful to see everything coming back now. This very much feels like the right moment to return with a brand new song, ‘Deceiver, Deceiver’! Not the happiest of tunes, but believe me — we’re ecstatic to be back!”
In January 2019, ARCH ENEMY released a compilation, “Covered In Blood”, of all cover songs the band has recorded throughout its career.
In the fall of 2018, Amott revealed that he had commenced the songwriting process for the follow-up to the “Will To Power” album. Released in 2017, that disc marked the second ARCH ENEMY album since the departure of longtime singer Angela Gossow and addition of White-Gluz. It was also the first ARCH ENEMY disc to feature former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis, who joined the band in late 2014.
Jeff, who was the main songwriter in his previous group, NEVERMORE, was not involved in the writing for “Will To Power”.
In a 2018 interview with All That Shreds, Jeff said that he had “a lot of musical ideas” that he was hoping to contribute to ARCH ENEMY in the future. “I did write three or four songs for [‘Will To Power’], but they didn’t make it, only because it wasn’t in the style that they were looking for,” he said. “Fortunately enough, I was able to play guitar solos on the latest album, so that makes me happy.”
Four years ago, Amott said that Loomis is “a strong songwriter” in his own right, “but not in the style of ARCH ENEMY, I feel. He’s always writing and recording with his own stuff,” he explained. “He has a project called CONQUERING DYSTOPIA, he has his solo stuff, [and] he obviously wrote most of the NEVERMORE stuff. I’ve always respected him, and continue to respect him, as a guitar player — he’s amazing and an amazing human being; he fits in perfectly. [There’s] a great chemistry [between us]. But, you know, I’ve always written most of the music, so it’s difficult to… I don’t really wanna change the sound of the band too much. The band sort of started around my songwriting and my ideas, and those continue to be the most dominant ones, I guess. But, you know, who knows [what can happen] in the future?”
