Interview with Daniel Erlandsson, drummer with Swedish melodic death metallers ARCH ENEMY

Swedish melodic death metal masters ARCH ENEMY are heading to Australia next week for their first tour Down Under since performing at the inaugural Download Festival Australia back in March 2018.

We spoke with drummer Daniel Erlandsson this morning and we chatted about the new album “Deceivers”, challenges making the album with the pandemic, and band members on the other side of the globe. Showcasing experimental elements not heard before in their music, releasing a huge 6 singles, and of course the Australian tour !!!

Daniel says “You can expect the upcoming Aussie shows to be a night of pure fucking metal magic”

Arch Enemy’s 11th studio album “Deceivers” was unleashed upon the world just under six months ago on the 12th of August 2022. Can you talk us through the writing and recording process of the album, and how the pandemic affected how you would normally work together?

The writing of the album, it started I don’t know exactly when, but it wasn’t that different from the previous album. It was a lot of the same, you know, me and Michael working together. Michael writing most of the music and us putting it together. The difference this time around, is that we worked with Jacob Hansen for the first time, who makes the album, and I think that created a different type of sound that we haven’t really had before. And yeah, the pandemic. Yeah. I’m trying to forget about that, you know?

Yes we all are trying to forget it (laughter )

No, it was in the beginning of it all. It freed up a lot of space and time for us, and we were able to be quite creative in the beginning and, you know, come up with some new songs and stuff. But as it progressed, then you drag it out on time. You started questioning, you know, if normality is ever going to return. And also it led to that we were sitting on the finished songs for quite some time and just we had a little bit too much time to think about and over analyze the music. It’s sometimes easier when you have a deadline so you can just like that’s the day we just let go, you know? It can be helpful as well.

I did read somewhere that you didn’t seem to have much in the way of lock downs over there in Sweden.

That’s correct. There was actually very little in terms of restrictions. There were, you know, like some advice and stuff to people. But we were not forced to wear any masks and we could travel internally in the country as much as we needed to. And that meant that me and Michael could like, meet up pretty much every day if we wanted to and work on songs. But it became a problem later on when we got into their recording and we wanted to get Jeff Loomis over to Sweden, at least over to, you know, And then that’s when the problem started.

And what about vocals as well?

Yeah, we finally got Alissa over, she came over to Germany, and she stayed for quite some time. And she went over to Denmark to work with Jacob Hansen in the studio, and it came out really well. But there were some challenges around this recording that we never had before, you know? Yeah, and I’m sure that’s the case for a lot of other bands as well.

I did see that there’s been six singles and six videos already released off the album, and a number of them were released even before the album dropped. How do you decide on which tracks will be singles and is there some kind of reasoning to the order they are released? How do you decide on that?

Well, to begin with, like the the approach of releasing five-six singles before the album that was like an idea from the record company. And it’s like a kind of it’s a different approach of launching an album. And we were quite unsure about it in the beginning, you know, just uncharted territory a little bit, but it was different times as well. It was in the pandemic when it was still during the pandemic when “Deceiver, Deceiver” came out. Yeah. And yeah, it went down really well, I think choosing the songs, it’s usually like a mix of opinions from different people involved with the band, you know, the band members and Angela, our manager, and some input from the record label as well. And you can kind of get the vibe if like a lot of people are into one of the songs.

Probably a good thing, you know, because especially for myself, when when we do an album, I spend so much time just like zoning in on the songs that by the time the album is finished, I’m kind of a little bit lost, you know?

Is there any particular reason that you did that, like,say “Deceiver, Deceiver” as the first one, which was long before the album came out?

Yeah, I think a lot of people agreed on “Deceiver Deceiver” as the opener as the first single. And that’s partly because it’s a really direct song and it has that kind of impact that you want it for a single to have. You know, by the time when that song came out, it’s been it has been quiet for a while from from Arch Enemy. You know, I thought it was like four years or something since we released music when that one came out. So you want a song that just like punch people in the face and, you know. Yeah, that’s why we chose that one.

That’s cool. Now, the six singles that have come off the album, obviously all have a similar sound but different vibe. So it really does showcase the different sides of Arch Enemy, especially with all the instruments, Alissa’s vocals and everything.

Thank You.

Personally, how would you compare, the new album to the previous album, “Will To Power”? Overall, not even talking about the songwriting or recording process, but let’s say for you, for you personally, how do you find it different?

That’s a really good question (laughter ) In a way, I think like we’ve been doing kind of the same thing all this time. It’s just that we keep getting a little bit better and better at it. I hope. I think that’s like the goal anyway. And I don’t know. But the biggest difference with this album from our previous ones for me, is basically I think it’s more to do with the production and the sound of the songs, it has that it has a really huge production that really has a lot of depth and it breathes and I think it’s kind of a different vibe for us. And also some of the songs are experimental in the sense that we were holding back a little bit more than we usually do. Like a song like “Spreading Black Wings”, for example. It doesn’t have a guitar solo and it’s kind of like mellow, you know? Yeah. It’s a different approach. It showcases some things that we haven’t done before.

I think you now definitely see a different side of Arch Enemy, but as you said, the production is amazing. That’s one thing that definitely stands out now. Since releasing the new Arch Enemy album, you’ve obviously done a few tours, you’ve done a European tour, and also a South American tour. How did the tour go and what was the crowd reaction to the new songs performed live?

Overall, I have to say the reaction has been very, very good. Like we started out touring in North America with actually we did three tours this last year and they were all co headliners together with Behemoth. Yeah. And the first one was in the US and Canada, and that was the first couple of shows that we did since two and a half years, due to the pandemic break.

It was cool. Like we went up and we played I think we played two new songs, three new songs in the US. And by the time the album was out and we toured in Europe, we actually played six songs. Yeah, the new album, which seems a bit much, you know, it’s almost like too much for sometimes, I guess, it just felt like it had such a good flow to it and we just wanted to try out the songs.

It must be pretty difficult to choose a set list when you’ve been together for more than 25 years. You have 11 albums now, how do you choose a set list?

That’s the thing, you know, And also you have to think about like the different times that have been now in the pandemic. When we put out these singles, they reached out to a lot of people via YouTube and other streaming devices, and that’s why we were able to actually play those songs live and have people recognize them. I think it was kind of a unique time where people spend more time at home and watch YouTube a little bit more.

Now, the big news and the main reason for the interview today is that you guys are going to be in Australia next week, one week from today, you play your first show of 5 in Australia. You haven’t been here since March 2018, and you were part of the first ever Australian Download Festival to ever play here. What can we expect from the upcoming shows here in Australia?

You can expect a night of pure fucking metal magic. And I think that we’ll play a lot of songs from the new album Deceivers, and it’s going to be really cool to connect with the fans again, it’s been five years, like you said. Actually it’s going to be our first proper headline shows on this album.

We like co-headlined with Behemoth. We played for 70 minutes, I believe. On this upcoming tour it’s going to be full on like 90 minutes or maybe even a bit more.

Excellent.

So it’s going to be sweaty, really good. (laughter )

And we’ll have to warn you, it’s been quite hot here recently.

So I was going to ask.

It’s going to be very, very sweaty. (laughter )

Yeah.

Are you going to have much downtime while you’re here, A chance to you know, do the tourist thing?

I seriously doubt that. You know, it’s probably going to be the same in and out and yeah, get up early or play show, go back to the hotel room, look at the pillow for an hour and then.

Yeah, it does look like you have a pretty tight schedule now after the Australian tour you’re going to be going to Japan and then you’ve got a European tour, June, July, August and a bunch of festival shows.

Now, I’m going to ask you a question whether you want to answer this or not, that’s up to you. Now, you’re playing both Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park as part of the Euro festivals. What are your thoughts on the cancellation of Pantera performing at those shows?

For me, it kind of came out of the blue. I was surprised. It’s sucks for them, you know. But yeah, there’s not much to say about it now.

Well, thank you so much for chatting today Daniel. We really, really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. We’re super excited, there’s a lot of us down here in Australia that are super pumped to see you guys play here next week. Any messages for your Australian fans?

I’m just really excited about coming down there again and looking forward to meeting everyone and playing these shows. It’s going to be fun.

Awesome.! Thanks so much for talking to us today. We’ll see you next week.

Okay. See you next week, man.

Arch Enemy 2023 Tour Dates

Tue 14 Feb – The Gov (Adelaide)
Wed 15 Feb – The Tivoli (Brisbane)
Fri 17 Feb – Metro Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 18 Feb – Forum (Melbourne)
Sun 19 Feb – Metropolis (Fremantle)

Get your ARCH ENEMY tickets at the following outlets !!!

https://metropolistouring.com/arch-enemy-2023/