Classic Arch Enemy Line-Up Reunites as Black Earth

Let’s pretend, for a moment, that the upcoming Guns N’ Roses reunion was happening, but under a new name — let’s say they were calling it Appetite for Destruction. Appetite for Destruction consists of Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, and Steven Adler — in other words, Guns N’ Roses. But “Guns N’ Roses,” meanwhile, continues to consist of Axl Rose, Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer, and whomever the hell else Rose pleases.

That would be, well, odd, wouldn’t it? Everyone would be like, “Wait… isn’t this just Guns N’ Roses?”

This is basically what’s happened now with Arch Enemy: after briefly reuniting for some Japanese shows this past autumn, the version of the band that made their first three albums — Black Earth, Stigmata, and Burning Bridges — is now getting back together… under the name Black Earth.

It’s clear that this is intended as a way of doing this reunion while preserving the Arch Enemy brand and not confusing fans with regards to whether or not vocalist Alissa White-Gluz and guitarist Jeff Loomis are still in Arch Enemy (which, as far as we know, they are). Still, it’s odd that their senior members are now technically in a “new” band, while members who have recorded only one (White-Gluz) or zero (Loomis) albums with Arch Enemy get to continue to be in Arch Enemy. It just seems backwards, doesn’t it? Why not just say all seven of these musicians are now in Arch Enemy and have people step on and off the stage as is appropriate (in other words, original vocalist Johan Liiva sings songs from the first three albums, White-Gluz does the others, etc.)? Would that be too confusing???

This is all giving me a migraine.

The point is, Arch Enemy Black Earth will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Black Earth with a series of performances in Japan. If those go well, I assume they’ll play in other parts of the world, but who knows.

The Japanese Black Earth dates are as follows:

May 17 – Tokyo, Japan – Shibuya Club Quattro
May 19 – Fukuoka, Japan – Drum Be-1
May 21 – Hiroshima, Japan – Hiroshima Club Quattro
May 23 – Osaka, Japan – Umeda Club Quattro
May 24 – Aichi, Japan – Nagoya Club Quattro
May 27 – Sapporo, Japan – Lane24 Penny Sapporo

And here’s video of the band performing last year:

https://youtu.be/kbYKoiKBnes

[via]