UK Metal Hammer scribe and blogger Dom Lawson, also known for his work with BW&BK;, has issued a track-by-track overview of the new Arch Enemy album, The Root Of All Evil, for the publication. It appears in full at this location.

As previously reported, The Root Of All Evil, contains a selection of completely re-recorded tracks from Arch Enemy's first three albums Black Earth (1996), Stigmata (1998) and Burning Bridges (1999) reenergized and unified by the band’s ultimate line-up.

Originally recorded with ever changing band members (i.e. former vocalist Johan Liiva, drummer Peter Wildoer, bass player Martin Bengtsson), The Root Of All Evil presents classic tracks as 'Beast Of Man', 'The Immortal', 'Transmigration Macabre' or 'Bridge Of Destiny' with the insane vocals of Angela Gossow, several completely new bass lines by Sharlee D’Angelo, the ever-present guitar wizardry of the Amott brothers as well as Daniel Erlandsson’s merciless punch. The entire project was approached with the idea of having the possibility to re-add these songs to the bands live set and follow up the release with some special touring activity.

The first preview track off this release has been launched at the band’s official MySpace page; check out 'Beast Of Man' here.

The complete tracklisting for The Root Of All Evil is as follows:

'The Root Of All Evil' (Intro)

'Beast Of Man'

'The Immortal'

'Diva Satanica'

'Demonic Science'

'Bury Me An Angel'

'Dead Inside'

'Dark Insanity'

'Pilgrim'

'Demoniality' (Instrumental)

'Transmigration Macabre'

'Silverwing'

'Bridge Of Destiny'

Guitarist Michael Amott comments: “So the time has arrived for a first taste of The Root Of All Evil! The song ‘Beast Of Man’ was originally written as a last minute addition to the ‘Stigmata’ album back in 1998. Daniel (Erlandsson) had just returned to the Arch Enemy drum throne and I wrote this one and another song called ‘Diva Satanica’ in a day or two. Christopher (Amott) had the cool harmonized mid section part and that was that, we went into the studio and rehearsed, recorded and mixed them in a marathon 24 hour session. It was OK at the time, but I always thought the songs deserved a little more love and attention. The 2009 version of this song is really heads and shoulders above the original in my opinion. The song was always cool, but the production on the original was quite poor, more like a demo really. I am very pleased that we did this Root Of All Evil project and that we can give these songs a 'new life'… Enjoy the ‘Beast Of Man’!”

The album was recorded at a few different locations in Sweden and produced by Arch Enemy with Daniel Erlandsson and Rickard Bengtsson handling the engineering. Finally, this special release was mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap. In the light of Arch Enemy finding their defining lineup and a bigger worldwide recognition with 2002’s Wages Of Sin album, it has been a logical decision to update the earlier compositions and present them in the splendour of a 2009 shape.