ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Angel Gossow checks in with the following:

"Dear friends!

We are back from the ’Tyrants Of The Rising Sun’ Asia tour – and it was a fantastic experience! Kawasaki, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka in Japan, then on to Taipei, Taiwan – where we played for the first time ever.. And over to beautiful and vibrant Seoul, where we haven’t played before either. What a trip! We filmed the sold out Tokyo show professionally (mighty thanx to Fuji films their boss turned out to be a huge Arch Enemy fan!) and Paul Smith (he already produced the Live Apocalypse DVD), who dragged his butt plus equipment all the way to Japan and followed us everywhere with his huge camera - so we can give you a good idea about the Japanese Heavy Metal Mania on DVD later on! It was worth all the added stress – this will be a killer follow up to ’Live Apocalypse’ – we have seen some rough footage and it looks awesome!

We didn’t have any days off on this tour, the only yen I spent were for foot detox patches, haha.. These things rock btw. I love Japan. Refined, elegant and so wonderfully organized. Not one single bad surprise, everything on time and according to schedule. Many thanx to Creative Man and Layli, who did a superb job as usual and Tetsu & Aya from our label Toys Factory! I would move to Tokyo any day if I could..

Ah, and I spotted Celine Dion on the Bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka. She had a whole entourage and film crew with her.. I wonder how she liked to travel like/with common people.. haha.

Taipei, Taiwan – very different from Japan. Humid, loud and it kinda smells of fish everywhere. The people are very friendly and helpful, but the bootlegging market and the overall business mentality very much reminded me of South America. As much as things are done by the book in Japan – in Taiwan it’s a totally different story altogether. Luckily we had a very alert and competent tour manager, Tom, who kept it all together.

The venue and the assortment of equipment was interesting to say the least. A colourful mixture of ’vintage’ gear – but we got it all working and our excellent crew managed to get a kick ass sound out of these curious pieces. And the crowd was insane! I believe we played our best show of the whole tour that night – a packed, sweaty place, people right in your face (I know barriers are important for security, but they def take away some of the feel and vibe) and just this pure metal straight in your face delivery.. I wish all shows would feel the same! That night everybody went home with a huge, childish smile on their faces – band and fans alike!"

Read Angela's full report here.