Special report by Aaron Small

On May 25th in Europe and August 11th in North America, ARCH ENEMY's first Century Media releases, Stigmata and Burning Bridges, will be reissued with new layouts, additional slipcase packaging and multiple bonus tracks. Original Arch Enemy vocalist Johan Liiva, who currently fronts HEARSE, spoke exclusively to BraveWords.com about his involvement with these discs.

“I wrote some liner notes about my memories of these particular albums. But I didn’t have any input into the re-mastering or whatever. I haven’t actually seen, or even heard, the result. I’m waiting for Century Media to send it to me; I’m excited of course. When Michael (Amott, guitarist) asked me to write these liner notes, I was thinking to myself; what can I say? I don’t have anything to say. I felt kind of awkward. But when I started typing, it came easily, for both albums. These were good times, exciting times for me, special times. We were touring and recording. We were hungry and eager to get this monster called Arch Enemy rolling. It was nice to relive the old times a little bit again; it’s been a while.”

The deluxe edition of Stigmata, originally released in 1998, features seven bonus songs: three studio tracks and four live cuts. The live material initially appeared on Burning Japan Live 1999. “It was recorded in Tokyo. But only 10,000 copies were released – in Japan of course. It sold out pretty quickly. This is a way to let other people in other countries get a piece of the cake.”

The bonus studio tracks are the 57-second intro ‘Hydra’, ‘Diva Satanica’ and ‘Damnation’s Way’. “For Stigmata, the first song, ‘Beast Of Man’, sounds a bit different, especially the drumming, to the rest of the album. It was recorded when Daniel (Erlandsson, drummer) rejoined the band (Peter Wildoer plays on the rest of Stigmata). After Toy’s Factory, the Japanese label, listened to Stigmata, they wanted two more fast and aggressive songs. So we recorded ‘Beast Of Man’ and ‘Diva Satanica’. ‘Diva Satanica’ was the one that showed up on the Japanese release as a bonus, along with ‘Hydra’. ‘Damnation’s Way’ was recorded during the same session; it was also a bonus track.”

Moving on to Burning Bridges, initially issued in 1999, the deluxe edition contains nine bonus songs: four studio tracks and five live cuts, again pulled from Burning Japan Live 1999. ‘Fields Of Desolation 99’ kicks off the bonus material. The original version appears on Arch Enemy’s 1996 debut album, Black Earth. “When we recorded the Burning Bridges album, we recorded a new version of that song,” explains Johan. “It was also only featured on the Japanese release. Back then, we were pretty much living on the Japanese wave of interest and success. But nowadays, Arch Enemy is much more popular everywhere. So we did a lot of special, bonus things for them back then.”

The remaining bonus studio tracks are cover songs, including Iron Maiden’s ‘Aces High’. “It was Michael and Chris (Amott, guitarists) who suggested it for a tribute album. I thought it was cool ‘cause it’s up-tempo. It was a good choice.” As far as recording that song goes, Liiva admits, “I had some struggles to pull it off. It sounds easy to sing. But to growl those lyrics and remember them live, it was quite tricky. But it got better each time we performed it.” ‘Aces High’ also appeared on the 2007 Regain Records reissue of Black Earth. The other two covers on Burning Bridges are Judas Priest’s ‘Star Breaker’ and ‘Scream Of Anger’ by Europe. “I don’t want to boast, but ‘Scream Of Anger’ is actually one of the performances I’m particularly proud of. It turned out really well. It was also made as a bonus track for the Burning Bridges Japanese album. And ‘Star Breaker’ was supposed to be for a Judas Priest tribute, that they decided not to release. That’s also a really cool song because it was recorded in another studio, not Fredman. So it’s got a different, kind of more, not old school but dirty sound. It turned out awesome. I’m glad that people get the chance to hear it.”

There’s been talk of Arch Enemy doing an album with current vocalist Angela Gossow singing the best of the Johan-era songs. Liiva admits, “When I first heard this rumour, I thought – why? It’s all so unnecessary. Their argument, or explanation for this is, that the new fans, since Angela joined the band, are not familiar with these songs. But I don’t buy that really. I don’t want to put this in harsh words or anything, but I think it’s damn unnecessary to do this. But what can I do? It’s been ten years now, so I don’t waste too much energy on that. But I feel a bit uncomfortable with it.”