Swedish melodic death metal vets Arch Enemy are gearing up to release their eleventh studio album, Deceivers, on July 29 via Century Media, and we've just launched pre-orders for a limited-to-500 tan vinyl pressing, available exclusively in our stores. Pre-order yours while they last. Here's a mock-up of the vinyl:
Along with the new pre-order comes second single (and opening track) "Handshake With Hell," and here's what guitarist Michael Amott said about that one in a statement:
Our new single/video 'Handshake with Hell' started off with some riffs and melodies that I thought might be suitable for each other, and when I showed the parts I had to Daniel (Erlandsson, drums), he also felt it had potential. We worked on a demo of it, developing it much further together, and once we had reached a point where we felt it was ready, we sent the instrumental version to Alissa over in Canada. She came back with this really cool approach to the vocals and lyrics that elevated the song even further. To me, it's a stand-out track on the new 'Deceivers' album, really showcasing what we are capable of as songwriters and performers in 2022 - it's definitely one of the new songs I'm dying to play live on tour!
Vocalist Alissa White-Gluz adds, "When Michael and Daniel showed me the instrumental they had cooked up, I got a ton of vocal ideas to complete the song. 'Handshake with Hell' has a classic heavy metal feel, and it felt like the right time to unleash some classic heavy metal vocals to match. I think the result is really interesting and catchy!" You can definitely hear the catchy and classic heavy metal vibes coming across in this one, as you can hear by checking out the Patric Ullaeus-directed video below.
And as for Arch Enemy playing this one live, the band is headed out on tour with Behemoth, Napalm Death, and Unto Others this spring, including NYC's Terminal 5 on April 28. All dates here.
Pre-order the limited tan vinyl variant of Deceivers here.