Embrace the Mystery / Three

Album Review

At a time when rampant extremism had in fact become the "mainstream" of Swedish heavy metal, Christopher Amott's Armageddon (not to be confused with the long extinct ‘70s prog heavies bearing the same name) ironically used a melodic mix of hard rock and (some) metal to stand out from their compatriots. Released in 2000 by the Toy's Factory label, Embrace the Mystery was the band's second full-length — if you could call them a "band," since none of the debut's musicians had been invited back by Amott, thus making it clear that Armageddon was more of a side project as compared to his membership in brother Mike Amott's Arch Enemy (and understandably so, given the latter's greater popularity). However, this state of affairs in no way compromised the amount of craftsmanship that went into Embrace the Mystery, and the enlisting of Arch Enemy drummer Daniel Erlandsson, bassist Dick Löwgren, and especially vocalist Rickard Bengtsson finally gave Amott the high-caliber artistic foils needed to take Armageddon's music to the next level. Yes, some might equate the album's more aggressive, staccato-driven riff engines like, say, "Blind Fury," "Cry of Fate," and the title cut with U.S. masters Nevermore, and any number of modern ‘00s metal bands; but it's when they detour into borderline hard rock realms that Armageddon deliver their most striking material. Spearheaded by Bengtsson's impressive range, "World's Apart" sounds like a radio-oriented deconstruction of the Gothenburg melodic death metal style, while standouts "The Broken Spell" and the remarkably infectious "Illusions Tale" feel like metallic readings of Badlands or — believe it — Journey! If only Armageddon had committed to these hybrids wholesale throughout the album, there's no telling how utterly alien (in a good way) Embrace the Mystery would have been compared to the surrounding musical landscape; but it was still distinctive enough to break with that Swedish metal "mainstream" and earn Amott a little respect apart from his legendary sibling's orbit. [In 2010, Century Media reissued Embrace the Mystery and Armageddon's next and final album, Three, in a two-disc set, enhanced with several bonus cuts.]