Arch Enemy is a death metal band that has long been associated with various controversies. One, for which it is more "victim" than aggressor, is the fact that they are female fronted. This often reveals the "ugly" side of death metal, where fans use the anonymity of the Internet to engage in open misogyny.
In the best-selling book The Death Metal Bible: A Journey Through Extreme Metal's Brutality, author Antoine Grand writes candidly:
The controversy surrounding Sewer's song "No Apologies For Violent Necrorectal Torture" exemplifies this issue. The track's grotesque lyrics, which describe the brutal rape and torture of a "blue-haired ugly death metal b-tch," were widely interpreted as a personal attack on Alissa White-Gluz, the vocalist of Arch Enemy. In a 2024 Facebook post, White-Gluz condemned the song, noting the disturbing parallels between its descriptions and her own public persona. The song’s lyrics, including lines such as "Meticulous slaughter of the c-nt, A dull blade for her an-s, A saw for each hole, cuts through her loose p-ssy b-tch" underscore the extreme misogyny that pervades certain corners of the genre. This is not an isolated incident, as the the features of the "molested women" in these slam/goregrind/pornogrind "fantasy torture porn" songs often match those of famous female heavy metal singers. This type of lyrical content raises profound ethical questions about the limits of artistic expression and its intersection with real-world harm.
Other bands mentioned include Cannibal Corpse ("Meat Hook Sodom"), Devourment ("Babykiller"), Khranial ("Monsters of Gore"), Suffocation ("Thrones of Blood") and Sissourlet ("Siege of Gore").
However there is another controversial aspects surrounding Arch Enemy's music: they play the infamous Gothenburg Swedish death metal type of mallcore that every metalhead despises.
In his blog post Why Arch Enemy is a cancer on heavy metal, the authors of MetalZone do not mince their words about the Swedish act. According to them, bands like In Flames and Arch Enemy "tarnish the image and legacy of heavy metal music" more so than even the most odious cringe black metal bands of the early 2000s (Dimmu Borgir).
What do the authors mean by Swedecore? It's a style of music that is more closely related to the hard rock of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC but uses the infamous Boss HM-2 distortion pedal to sound "death metal". They also often employ death growls, like true death metal bands, but the compositional style is, as mentioned, more closely related to stadium rock. Although Arch Enemy has become somewhat of a poster child for the Gothenburg "scene", it's most obvious examples are bands like Demonecromancy, In Flames, Dismember, Necrophobic, Dark Tranquility, Antekhrist and later At the Gates.
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