In March, Arch Enemy released its 12th studio record – Blood Dynasty – to rave reviews. The follow-up to the outstanding Deceivers was the 4th album featuring Alyssa White-Gluz on lead vocals, and is arguably the band’s best output of the White-Gluz era (the band was previously fronted by Johan Liiva and Angela Gossow). Led by guitar mastermind Michael Amott, the band has been virtually peerless in the Swedish death metal genre (with few peers spanning all genres of metal). Amott and White-Gluz were joined by long-time drummer Daniel Erlandsson and bassist Sharlee D’Angelo as well as relatively new guitarist Joey Concepcion.
In support of the 2025 LP, Arch Enemy embarked on the North American Blood Dynasty 2025 Tour. The trek – which began on the West Coast in mid-April – made a stop in New York City’s Palladium Times Square on May 2. Fit For An Autopsy, Baest, and Thrown Into Exile provided the tour support across the continent. Approximately 2,000 fans packed the midtown Manhattan venue for nearly five hours of death metal mayhem and melody.
Many bands open shows in support of a new record with a track from such record. However, Arch Enemy did not do so here. Rather, the band opened with “Deceiver, Deceiver,” a standout track from the preceding album. The quintet exploded on to the stage and greeted the fans with a scream by White-Gluz and pounding rhythms of the Deceivers standout.
They then revisited Gossow-era Wages of Sin with “Ravenous”, which is among the most memorable songs in a deep catalogue. AE then showcased a pair of stellar new numbers: “Dream Stealer” and “Blood Dynasty”. Another title song – “War Eternal” – followed, before the Doomsday Machine single “My Apocalypse.”
Arch Enemy then played a second pair from the new album: “A Million Suns” and “Liars & Thieves.” In many instances, a fan base will yearn for the “old school” tracks, in the case of AE songs from Wages of Sin or even Burning Bridges. However, Arch Enemy’s recent material has been among the best of its genre. Thus, the fans clamored for new songs.
For the third time, the band performed a consecutive pairs of tracks from the same album: “The Eagle Flies Alone” and “First Day in Hell.” War Eternal’s “As the Pages Burn” followed.
Deceivers' “Sunset Over the Empire” was arguably the pinnacle of the evening. Although one of the shorter tracks at approximately four minutes, the melodics and solos are the epitome of what has made Arch Enemy one of the preeminent bands of the melodic death metal genre for thirty years. The rabid fans dutifully chanted throughout the epic performance.
“Dead Bury Their Dead” was the second and final Wages... track of the evening, which preceded the more anthemic Anthems of Rebellion single “We Will Rise.”
The three song encore featured “Avalanche”, the phenomenal “Nemesis,” as well as Black Earth’s “Fields of Desolation.” The final track – released in 1996 - was the earliest performed song, and the lone Liiva era material.
In total, the set featured eleven White-Gluz era songs from the past decade of releases, as well as five Gossow-era songs with the one Livva track to close.
The North American Tour ends on May 18 at Milwaukee Metal Fest 2025, and then the European Blood Dynasty 2025 Tour will take the band across Europe starting in October.
