“I couldn’t use AI to replace my own creativity” – interview with Arch Enemy’s Michael Amott

For nearly 30 years, Arch Enemy has been an undeniable force in the world of extreme metal. The band, founded in 1995 by Swedish guitar virtuoso Michael Amott, has survived three decades without artistic compromise while expanding their influence and fanbase. March 28th will see the release of the band’s 12th studio album “Blood Dynasty” in collaboration with the band’s longtime label Century Media. The band’s guitarist Michael Amott explains the album in a press release as follows:

“Our twelfth album follows metal’s unwritten rule – expressing familiar themes from new perspectives. Our signature sound intentionally remains recognizable because we create music we’re passionate about. However, we always incorporate unexpected elements to keep things interesting. The challenge is making a twelfth album a talking point in the metal community.”

While dedicated followers might anticipate surprises, “Blood Dynasty” draws from the same source of precision and power that made tracks like “We Will Rise” and “Nemesis” cornerstones of modern metal two decades ago. From the burning grandeur of “Dream Stealer” to the grinding, mid-paced melodic death metal of “Don’t Look Down,” this record represents the legendary lineup working with elements traditional to the band.

“Blood Dynasty” was produced in Sweden under the guidance of respected producer Jens Bogren. As passionately expressed in the new anthem “March Of The Miscreants,” Arch Enemy remains the world’s largest underground metal band. As Arch Enemy celebrates their 30-year journey in 2025, what better way to celebrate than releasing “Blood Dynasty” to the world?

Chaoszine sat down with Michael Amott to discuss what can the fans expect from the upcoming album. You can read the entire interview below:

How has the year kicked off for you? Has it been all interviews so far?

Michael Amott: Good. I mean, we wrapped up last year in Mexico. I came home around 18th of December and then there’s been Christmas and New Year and all that good stuff. Now we’re in 2025. The album is coming out soon, finally. Best time for being a musician. It’s always exciting. We started recording the album like a year ago in January, actually. So exactly a year ago, we were in the studio in Sweden, freezing our asses off in 20 minus degrees in Örebro, Sweden. And the songs were written during a two-year period before that. It’s like three years down the line. But people are liking what they’re hearing. We’re getting great fan feedback from the singles. We got three singles out. And we’ve been playing some of the songs live as well last year. So I think things are moving along pretty nicely.

Yeah, and finally you’re having the album out, I guess. If you wrote those songs many years ago, you are already eager to write the next one.

Michael Amott: Yeah, we already started that, actually.

Yeah, most likely.

Michael Amott: Once you track the drums on the record, then it’s too late to put in more songs. So usually I’m already writing new stuff, even before we finished the last album. I just keep going. For me, it’s a daily ritual to wake up, drink coffee, play guitar for a couple of hours. And I record everything that sounds interesting to my ears. Then save it for when we sit down and compile everything, put things together, arranging music.

Do you always go through them all at once? Or do you have some kind of archives that you go through?

Michael Amott: I have archives, but sometimes you don’t get to them. And then it’s like, shit, I find an old riff. I was like, why didn’t we use this on the new album? I’m not that organized. But it’s always a nice feeling to have a lot of stuff. Riffs, melodies, a few lyric lines, some song titles. It’s always nice to build up an arsenal of those things. I think I’d feel panic if I didn’t have anything.

So you have quite a lot of stuff almost done in your head when you are hopping to proper writing sessions.

Michael Amott: That’s how it works for me.

So Blood Dynasty, and it’s already album number 12. How does it sound for you? Does it sound like that? That it’s already album number 12?

Michael Amott: I don’t know. To me it’s just been… I was talking to somebody earlier today. And they said you can hear there’s been a gradual sort of evolution. We’re always trying new things. Each album has its own identity. Hopefully that’s the case. We put a lot of effort into that. There are bands out there that are great bands that kind of sound pretty much the same on every album. AC/DC, for example. I love them. I think we’re just not that kind of band. We’re always trying to throw in something new. Basically on the surface it’s the same kind of thing. It’s two guitars, bass, drums and screaming vocals. And lots of guitar solos and metal riffs. But the devil’s in the details. We always try to come up with small new ways to spice things up a little bit. And create new, exciting, heavy metal experiences.

But there’s quite a lot of diversity on this album. For example the first single, “Dream Stealer”, which sort of has a black metal-ish feel in it. And then the song “Vivre Libre”, which is something that you’ve probably never done. Am I right?

Michael Amott: No, not like that. Well, certainly not in French.

But overall the song is a very not-Arch Enemy song.

Michael Amott: Yeah, absolutely. That’s kind of interesting. Because we’ve always recorded a lot of cover songs for deluxe editions and Japanese bonus tracks over the years. And this was also one of those things. I’m really deep into the whole history of French heavy metal and basically underground heavy metal stuff from all over the world. I’m always digging and finding new things. And Blaspheme is a French band. This album is from 1985. And I love it. And I played it for the guys. They also loved it, especially this song. It had a great atmosphere. And we decided to do something crazy. Alissa speaks French. Why not have her sing in French? And it came out really amazing with what she did. The whole interpretation of the song. I thought it sounded really interesting and very beautiful in a way. And I thought maybe it could be cool for the first time in our career to have a cover song on the actual album, on the main album. So that’s what happened.

But that’s still a song that I wouldn’t expect from you.

Michael Amott: That’s good, right?

Yeah. That is very true. And it’s very cool that you could do that with your 12th album.

Michael Amott: Yeah. Basically we have a strong identity as a band. But at the same time, it’s nice to keep things a little bit moving around and try different things here and there. To keep things interesting for ourselves but also for the fans.

Do you have those kinds of discussions when you hop into the writing process, that we should go to this direction with the music or do these type of songs? Or does everything happen with you naturally?

Michael Amott: More naturally. We don’t really have a manifest with the 12 rules for this album. So it’s kind of all over the place initially. Just write a lot. Write, write, write. And just demo, demo, demo. There’s so much stuff. And then once we have created a lot, it’s just a matter of trying to work on what kind of record we’re going to go for this time. Maybe if we keep working on this piece of music or that song, that would be a cool addition. But then this song is too similar maybe, so let’s save that idea for the future. It’s more of building albums in an organic way. It’s kind of a natural process.

Is all the music on the upcoming album new music? Or is there some songs that have been works for years? Or do you work that way that you have some unfinished ones that you also try to finish at some point?

Michael Amott: Not super old, but there was one song that was kind of written for Deceivers, the previous album. But it was never actually finished. We didn’t come up with a final arrangement for it. It always felt like it’s 90% there, but we needed an extra 10% to make it a proper song. That song was called “Paper Tiger“, but it was without lyrics. So we finished the music for this album, and then I gave the song to Lisa, and she wrote the lyrics. So it feels fresh to me even now, but that was written six or seven years ago maybe, the initial ideas. And then the last song that we wrote for the album was right before we were going to record the drums. I just installed some new recording software on a laptop at home, and I wrote a song just to try it out. And that became a song called “A Million Suns“. So that was right at the end.

So that’s like your Black Sabbath song that you would just fastly do and it’s going to be the best one on the upcoming album.

Michael Amott: Like “Paranoid“, right?

Yeah. There’s several examples. I guess Toto’s Africa was really a bit about the same, that they just did something to finish the album.

Michael Amott: I hope so. That would be great. I hope we have a massive worldwide hit with this song “A Million Suns“. Let’s see.

When you are doing an album, do you normally have like one song finished that sort of centers the album and then you start building it over? Or how does that building process for an entire album happen for you?

Michael Amott: Well, in the beginning, it always feels like a huge mountain we have to climb. It’s so much work involved. I guess the trick is to not really think about that too much and just slowly just walk. It’s like riff by riff, part by part, song by song. And at some point, you have four or five songs and you go like, “Hey, we almost have half a record here.” That’s encouraging.

But are you still already at that point figuring out which song will be the first and sort of still in your mind building it in a way?

Michael Amott: Yeah. There is a thing. It’s easy to come up with these super impactful openings. That’s fun to do. So we always end up with like four or five potential opening tracks. “This is going to be the first song. I can feel it.” Or “This would be a cool opening song live.” And “This could be the first single.” But then in the end, six months later, you might have another couple of songs that are much more suitable for that. It’s difficult to know. But it’s nice to have that enthusiasm. That’s what keeps you going.

Has that remained the same even from the first album up until now?

Michael Amott: The very first album I wrote kind of on my own with very little input. That was a little bit different. I had a little bit of input from the original singer Johan, a little bit from my brother. I had things planned out a lot more on that first record. We didn’t really have a proper line up. I had to be very well prepared. I only had a week to record that album. I had to be very focused. I didn’t even know Daniel, the drummer at the time. We did three rehearsals, then we went into the studio. Since Daniel became a permanent member and we started to become more of a real band on the second or third album, I’m just relying more on individuals. I’ve got each other’s back. The first album, nobody knew what kind of band this was going to be. There was no formula.

So you were basically the only one with the vision.

Michael Amott: Exactly. The first time everybody met was when we did the photo session for that record. It was almost like a project at the beginning, very much thrown together. But it worked well.

Sorry to interrupt, but do you leave the songs nowadays more open in a way that there’s more room for the other guys to do their part?

Michael Amott: Absolutely. Now I’m more like, I don’t think too hard about what the bass is going to play. I might have an idea and suggest it, but Charlie’s got that. He’s going to come up with something great. And Daniel’s drumming, I can come up with something, but if Daniel wants to change, that’s fine. It’s probably going to be better. I’m pretty relaxed about that. I also do lyrics and vocals for a bunch of songs. I do my little demos, send them to Elisa. If she’s got a better idea, then I’m happy to listen to that. She’s a singer, and I’m not. Charlie’s a bass player, and I’m not. And Daniel’s a drummer, and I’m not. It’s nice to be able to rely on other people as well.

What about the guitar? Since you had Chris with the previous albums and now you have Joe, has that changed anything?

Michael Amott: Not really, to be honest. They’re both great guitarists.

You have always been the mastermind when it comes to writing the music, but I thought if there is something that has changed.

Michael Amott: Well, it would be nice to say something. I really enjoyed playing with Jeff. It was great. And I loved what he did in the band, especially live. He was a really powerful performer. And also in the studio, he played great solos. Now Joe is doing a great job too. It’s more about personality. I’ve known Jeff since the late 90s. I have a long-standing relationship. And we’re still friends. All good. I don’t think a lot has changed on that side of things. The guitar arrangements, I have more clear vision about what I want to do and what I want on the albums. Apart from the solos. Whoever is playing guitar with me will come up with their own solos. Usually that’s it.

I remember talking to you about “Deceivers” and you said that you had few arguments with the lyrics and vocal lines with Alissa. How was it with this album and do you feel it is part of the creative process for you?

Michael Amott: In the end, everything worked out great. Those conflicts are part of the process. I think we’re all very passionate. I have these conflicts with Charlie about bass or sounds, or when it comes to the mixes. Even Jens, who produced this album in Sweden, got very into it. He became quite aggressive about some of his ideas he wanted us to do. I respect that. They had passion for the project.

We’re down to try anything. I think everything is worth trying once, see how it feels. I don’t like to shut down ideas before we try them. Also in the writing process, I do most of the music together with Daniel. We have one rule: we try everything. We don’t just shut ideas down from the other person. Sometimes, you put everything together, you add a few different instruments. Now it’s getting more clear. “I understand what you’re talking about. This could be something cool.” Talking about music is like doing interviews. It’s more fun to do it. Music is the same way.

I know you are a music fan, a music collector. You love art, you love music. I love the artwork on the album. You have most likely seen a lot of awful AI art recently in the metal scene. What’s your take on this whole AI thing?

Michael Amott: Without sounding negative, I think it’s terrible. I don’t like it.

I agree.

Michael Amott: I don’t like it. I think AI and this whole thing is great if it can be used to cure cancer, hopefully one day. Do we have to replace art? And the written word? And music? And poetry? Why do we have to?

It’s starting to look like that. More and more people, trying to adjust to this time, they are using AI to create album artworks.

Michael Amott: That’s bullshit, if you ask me. That’s my opinion. I’m into art. I’m interested in the human expression, the human condition, the human spirit. Expressing yourself through art. My art. Other people’s art. That’s what I’m interested in. I’m not interested in machine-made music or machine-made art.

In a case like the track Paper Tiger, which was 90% done and you finished it for this album, would you see using AI to help you finish the song? Or is that also something that is so far away from you?

Michael Amott: That’s very far away from me.

So you wouldn’t use it to help you solve something that you are not able to solve yourself creatively? You need to solve it yourself?

Michael Amott: Yeah, I think so. And I think my limitations or Arch Enemy’s limitations, because there are limitations, of course, for every band, for every artist, for every musician.

Michael Amott: Yeah, I think so. And I think my limitations or Arch Enemy’s limitations, because there are limitations, of course, for every band, every artist, every musician. Those limitations ultimately make a band unique and also how you can work around those limitations or do things differently. We’ve had guitarists in Arch Enemy who have told me that I do things in a very unusual way, but that’s my own way of working. I just try to get to a certain state when I write music, but I don’t overthink it when making music. I’m also a fan of this style of music, and practically my whole life is dedicated to this music, so I hope that means something. The music I make as well as metal music in general are very sacred things to me. I don’t care what some AI thinks about it.

I completely understand what you’re getting at.

Michael Amott: Because if I listen to some of my favorite guitarists, for example, they all have their own unique sound and thing going on. AI can never replace that.

You’re coming to Finland for your own show at the ice hall in November together with Amorphis, Eluveitie, and Gatecreeper. Would you like to say something to your fans about that show in closing?

Michael Amott: It’s great to return to Finland and get to play a tour with Amorphis, Eluveitie, and Gatecreeper. The last time we played in Finland together with In Flames and Soilwork, we were in a bit of a hurry since it was the last show of the tour, but this time we get to enjoy a slightly more relaxed schedule. Everyone come to the show and check out “Blood Dynasty” before the show.