If you were hoping for a return of Johan Liiva in Arch Enemy, you have to read this

Johan Liiva, the original Arch Enemy singer, has discussed if he may return to the group after veteran vocalist Alissa White-Gluz abruptly left, as reported by blabbermouth.net. Before being replaced by Angela Gossow in 2000, Liiva made three albums with Arch Enemy: “Black Earth” (1996), “Stigmata” (1998), and “Burning Bridges” (1999). In response to an inquiry from a fan on social media, Liiva discussed a potential future with his old band. Johan responded as follows when asked if he was “going back” to Arch Enemy now that Alissa had left the group.

No, I am not. I am just as surprised as all of you. I think Alissa was perfect for AE. The mystery goes on…

In a social media post on Sunday, November 23, Arch Enemy announced White-Gluz’s departure from the group. Her departure was not explained. Alissa released “The Room Where She Died,” the lead single from her upcoming debut solo album, after announcing the split in a separate post on her Facebook site.

Onn the same day, Guitarist Michael Amott has shared the news that his father has passed away.

In 2016, Liiva formed a new group called Black Earth with current Arch Enemy members Michael Amott (guitar), Daniel Erlandsson (drums), and Sharlee D’Angelo (bass), as well as former Arch Enemy guitarist Christopher Amott. The group finished a tour of Japan while live performing songs from Arch Enemy‘s first three albums. Liiva and Christopher Amott had already joined Arch Enemy for the band’s performance at the 2015 Loud Park festival in Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

This is what Liiva stated after parting ways with the band.

Actually, I wasn’t that angry. I was just kind of shocked and kind of disappointed, because I wasn’t expecting it. But you just have to deal with it and accept what happened. Then, a few years later, I realized, ‘Okay, this is what it’s like. It’s the music business. [Arch Enemy mainman/guitarist Michael Amott] wants to make a living from his music, he wants to make the band like that.’ And, honestly, at the end, I wasn’t putting too much of my energy into the band; I had so many other things on my agenda, unfortunately. So it was like a mixture of all these things. I was not focused, maybe. So I totally understand it. But then again, many fans were really angry and they all supported me, and I thanked them so much for that. And now they see me doing this show in Loud Park and they wonder what the fuck is going on. You know what I mean? That I don’t stand for my values or… But it’s not like that. It was a very difficult thing back then.