Original Arch Enemy Singer Johan Liiva Joins Band Alumni in Black Earth

Good news for old school Arch Enemy fans! Former members Christopher Amott and Johan Liiva have rejoined some of their old bandmates in a new project dedicated to paying homage to the band's first three records with Liiva on vocals. The project is named after the band's first album, Black Earth, and the group will be hitting the stage for a select series of shows.

The two will join current members -- founder Michael Amott (brother of Christopher), bassist Sharlee D'Angelo and drummer Daniel Erlandsson. D'Angelo joined the band in 1998 and made his debut on their third album, Burning Bridges, which was also the last to feature Liiva fronting Arch Enemy. Commenting on this project, Michael stated, “Very awesome to finally announce this new project Black Earth, which will perform Arch Enemy's first three albums' material live onstage. Old school ’90's lineup. An extensive tour of Japan in May announced today!”

Liiva and Christopher joined Arch Enemy onstage at Japan's Loud Park Festival back in October of last year to perform the classics "Bury Me an Angel," "The Immortal" and "Fields of Desolation." Both musicians have kept busy with other projects over the year with Liiva focusing on Nonexist and Christopher Amott spewing forth more melodic death metal with his outfit Armageddon.

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Black Earth record and so far the band has only booked five dates in Japan. In an interview with Loud.TV, Liiva spoke about the Loud Park appearance, stating, "It was Michael [that asked me to do it]. We're old friends and we speak every now and then on the phone. So he said, soon it's 20 ago, you know — it's an anniversary for the band. And also it's an anniversary for the Loud Park festival. So he was, like, 'Would you like to do this?' And I was, like, 'Ehhh…. Yeah. Yeah, of course I want. For the fans.'"

Arch Enemy have undergone some lineup changes over the last two years with two new faces joining in 2014. After frontwoman Angela Gossow — who replaced Liiva in 2000 — announced she would be stepping down from Arch Enemy, the group tapped the Agonist vocalist Alissa White-Gluz. Former Arsis guitarist Nick Cordle also left the band in 2014, seeing famed ex-Nevermore six-stringer Jeff Loomis join the ranks. War Eternal was the first to feature White-Gluz while Loomis has yet to record a new album with the group.

Black Earth Japanese Tour Dates

5/17 - Tokyo, Japan @ Shibuya Club Quattro
5/19 - Fukuoka, Japan @ Drum Be-1
5/21 - Hiroshima, Japan @ Hiroshima Club Quattro
5/23 - Osaka, Japan @ Umeda Club Quattro
5/24 - Aichi, Japan @ Nagoya Club Quattro
5/27 - Sapporo, Japan @ Lane24 Penny Sapporo

10 Unforgettable Onstage Reunions

Top 25 Extreme Metal Albums