At this point I was no longer "a member of the family". However, what I didn't realize at this very moment, was that life would actually take a turn for the better, believe it or not. I don't want anyone to get me wrong here. I am damn happy and proud of - as for the 5 and a half years I had with this band. It was amazing most of the time. Not many people are privileged enough to for example tour and see places like I did. Then I could easily go on forever about "why" and "how" and so freakin' on. But I won't. At least not right now. I enjoyed every single moment - from the womb.. to the tomb, hehe....;)
Just about a year later, in the fall of 1995 it was time for music again. Mike (Amott) called me and said he had this new band in the making, aimed for some sort of death/thrash metal. We met up in Halmstad, I brought my riffs and we immediately started off writing songs for what we decided to call Arch Enemy (a name we loved since the tape trading days, there was this american band who quit after one or a few classic demos, so it was kinda free for us to inhabit), still at this time without drummer and 2nd guitarist. After a while Christopher Amott and Daniel Erlandsson found themselves in the A.E. HQ’s. In early 1996 the debut album “Black Earth” (Wrong Again Records) was born. In my opinion, a milestone in modern metal – and also: the most brutal, intense and powerful album I’ve ever been part of! Along with this a video was made for the song "Bury Me An Angel".
After a few minor tours in Europe (who can ever forget the debut gig in Wahlsrode, Germany?!? Daaamn, I better find some pics a.s.a.p - me throwing up and having a bucket next to me on stage.. very professional indeed, hahaha) and a bunch of shows in Sweden, we were heading east: to support Cathedral for 3 shows in Japan! Wowsers! (and I had just cut my hair.. had the looks of a french prince out of the 16th century or sthg – shit!!) Said and done, we went there and made a (more than) decent impression (I made some kind of a samurai pony tail of my hair btw *lol*) on the metal fans over there (by this time we already sold 15.000 copies of the debut album in the land of the uprising sun), so after coming back to Sweden we simply just wanted MORE. The return to reality and all of its obstacles and "have to's" really, really sucked. It was damn hard to descend once being back home. Especially after our first visit in Japan.
Something happened in the Arch-camp, meaning Daniel was unfortunately never with us in Japan. Replaced by magnificent drummer Peter Wildoer (Darkane) and also a guy on bass, Martin Bengtsson. It worked out pretty neat anyways. Except for sharing a room with Martin.. he got so pissed (= drunk), called home from the room phone (talking to his dad about just nothing I guess) and using his soft air gun all over the place. Pieces of glass flew like mosquitos through the room # 411 at Keio Plaza. Wow! That was so cool.. yeah right!! And imagine my face when we were checking out and they passed me the bill, oh holy lord of damnation! It all resulted in Wez grabbing his fat wallet and paying up for us (him).. memorable moments huh? Yeah, and this was just one of many to come, hahaha...
A while after this, hungry to proceed the sequel to “Black Earth” – there was “Stigmata”. For me personally it was never to be connected with good memories really. I lost my voice just after a few songs, still no time to loose, we decided to go on with the vocal dubs. It was to become the A.E. album that I was the least pleased with. Still, the songs are excellent! I love "Tears of the dead", it's def one of my faves. Now, a new label was involved too: Century Media, thus giving us less control, as of for example the choice of artwork on the releases etc. (the european version of the 2nd album looks terrible really.. see it here! Just as equally terrible as the artwork of the 2nd Hearse album, “Armageddon, mon amour”.
Another round of shows and then off to Japan once again, this time with a 90-minute set + encore(-s) *pew!* ... after a few screw ups (mainly by the bassplayer making a total fool of himself after finishing 1 litre of Absolut) (no Sharlee, you weren't in the band at this point ;) ), the band entered another phase in its career. Daniel was back on drums already. Martin was out and replaced by Petter Andreasson (a.k.a. Sharlee d’Angelo). In the hectic and weird year of 1999, a 3rd album was about to see the light of day (“Burning Bridges”), the shoot for "The Immortal" down in the subterrains of a Lazerdome in Malmö, a 5 week european tour with In Flames, Children of Bodom and Dark Tranquillity, a festival in Santiago de Chile (where I actually met my ex-wife :S ), a trip to Japan as headliners, a show in London supporting Cradle of Filth and last but not least - my last tour ever with the band: supporting Nevermore on a 3 week north american tour in January 2000. In October the same year I was informed that they wanted to yet again take the band further, to another level or dimension.
