Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup, from Halmstad, formed in 1996. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, and Eucharist. It was founded by Carcass guitarist Michael Amott along with Johan Liiva, who were both originally from the influential death metal band Carnage. The band has released ten studio albums, two live albums, three video albums and three EPs. The band was originally fronted by Johan Liiva, who was replaced by German Angela Gossow as lead vocalist in 2000. Gossow left the band in March 2014 and was replaced by Canadian Alissa White-Gluz,

while remaining as the group's manager.

Arch Enemy, the brainchild of Michael Amott (Carcass, Carnage, and Spiritual Beggars), was originally assembled when Amott left Carcass. He and his younger brother Christopher (Armageddon) joined with vocalist Johan Liiva (ex-Carnage, Furbowl, Devourment) and then-session drummer Daniel Erlandsson (Eucharist) in what Michael called "an attempt to merge melody with aggression and technicality".^{[citation needed]}

The band's debut, entitled Black Earth was recorded in Studio Fredman and released by the now defunct Wrong Again Records in 1996. It obtained a fair amount of success in Japan, achieving MTV rotation with their first single "Bury Me an Angel", as well as moderate success in Sweden. At this point, Arch Enemy was more of a "solo effort" than a full band; Michael Amott wrote most of the songs himself, and even played bass guitar on the album, contrary to the album's liner notes, which listed vocalist Johan Liiva as handling bass duties. Amott later revealed that he had the credits listed that way to make the album seem more of a "band" effort. Many consider it to be the band's most aggressive album, a trait that was softened to some degree on its following releases, but never abandoned.

After the release of Black Earth the band switched labels, signing a contract with Century Media. In 1998 Arch Enemy released Stigmata, for which bassist Martin Bengtsson and drummer Peter Wildoer joined the band. The album caught the attention of a wider audience, gaining popularity in both Europe and America. This was also the first Arch Enemy album to be released worldwide.

In 1999, Sharlee D'Angelo assumed the role of Arch Enemy's bassist, and Daniel Erlandsson was once again recruited to handle drum duties, this time on a permanent basis. Burning Bridges was released, and was soon followed by the live album Burning Japan Live 1999, which was initially a release limited to Japan, but later given worldwide distribution due to strong demand.^{[citation needed]} During the touring-cycle for Burning Bridges, Sharlee D'Angelo was temporarily replaced twice; first by Dick Lövgren (Meshuggah, ex-Armageddon) and then by Roger Nilsson (ex-Spiritual Beggars, Firebird, The Quill). Burning Bridges marked a shift in Arch Enemy's core sound, now opting for a more melodic approach, while still keeping the original melodic death metal-sound first heard on the first two albums

The first album with songs featuring Gossow was Wages of Sin, released in 2001. This is also the first album where the band used C tuning, which they have kept until