Christopher Amott

Christopher Amott (2008)

Christopher Amott (born November 23, 1977 in Sweden ) is a Swedish guitarist who grew up in Halmstad and founder of the bands Arch Enemy and Armageddon. He is the younger brother of Michael Amott .

biography

Christopher started playing the guitar at the age of 14 after being inspired by his older brother Michael Amott's band Carcass . At 18 he enrolled in the music college. His style of aggressive, fast vibrato, fast riffs and flowing melodies was mainly shaped by musicians such as John Sykes , Yngwie Malmsteen , Uli Jon Roth , John Norum and Michael Schenker .

During his music studies he was invited by his brother to join the newly formed band Arch Enemy. Amott accepted the offer and achieved great popularity, especially in Japan , with the release of the album Black Earth in 1996. The following year he founded the death metal band Armageddon as a side project, which immediately brought out the first album Crossing the Rubicon . At Armageddon, Christopher Amott tried to put more emphasis on the overall concept of the lyrics than was the case with Arch Enemy.

With Arch Enemy Amott released the albums Stigmata (1998), Burning Bridges and Burning Japan Live 1999 (both in 1999). He then took a break until 2000, when Armageddon released their second album Embrace the Mystery . The style of Armageddon experienced a drastic change in the direction of Power Metal , mainly because melodic vocals were now used. This can be seen as Amott's attempt to pursue a career outside of extreme metal .

With Angela Gossow; Amott uses his Dellinger CA here

In 2001 Angela Gossow joined Arch Enemy as the new singer, whereupon the band was able to increase their popularity again with the album Wages of Sin . After the world tour with Arch Enemy, Amott released the album Three with Armageddon in 2002 . The chosen path to Power Metal was continued here, with the emphasis on the vocals and guitar playing that Amott himself contributed.

After the next release of Arch Enemy ( Anthems of Rebellion , 2003) and subsequent tour, Amott left the band in 2005 after the recordings for the follow-up album Doomsday Machine were completed. Amott later said that he "didn't feel musically creative" [in Arch Enemy] and therefore felt uncomfortable with the band.

Amott spent the next two years in Sweden, where he taught music and attended university again.

In 2007 he returned to Arch Enemy while recording their current album Rise of the Tyrant and is now a permanent member of the band. On March 5, 2012 Amott left the band again.

After returning to Armageddon, the band released the studio album Captivity & Devourment in early 2015 .

He has been supporting Dark Tranquility as a live guitarist since 2017 . After Niklas Sundin's departure , Amott was promoted to a permanent member of the band.

Equipment

Christopher designed his own signature guitar for Caparison , the Dellinger-CA (is currently no longer in production). Occasionally he also uses a modified ESP Horizon, for example on the Live Apocalypse DVD .

Discography

Arch Enemy

• Black Earth (1996)
• Stigmata (1998)
• Burning Bridges (1999)
• Burning Japan Live 1999 (1999)
• Wages of Sin (2001)
• Burning Angel (2002)
• Anthems of Rebellion (2003)
• Dead Eyes See No Future (2004, EP)
• Doomsday Machine (2005)
• Rise of the Tyrant (2007)

Armageddon

• Crossing the Rubicon (1997)
• Embrace the Mystery (2000)
• Three (2002)
• Captivity & Devourment (2015)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview with Christopher Amott after he left Arch Enemy ( Memento from June 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ARCH ENEMY and Christopher Amott part ways, recruit replacement.
3. ↑ DARK TRANQUILITY Officially Welcomes Guitarists CHRIS AMOTT And JOHAN REINHOLDZ. Blabbermouth.net, accessed March 31, 2020 . 

Web links

Commons : Christopher Amott  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Christopher Amott on MySpace ( Memento from September 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )