Christopher Amott

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christopher Amott

Christopher Amott (Born 1978 in Halmstad,Sweden) is a Swedish guitar player and vocalist, younger brother of Michael Amott and founding member of the Swedish metal bands Arch Enemy and Armageddon.

1 Biography
2 Equipment
3 Discography
- 3.1 Arch Enemy
- 3.2 Armageddon
4 References

[edit] Biography

Inspired by his older brother Michael Amott's band Carcass, Christopher began studying the guitar at 14, playing in local bands, and eventually attending music college at age 18. With aggressive, fast vibrato, speedy alternate-picking, and fluid lead lines, Christopher's memorable playing style was crafted after such players as John Sykes, Yngwie Malmsteen, Uli Jon Roth, John Norum, and Michael Schenker.

While attending music school in 1996, Michael asked Christoper to record solos for his new melodic death metal project Arch Enemy. The Black Earth album was released in Japan in 1996, and was an instant hit, receiving regular airplay on Japanese MTV. The band were invited to play Japan in 1997, and it was there that Christopher secured a deal for his Armageddon side project. The project began as a melodic death metal band, similar in style to Arch Enemy, but with a more conceptual feel to the lyrics. Armageddon released their first album Crossing the Rubicon on W.A.R. records in 1997. The album featured Peter Wildoer and Martin Bengtsson, who would also go on to record Stigmata with Arch Enemy in 1998. The Stigmata album was again a success in Japan, and was the first Arch Enemy album to be released in the USA, on Century Media records.

With Arch Enemy gaining ground worldwide, Christopher would go on to release Burning Bridges and Burning Japan Live 1999, both in 1999, then take a well deserved break until the latter part of 2000, when Armageddon released their second album Embrace the Mystery on Toy's Factory records in Japan. This time featuring a "melodic" singer, and more of an overall power metal feel, the album was a drastic shift from the straight ahead melodic death metal of Crossing the Rubicon, and marked Christopher's desire to branch out of the "extreme metal" genre.

In 2001, Arch Enemy were joined by new singer Angela Gossow, and the band reached new heights in worldwide popularity with the release of Wages of Sin. After completing an exstensive world tour with Arch Enemy, Christopher returned to his Armageddon project, and released Three in 2002 on Toy's Factory records in Japan. This time featuring Christopher on lead vocals, the album was almost purley a power metal effort, focusing on the melodic singing and guitar work of Christopher.

Arch Enemy released Anthems of Rebellion in 2003, and again embarked on a world tour. In 2005, Arch Enemy entered the studio to record Doomsday Machine, but immediately after the recording, Christopher left Arch Enemy. Christopher later stated that he "wasn't feeling creative musically" in Arch Enemy, and that he "just wasn't into (the band) anymore."

Today Christopher is a music teacher in Sweden, and also attends a university. It is currently unknown if he will return to his Armageddon project, or recording music at all in the future. He says that he still "plays guitar constantly, several hours a day", but also says that "If I do some kind of record it won't be metal". [1]

[edit] Equipment

Christopher Amott is endorsed by Caparison Guitars, Japan. His custom 'Dellinger-CA' guitar (production now discontinued) has two Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickups in the neck and middle position, and a Caparison bridge humbucker.

Caparison Christopher Amott Signature model (with the Arch Enemy logo as the guitar graphic)
D'Addario Strings (11-58 custom set)
Rocktron Hush
Boss TU-2 Tuner
DIGITECH – Digidelay + Multi Chorus
Peavey JSX Amps