What can you say about this incredibly beautiful woman? If you have seen her, you know her icy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes betray exactly what she is deep in her soul. This hard rocking, death metal lead singer of the band Arch Enemy can stop any man in his tracks when he looks at her. She can also stop the BrainGell chat room in the middle of a hot debate on a Friday night once Berube told an inquiring listener that the band was Arch Enemy, and the lead singer was Angela Gassow. All at once, the entire chat room asked if the lead singer was a chick. Berube said yes, and for the four minutes it took to play the song, the debate we were in the middle in was put on hold. As a room of 18 or so people tried to figure out how a woman wound up with a voice made for death metal. In my personal opinion, she has a great voice. I have even begun to download Arch Enemy songs from ITUNES because I genuinely like them so much. They may not be the old fogy arena rock as one reader put it, that I usually prefer, but they are good. So I decided I was going to set out and find out more about the mysterious Ms. Gassow.

It is hard to believe that this beautiful woman with charisma and looks that jump off the page, without hearing a note may seem better suited for the Pussy Cat Dolls rather than death metal is the lead singer for Arch Enemy. Nonetheless, her voice is nature made and not only does she keeps up with her male counterparts, but oftentimes she kicks their asses. Before I really got into doing research on her, I had imagined a woman who had a hard edged look, smoked 5 packs of cigarettes a day for at least 15 years that fortunately does not seem to be the case.

Angela was born in Cologne, Germany in early November, making her a Scorpio. That fact may not mean much to many of you, but to a Scorpion female it means everything; power, sexuality, extremes, a certain innate wildness, a world where you see almost everything as black and white. There are no grey areas, and most of all you always get what you want, no matter what it may cost you. Angela has said that she had a great childhood until she hit puberty, when all hell broke loose. She was a bitter, bitchy teenager whose disposition went from all sugar to scorpion stingers if you happened into her direction. She traded her mainstream rock and roll collection for the hard edged sounds of groups like Carcass, Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse.

During her turbulent teen years she turned to music for solace. Besides puberty she also had to deal with her parents divorce and severe eating disorders. For Angela, Music was her friend, her confidant, her outlet. In 1991 she had joined her first death metal band Asmodina. Right on the heels of joining the band at 17 she left home. She had done that because at home and in school she was an outsider, she wore strange clothing and listened to horrible music (according to her peers). In her mind she had to leave to find herself.

She did finish school and went on to specialize in marketing taking online classes, and simultaneously began studying economics at Cologne University in Germany. Even with her academic plate full, she never stopped growling. In 1997 Asmodina broke up for good and Angela formed a new band called Mistress. They had built up quite a following playing gigs every weekend, as well as recording demos. In her wildest dreams though she never thought she could make it a career. She really thought it was a pipe dream, so she began writing for an online music magazine. Writing for the magazine was where her pipe dream started to become a reality. She was sent to do an interview with Arch Enemy for their Burning Bridges tour in 1999 in Bochum, Germany. Little did she know that day would change her life forever.

When she had gone to meet them, she had a demo tape of her band Mistress to give to Christopher Amott. Christopher took it back to the tour bus, possibly at of sheer surprise that there was a female growl singer. In the fall of 2000 she received a call from Amott himself asking her if she would like to come and audition to be the new lead singer since Johan Liiva had left the band, and they where now in the market for a new lead singer for Arch Enemy. Excited as hell, she thought fuck yea I’ll be there!

It is rather obvious she got the job of lead singer, but that does not mean it was all smooth sailing. Right before they where to head off for their first concert tour; she had lost her voice entirely. She had nodules on her vocal cords. Years of growling and screaming without any technique had taken its toll. The band must have really adored her because they stuck by her 6 month stint of vocal rehab. During this time she had to do physical therapy for her voice, throwing away all her old habits, and learning all new ones. Angela had to learn new ways of speaking, breathing and screaming. She says she is happy today that this happened to her, it has helped her through many issues in the studio and on tour while doing live shows. Unlike pop singers for example, who also get voice training for their singing, screaming and growling is much harder on your vocal cords and needs even more care than most singing styles would.

Once Angela was totally up to par Angela finally saw her dreams come true, and Arch Enemy began to see their greatest Success’s ever. Their 2001/2002 critically acclaimed Wages of Sin Album was the first taste of success for Angela who got glowing reviews, and showed the world that a female can front a death metal band just as hard rocking as any male. Following the hot selling album came the year long sold out tour. The tour took Arch Enemy all over the world where their following just continued to grow and intensify as they moved from continent to continent.

Since the release of Arch Enemy’s first album with Angela on the Microphone since their 2001/2002 album, their popularity continues to grow, as does Angela’s as her own person. Angela has been voted “best vocalist” in the Japanese Magazine Burrn!, and is known as one of the top extreme vocalist around the world. Her beautiful face graces magazines all over the world as well. Not bad for a girl who was recording music as an outlet, who thought her screaming and growling would never go anywhere. From where I sit, it seems she is going everywhere and there is no stopping this vocal powerhouse from Germany.