Michael Amott — born in Sweden in 1969 — is the guitarist who bridged British death metal and the Swedish scene, and the founder of Arch Enemy. He joined Carcass in time to record Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious (1991) and Heartwork (1993), precisely the period in which the band abandoned the chaos of the early records for melodic riffs, harmonies in thirds and structured solos. His guitar is central to that turn: the melodic vocabulary he brought from the Scandinavian tradition is what made Carcass a band one could hum. Heartwork became the model for melodic death metal, and Amott took that formula with him when he returned to Sweden. He founded Arch Enemy in 1995 with his brother Christopher, and there systematised what he had helped create — guitars harmonised in two voices, instrumental hooks and vocal aggression over a melodic base. The band became one of the genre's most popular and projected the Swedish scene internationally. He also maintains Spiritual Beggars, a 1970s-style hard rock project with Hammond organ, in a register entirely distinct from extreme metal. He took part in Carcass's return in the mid-2000s before concentrating on Arch Enemy.
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