Finding a band as committed to their craft as Amon Amarth is a rare thing these days. It is now ten years and six albums since their debut Once Sent From The Golden Hall and not only have they managed to keep a reasonably stable line-up since then, they have also stayed true to their original intentions. They still deal in intensely heavy death metal and song topics still revolve entirely around Viking warriors and Norse mythology.
What they sacrifice in originality though they make up for by being arguably the most reliable death metal act in the world. The music may be predictable but over the course of seven albums the band have perfected their craft and Twilight Of The Thunder God is everything long term fans have come to expect.
Twilight Of The Thunder God
Starting as they mean to go on, the title track is one of those opening songs that are spoken of in hushed tones. A wonderfully dark guitar melody leads the listener across a sonic landscape of the end of the world. Vocalist Johan Hegg growls like something from a Japanese monster movie and guest musician Roope Latvala (six stringer for Children of Bodom) leaves his mark with one deliriously energetic guitar solo.
In the following forty three minutes there is no let up on the furious pace and only the arrival of Finnish cello maestros Apocalyptica on Live For The Kill allows room to breathe, their sinister arrangement lending the track a sombre air for a few precious seconds before it plummets headlong back into the maelstrom.
The big question here of course is whether this is a CD worth buying when it sticks so rigidly to the tried and proven formula? Undoubtedly so. Amon Amarth may have left originality on the shores of some distant land many years past, but their passion has not diminished one bit.
Teaching an old Viking new tricks: the Heavy Metal Genre Album
In short, everything about this album stands as a testament to what makes heavy metal such an endearing genre. The music may be heavier than a lifesize concrete replica of a 747 but it is nonetheless surprisingly catchy; third song Guardians Of Asgaard in particular is nigh on guaranteed to be a single at some point.
Then there is the imagery. Younger bands could learn a lot from Amon Amarth as there aren't many ways more effective at making an album stand out on the CD racks of HMV than having Thor battling the Midgard Serpent in a rain lashed ocean on the cover.
Ten years of Viking metal: Celebrating Amon Amarth
Amon Amarth are a band at the top of their game. In the years since they first set sail in their Longboat, they have polished and upgraded the vessel into a sleek, perfected machine of war. Like Motorhead before them they're unlikely to deviate from what has gone before, but their enthusiasm for their chosen subject matter only makes them more endearing. This is an essential purchase for extreme music fans, especially the triple disc special edition which features a full set from last year's Summer Breeze Festival as a bonus.
 |
