Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
It seems for Amon Amarth time never passes. Founded in 1992 in Tumba, a suburb of Stockholm, in Sweden, the Swedish melodic death metal band has the same passion and heavyness over past of thirty years of career. It is not simple keep going at the same way writing and singing with just two topics: Norse mithology and Vikings.
Amon Amarth is one of the most succesful band of melodic death metal scene. Johan Hegg’s growl is one of the most powerful and pleasant to listen to. And maybe this is the secret of this band above the main topic. Not only Hegg. Amon Amarth has very good musicians as the two guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg, the bassist Ted Lundström, and the ex drummer Fredrik Andersson. Now there is Jocke Wallgren playing drums since the year 2016.
The few lineup changes is another one of their strenghts. Amon Amarh could be see as group of friends before than a band. Five guys decided to embrace their Viking and Norse roots and turn on in music. A bet, a gamble, but in the end they were right. And from 1998, the year of the debut album Once Sent from the Golden Hall, Amon Amarth still rocks (or metals), with Vikings epic battle and tales of Norse Mithology.
So the Viking storytellers come back with the new album “The Allfather Awakens”. In Norse mithology Odin is considered the Father of the Allfather. And I think we all have learnt this concept. “For Odin” is the battle cry Vikings used to shouted out loud in war against enemies. If you survive you got Odin’s grace, if you succumb you have got a Valhalla’s place. Yes, I unintentionally create a rhyme and I like it.
“The Allfather Awakens” is not a concept album about Odin, but it’s something closer to a tribute. The songs tell stories about epic tales of conflicts and sacrifice for a greeter good. The band has worked on this album while still on tour. They have written music before lyrics, and for a specific arrengement told a different story. As the band said, they played track by track for not overload the work. The first single taken out from the album is the powerful “Gjallarhorn“, the second track is the second single “Eight legs of Thunder.”
These two tracks along with “We Rules the Wave” have the most melodic lines of the album. We can feel the rudeness in “Kvasir’s Blood” and “Die with a War Cry“, the heaviest songs of this album. Then we have the epic ride intro in “Raven God“, and the infuence of Italian composer Vivaldi in the intro of “Oden’s Hunt“. The guitar riff seems imitate the sound of a violin. “The Allfather Awakes” maybe is the weakest track of the album. And there is a particularly attention in the last track as in “Ascending Like an Eagle” in this work. As in the every Amon Amarth‘s album. A song that includes all the peculiarity of the album.
Besideds, Amon Amarth has experimented even the first folk/acoustic song in their discography, but always with the voice in growl: “Upphaf“. The lyric of “Upphaf“ has taken out from the first of five stanza of Völuspá, and that’s Poetic Edda’s opening. These verses deal with the myth of the creation of the cosmos, talking about ancient giants, the original void, and the formation of the earth and sky.
This thirteenth album is solid, heavy, rude and even introspective. It’s not the best album of the Swedish band, but sure a good work.
Tracklist:
