Album of the week: Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods

 

To the idea behind the album of the week, go here.

I closely followed Amon Amarth in the heydays of my metal phase all the way up to With Odin on our Side and always appreciated their unique branch of melodic death metal. Since then, I've lost track of them which is why I picked one of their more recent albums as my album of the week.

At first listen, the record sounded very much like your typical Amon Amarth record: fast and slow melodic songs interchanging, viking lyrics and Johan's characteristic (but still understandable) growl. On second listen though, some minor changes stuck out. 

Firstly, though there are still your neck-breaking fast songs there ("Deceiver of the Gods", "Blood Eagle"), there is at least to my ears a little more groovy, almost heavy-metal based (at times thrashy) riffing interspersed throughout the songs. In fact, the heavy metal influence seems to strech a little further: on some songs you can even hear melodic Iron Maiden-esque twin guitars. 

Additionally, there is also a little experimentation going on with the vocals: On some songs, you have actual choruses singing along and on "Hel", you have Messiah Marcolin's (from Candlemass) clean vocals singing along with Johan during the chorus. Clearly, there was a desire felt by the band to diverge - if only in a few instances - from the well-trodden path laid out in previous records.

The record on the whole is a fine, slightly more experimental Amon Amarth record than I anticipated. To me, however, it lacks the memorable songs of earlier records (such as "Death in Fire", "Fate of Norns", "Gods of War Arise", etc.).

Standout tracks: "Under Siege" & the anthemic "Warriors of the North"