After several friends highly recommended Grand Magus’ latest record, I decided to give it a quick listen. I tried out the first two tracks on the record, “On Hooves of Gold” and “Steel Versus Steel,” and thought the retro metal sound wasn’t bad, but it didn’t immediately connect with me.
Three or four hours later, when the chorus of “Steel Versus Steel” was still running through my head, I decided that it was time to more fully explore Triumph and Power. The tune wouldn’t have been at all out of place on a classic Judas Priest record, and it kind of sets the tone for what Grand Magus delivers on this record.
I remember once reading a review that said something to the effect that to not like Amon Amarth was to not like heavy metal. I wish I’d written that because I wholeheartedly concur.
Amon Amarth represents all that I love about the raw power of the genre. It’s ugly, it’s gnarly, it’s brutal, but at the same time there’s a great beauty in what these Vikings do. It speaks to some primal instinct in me, makes me want to pound my chest and gnaw a little bloody meat right off the bone. It’s why when I get ready for a workout, the playlist is filled with their stuff.
On Deceiver of the Gods, the band doesn’t change up a whole lot. Amon Amarth at its best combines a death metal intensity with the grooves and melody of classic heavy metal. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
"Surtur Rising" is an Amon Amarth album. Ultimately, that should be all I have to say in this review.
Few metal bands in recent memory have had a more consistent output than Amon Amarth, and while they’re not big on progression or trying new things, there’s certainly something to be said for knowing what you’re going to get when you hit the play button. In that, our Viking friends don’t disappoint.
All the elements are here: bludgeoning guitar riffs, Johan Hegg’s rage-filled growls about Viking heroes and villains and songs that are just as melodic as they are heavy. Surtur Rising won’t rank as the band’s best outing by a long shot, but it’s another worthy entry in the catalog.
My introduction to Tyr came a few years back when I was asked to take on "Eric the Red" for another site. I’d read rave reviews about it all over the Web, but personally, I was unimpressed. In all honesty, I found the record fairly boring. It’s been a while since that review, and I really hadn’t thought much else about the band from the Faroe Islands. Now, I’m faced with their latest, "By the Light of the Northern Star." Maybe they’ve changed or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been enjoying a lot more folk metal lately, but whatever the case, this record is a completely different experience.
"By the Light of the Northern Star" grabbed me instantly with the majestic opening riff of “Hold the Heathen Hammer High” (video below) which morphed into a blazing power metal-influenced lick. But the icing on the cake is the chorus, which is just killer - chest-pounding, testosterone-driven bravado delivered with an infectious melody. “Trondor I Gotu” keeps the winning streak going with a great guitar riff after the opening chanting. The verse of the song brings in the first hint of 1980s rock influence that will get bigger later in the album. (Not to worry, they haven’t gone hairy, but there are certainly some more commercial threads running through some of the tracks.)
That ’80s sound is most noticeable on the opening of “Northern Gate,” which opens with a big sing-along style chant that will return throughout the song. The tune, like a few others here, has a very heavy Manowar vibe to it. That’s most notable on “By the Sword in My Hand,” which with Eric Adams on vocals would practically be a Manowar tune. That doesn’t stop it from being one of the better moments on the record, though, with that huge, warrior-metal chorus.
Things taper off a bit after that track, though. “Ride” has a bit too much of the 1980s influence in it for my tastes. “Hear the Heathen Call” and the title track aren’t bad songs, but they don’t stand up to the songs that came earlier on the album.
The record closes with two brief instrumentals which are both quite nice. “The Northern Lights” is an acoustic folk number, and I’m a sucker for those. It’s a well-done piece that just doesn’t last long enough. “Anthem” is a more bombastic classical-influenced number in the vein of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
One problem that I had with Eric the Red was in the vocal department, but there are no problems here. Heri Joensen’s vocals are spot-on for the style, as are all of the instruments. In fact, I’ve got no complaints at all with By the Light of the Northern Star. I think I’ll have to go back and check out the last few to see what I might have missed.
I’ve admitted before that I’m a sing-along sort of guy, and I sometimes have a problem with records that are not in English for that reason. On the other hand, I can’t complain about weak lyrics when I don’t understand any of them. So maybe it all comes out in the wash.
So, I’m faced with the latest from Norwegian folk metal outfit Glittertind, Glittering Tine in English. "Landkjenning," which translates to "Landing," "Landfall" or "Landsighting" in English depending on where you look it up, is a bit of a concept album that revolves around Norwegian poetry and history. It covers the years of Norway’s Christianization and the conflict between the new religion and the old ways. I’m taking the word of the press notes that came with the record on that. Perhaps some of our Norwegian brethren will straighten it out if that’s not the case.
Anyway, on to the important part - the music. And it’s quite an interesting mix, ranging from straight-on folk to metal to some really fun numbers. Chief among the latter tracks is the only one sung in English, “Longships and Mead.” The accordion-driven number is actually a little out of place after the more somber mood of the first three tracks, sounding more like the pirate sounds of Alestorm. It would be a great drinking song, though, and it serves as a bit of a turning point in the record as much of the rest of the record falls more into Korpiklaani or Alestorm territory. “Varder in Brann” continues the more upbeat sound with an entertaining reel. “Jeg Snorer Min Sekk” has an almost pop-punk feel, only with a flute riff in the middle.
Toward the end, things turn back toward the more somber with the soft “Mot Myrke Vetteren.” Not quite as good as the ballad “Gar Min Eigen Veg” that came earlier on the record, it still brings the reflective feel of the earlier part of the record back. “Brede Seil Over Nordsjo Gar” returns to the march-like sounds that opened the record with the title track, and the record closes on a very traditional note with the organ-heavy instrumental “Overmate Full Av Nade.”
Perhaps the darker, more serious songs at the beginning and end are meant to reflect the more rigid Christianity, while the lighter, more carefree side reflects the previous pagan ways. I like the idea that the record was arranged that way, and I’ll go with it unless someone fluent in Norwegian corrects me on the assumption.
All in all, I find "Landkjenning" a quite entertaining record despite my inability to grasp what most of the songs are truly about. I will admit to preferring the middle section of the record, which is much more light-hearted and great fun. It’s the kind of stuff that I’d like to clink a pint of mead to, and those songs lead me to give "Landkjenning" a hearty recommendation to fans of Alestorm and Korpiklaani.
Not sure how I managed to miss posting my original review of this one, but here it is:
Two years is really too long to wait for another blast of the pure, unadulterated Viking berserker rage that is Amon Amarth. Fans of the band will find few surprises on their latest record, "Twilight of the Thunder God." Still, it definitely ranks among the band's best, even surpassing 2006's excellent "With Oden on Our Side."
For those unfamiliar, Amon Amarth comes from the school known as Viking metal, which means their songs are mostly about, you guessed it, Vikings. However, far from being cheesy and cartoonish, the music truly captures the spirit of its subject. It's a harsh and brutal music, but at the same time it can be quite grandiose and oddly beautiful. Just take a listen to the epic riffing that opens "Varyags of Miklagaard" for an example.
The songs on the record really capture both the feel of the romanticized version of the Viking life -- sailing over the seas to glory and victory -- in the soaring, epic moments, and the harsh realities of what it must have really been like in gritty and ugly passages. You can feel the spray of the ocean in some of the more glorious moments, and feel the droning beat of the oars on songs like "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags."
I've never been a huge fan of death metal because I can't get into the monotonous grunting of their vocalists, and I prefer strong melodies to speed and technicality. Amon Amarth, while often pushed into the death metal genre largely because of Johan Hegg's vocals, is really a breed of its own. They blend the brutality and heaviness of death with an old school sense of melody. That becomes apparent on numbers like "Guardians of Asgaard," which has a real old-fashioned hard rock vibe at times.
They do occasionally follow the death metal formula, as on the album's weakest cut "Where is Your God?," which is the only definite skip here, but that's the exception rather than the rule with Amon Amarth. Their music is about as heavy as you can get, but there's a strong sense of melody that runs through each and every song. You need look no further for it than the title track, which opens the record, to hear the combination.
Amon Amarth brings aboard some guest stars for the first time on "Twilight of the Thunder God." Entombed's L.G. Petrov guests on "Guardians of Asgaard," Children of Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala provides a guitar solo on the title track and the cellists of Apocalyptica add some interesting atmosphere to "Live for the Kill." While Petrov and Apocalyptica lend their own sound to the songs, like the Vikings they sing about, Amon Amarth overpowers those influences to make the songs 100 percent their own.
"Twilight of the Thunder God" delivers everything you'd expect from the band. Hegg's voice drips with testosterone, the riffing of Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg is tight and precise, and drummer Fredrik Andersson bashes the skins like they're the skulls of the enemy. It's time to grab the horned helmets and beat your swords against your shields again. Amon Amarth is back, and as good as ever.
If this song doesn't get you pumped up, it's time to cut your hair, retire the spiked wristband and hang up the horns. Though they've been doing Viking metal for as long as they've been around, this is perhaps one of the most Viking songs Amon Amarth has ever done in my mind.
It's all about that first verse. The guitar, drums and bass all join together on those hammering downbeats and Johan Hegg snarls out each word on the beat, holding out the last in a guttural war cry.
Raise your swords up high,
See the black birds fly,
Let them hear your rage,
Show no fear
There's just something so utterly primal about that short piece of music. It's the kind of piece that so many metal bands long to write, but few ever accomplish. It just makes you want to jump up and grab a sword and go out and kill something -- or it should.
Don't turn the sound down after that, though, because there's nice work elsewhere on this track. Guitarists Johan Soderberg and Olli Miikonen deliver up some tasty melodic work, and the entire band is tight, as is always the case with Amon Amarth. The rest of the track is a testosterone-raging battle hymn, as well, proving again that, despite what a lot of death metal bands think, you don't have to abandon melody to write a brutally heavy song.
But without that first verse, it's just a pretty good Amon Amarth tune. With that verse, it's a berserker battle cry that the metal gods can't possibly ignore.
My introduction to Tyr came a few years back when I was asked to take on "Eric the Red" for another site. I’d read rave reviews about it all over the Web, but personally, I was unimpressed. In all honesty, I found the record fairly boring. It’s been a while since that review, and I really hadn’t thought much else about the band from the Faroe Islands. Now, I’m faced with their latest, "By the Light of the Northern Star." Maybe they’ve changed or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been enjoying a lot more folk metal lately, but whatever the case, this record is a completely different experience.
Not sure how I managed to miss posting my original review of this one, but here it is:
