Amom Amarth

Sticking to familiar bodies of water, the Viking battalion known as Amon Amarth continue to wage war on the metal world’s villagers, pillaging the coasts of brutality with a steady arsenal of merciless tremolo attacks and ceaseless, beefy beats. Tales of battle, death, and aspirations of reaching Valhalla conceptually underwrite their typical blackened Euro riffing and double bass-laden battery. If there’s one reason AA stand out it is because that they can’t really be mistaken for anyone else. Their take on melody always proceeds at mid-tempo, with epic leads textured over steady riffing, leaving their sound and style honed to be their own. Older fans, knowledgeable of their catalogue may not find this release to be overly spectacular because, as mentioned, they’ve sailed these seas many times before. This isn’t to undermine the record’s value because though it’s nothing new for AA, it’s still extremely well produced and written. This far into their career, exactly what has failed to gain them a huge audience remains a mystery as With Oden on Our Side delivers another testimony to their excellence.