Amon Amarth

Fate of Norns, Amon Amarth’s fifth full-length album, is more of what we’ve come to expect from the band — epic Nordic themes on a rock-solid bed of ferocious but still melodic death metal. Few of the eight tracks grab you by the throat more than any other after the pillaging chords of the opening riff, so the songs tend to blend together if you’re not paying close attention. But that said, several powerful riffs pummel through after that initial attack, rising up again and again as the record moves onward. But what really breaks through the album’s steady groove is the slower almost-ballad and tragic tale "Arson” that falls just before the answering vengeance of closer "Once Sealed in Blood.”