Twighlight of the Thunder God (Amon Amarth)

[Venator]

Not sure how many death metal fans we have here, but I typed it up for another board in any case, so I figured, why not share.

General:

Sound:
Possibly not what you'd expect. It's generally lower and bit more de-tuned than With Oden On Our Side, and Johan's vocal timbre has changed noticeably; it's a fair bit lower. It's more straight-forward and "Metal-y" than WOOOS, but it still has a strong melodic element.

Album Art:
Somewhat lacking; the CDs themselves just have the cover art on them, and the booklet is fairly minimalistic, but it has a full two-page on each member. What is there is well done, though.

Value:
Worth mentioning. $15 CAD for a brand-new CD including a full live set on DVD?! That, my friends, is a steal.

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Tracks:

Twighlight of the Thunder God:
It took me a few listens to get me sold on this one. It's somewhat disjointed, and one of the weaker tracks on the album. A poor choice for the first single, but it's a passable track.

Free Will Sacrifice:
Low, driving song about holding the line against invaders. A solid number.

Guardians of Asgard:
A lower, more driving song about defending Asgard from supernatural invaders. Possibly the best pure head-banging track on the album.

Where is Your God?:
Oh, hello Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds, haven't seen you in a while. Very old-school Amarth, and the closest to thrash metal in the last few albums. It's also the first blatantly anti-Christian song in a while. It's not a weak song in any respect, just very different to the rest of the album.

Varyags of Miklagaard:
This warrants some description, since the subject matter is not the typical for Amarth and required a bit of research (okay, Wiki-ing). Varyag (or Varangian) is a historical name for the Vikings. Miklagard was their term for Constantinople. The song itself is about the Varangian Guards, who sailed from Scandinavia to the Byzantine Empire to serve as guards for the Emperor.

That concludes todays lesson.

... what?

Oh, right, the song. Solid, catchy rhythms, one of my favourites.

Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags:
A lengthy epic about a battle between the Einherjar and the hordes of Niflehiem, led by Lopt, this song features an extremely catchy drum roll/guitar beat. Possibly my favourite of the album.

No Fear for the Setting Sun:
Lively and fairly typical Amarth. Not much else to say.

The Hero:
A synthesized/non-typical guitar intro uncommon for this band, giving way to a very fast-paced number. It's the narration of a mercenary, and has a mix of more low-pitched sections and faster portions. Good overall.

Live For The Kill:
A very upbeat number. Good rhythm, with backing melody provided by the cellos of Apocalyptica. Mid-way they give an interlude, which fits in smoothly but adds a noticeable plus to the sound.

Embrace of the Endless Sun:
A long number (6:44), it's generally fairly typical Amon Amarth; the guitar rhythms between (and behind some) vocal sections have a genuinely echoing, haunting quality.

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Overall:

A superb album, and well worth the buy. I would put it on par with With Oden on Our Side.

[FA Xerrik]

I'm actually surprised and glad to see this here, as I was just recommended Amon Amarth on iTunes a day or two ago, and was considering getting some of their music. I like the general sound, and of course I'm always sold on "viking metal," if you like to call it that. If you have any recommendations for the group's work as a whole, I'd be interested to hear some of their best.

[Venator]

I like all of Amarth's work to a varying degree, but the newer the better in my opinion. The further back you go, the less melodic and more hard-line death-metal it gets, with their original EPs being on the verge of thrash metal (hence my comment about "Where is Your God?").

[TithonusSyndrome]

They're basically a power metal band with that dude with the funny teeth on vocals at this point. Standard Century Media fare as far as I see it, right down to the generic studio production.

The further back you go, the less melodic and more hard-line death-metal it gets, with their original EPs being on the verge of thrash metal (hence my comment about "Where is Your God?").

No, that's just how proper old school Swedish death metal a la Unleashed, Grave, Dismember, etc sounds. Well, closer to it, anyways.

I'm actually surprised and glad to see this here, as I was just recommended Amon Amarth on iTunes a day or two ago, and was considering getting some of their music. I like the general sound, and of course I'm always sold on "viking metal," if you like to call it that. If you have any recommendations for the group's work as a whole, I'd be interested to hear some of their best.

Get Versus the World, and then get the first four or five albums by Enslaved and the first three by Ulver instead.