Amon Amarth
Once Sent From The Golden Hall
Metal Blade
Viking Power!
Amon Amarth burst open the fiery gates and declare, “any subliminal messages on this recording are purely incidental!” Good start.
Putting the Satanic crap aside, Amon Amarth represent a band of conquerors who inspire monks to pray for deliverance from “… the Vikings.” Their music is at once so brutal, so powerful, so majestic in its celebration of lives dedicated to the battle axe.
Their music is so great, so clear, it could, and should, be used for soundtracks to fantasy epics; ones where the bad guys always triumph – because they’re stronger than the good guys! The band’s own anthem “Amon Amarth,” is put together with the craftsmanship one would assign to a city opera. They also added the sounds of sword and axe play to the song, along with screams of those felled and cheers of the victors. How’s this for imagery: “Corpses lie scattered all over the field/ For the ravens to east as the please/ The mountain is now left there behind/ As they sail with the first morning breeze.” Ahh, but for the old days, when a man owned all he could keep! What’s amusing, is the guitar solo sounds strangely like the theme music accompanying Godzilla whenever he’s destroying Tokyo.
Other great Viking songs of violence include “Ride for Vengeance,” “The Dragons’ Flight Across the Waves,” “Victorious March,” and “Friends of the Suncross.” This is tops for the metal year. Metal Blade Records, 2828 Cochran St., Suite 302, Simi Valley, CA 93065-2793; http://www.iuma.com/Metal\_Blade
