Amon Amarth

On my mp3 player I have many songs and albums that I have yet to listen to. They can go unheard for a variety of reasons. Maybe I just haven’t had the time to listen to them. Or perhaps, I was unsure of whether I would like the music or not. Two such albums were Fate of Norns and With Oden on Our Side by the band Amon Amarth. In fact, the only reason I have them on my mp3 player is due to my brother’s insistence.
I had heard my brother listening to Amon Amarth before, but I never thought that they were a band that I would also enjoy. After all, their self-described genre of music is “melodic death metal.” Melodic death metal is a very extreme genre of music that pairs the melodies and grooves of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with the darkness and intensity of death metal. Often, like in the band Amon Amarth, the vocals consist of “death growls” which is typical for the death metal genre. It is easy to see how one could be put off by a band like Amon Amarth, but I decided to give them a listen anyway.
The first song that I listened to was the title track from the album With Oden on Our Side. It is safe to say that as soon as I heard the intro to this song, with its pounding drums and heavy riffs, I was hooked. Even though I was previously hesitant and skeptical of the vocal style of singer Johan Hegg, I soon came to realize that it perfectly compliments the band’s musical style. The blend of vocals and the instrumentals is an intense combination to say the least.
The lyrics from the track “With Oden on Our Side” describe a battle between two bands of Vikings, from the point of view of the side that is outnumbered. However, despite their numerical disadvantage they know that they will be triumphant because according to the lyrics, “With Oden on Our Side, We are victorious.” The lyrical content of this song gives a good overview of the content of Amon Amarth’s lyrics; as they are all based out of Norse mythology and the time of the Vikings.
After hearing this song, I decided to give the whole album a listen. To my surprise, I liked what I heard. The album featured more of the same gargantuan riffs, intense solos, booming drums, and coarse vocals all at a rampant pace. I am very glad that I decided to let the music speak for itself and that I didn’t just delete them from my mp3 player because of some preconceived notion that I had about them. The message within death metal really isn’t my thing, but I’ve come to find out that Amon Amarth’s overall sound may be of that genre, but that the lyrics are not. I guess it’s true what they say, “Don’t knock it ‘till you try it.”