Racer? Yeah, its Odin. Hey listen, I just got the promo for Amon Amarth and I know we're supposed to listen to these things in the order you send them to us, but this really isn't fair. You know these guys are one of my favorite bands on the planet right now. I mean, my name, Odin. These guys have written, like, 50 songs at least about Odin. So I'm just gonna do this review now, because I kinda pissed myself with excitement when I listened to the album. I'm not speaking of metaphorical piss either. What's that? Ha ha, yes, as a matter of fact, like Slash waking up on a couch in some hotel lobby with his pants soaking wet because he was too drunk to make it to his room and pissed himself in his sleep. Oh, you read that book too? Nice!
I have to tell you, this album kicks so much ass, but how could it not? I mean, its Amon Amarth. Dude, half a minute into this thing, I was ready to go kill some Frost Giants. These guys have upped their game big time on this one. The title track, “Deceiver Of The Gods”, is actually thrashy, which is a big change up for a band that has made their living on death metal. There is definitely the sense of a veteran band really just letting it rip and doing their thing. But there is no falling back on the tried and true, this really is a step up. For a band that has been around 20 years or so, that is no easy feat. A lot of bands in this genre find their niche and stick to it. I am totally impressed that they could pull this off at this point of their career.
What's that? Well, yeah, it sounds like Amon Amarth. With Johan Hegg on vocals, that alone gives them their signature sound. And there are moments of absolute death metal, and lots of melodic death too. Lots of good melody lines, lots of cool interplay with the guitars, and of course lots of Norse mythology. How many bands can pull that shit off? I mean, you have Nile with all the Egyptology, and I can't think of another band that bases all of what they do on one thing as much as these guys. Its all the things I love about these guys, but this album goes to 11.
So yeah, man, I'm sorry I had to take this out of order but there was no way I was going to sit on this one. This one definitely get the Odin seal of approval. Any fans of this band are going to jump on this already, but anyone who has kind of held back should jump in with both feet on this release. Oh yeah, and sorry for the 3am call, but like I said I was excited. And now I gotta go change my pants, because the wet spot is starting to get all cold and shit.
- ODIN