Grab twenty of your finest men, sharpen your battle axes, grab your drinking horns, and jump on your longship for I feel the need... the need for mead! This overwhelming urge to cleave the heads of my neighbours, burn their huts and make off with their valuables must be due to the thrashing of the Viking metal heroes Amon Amarth and this remastered and re-released version of their Metal Blade debut album (one of four re-releases this year). For your money you get the original track listing plus a bonus track on disc one (a German language version of 'Victorious Mach' or 'Siegreicher Marsch'), and live versions of the songs on disc two that were recorded in concert last year.
Amon Amarth's brand of Viking inspired Melodic Death Metal is a simple formula and it is a formula that has recently brought them to the attention of mainstream audiences. Though with that said, many fans consider it to be the first couple of albums that are Amon Amarth's finest works. It isn't pure nostalgia rearing its head either. This first album from the Vikings set the bar for all their future releases in terms of song writing and production.
The album is unrelenting from the moment it starts – 'Ride For Vengeance' is one to just plant your feet and headbang to, as are most of the tracks on the album, but this as the album's opening track is particularly ferocious. 'The Dragon's Flight Across The Waves' has one of those strange fading in intros where the song is being played at full speed but isn't at the optimum volume for sufficient headbanging until the vocals kick in. 'Without Fear' keeps the pace with its anthemic riff and vocals before crashing into the album's epic heart 'Victorious March' which just ticks every box as far as what an Amon Amarth track should be with riffs and solos that could choke a sea serpent. 'Friends of the Suncross' and 'Abandoned' both keep the chugging riff trend going and resume the pace of the first couple of tracks. 'Amon Amarth' is an epic beast befitting its name and veers into a more overt Black Metal feel over the course of its eight minute length. Finally the album's frantic title track treads the familiar ground the album has already trudged across, but it certainly doesn’t qualify as repetition.
The live tracks on the second disc are a nice little bonus for the fan that already has everything – seeing as they were recorded last year its doubtful there will be a bootlegged version in wide circulation yet. If you're familiar with this album and have seen Amon Amarth live you'll know what to expect, but as far as live recordings go this is pretty good and well mixed to boot.
On the whole this is a tasty treat for the fans who have just recently got into Amon Amarth through their recent breakthrough albums and may not have the whole back catalogue yet. For those who already own this, the extras are good, but whether you want to swap your much loved original copy for this nice new version is up to you.
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