### Amon Amarth: The avenger

#### 17/09/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

If you are reading this and have never heard of Amon Amarth before – I hate you. I hate your guts. I hope all the bad things in life happen to you… and nobody else but you!

Ok, I stole that line from Dave Chappelle but it still rings true. Amon Amarth are a rarity in the metal world because they have achieved considerable popularity amongst old and young metalheads alike and rarely get accused of selling out of compromising their tunes for said popularity. You can even get Amon Amarth shirts at Hot Topic and that still does not kill their street cred amongst trve cvlt metaldorks. Now that is saying something. Anywho, it seems like Amon Amarth’s more recent releases get most of the attention nowadays, at least here in the states. I remember seeing them a few years back and being the only person in the crowd really rocking out to “North Sea Storm”. Now, when “Asator” and “Runes to my memory” were played the place went ape-shit. At that moment I realized that these people need to hear and appreciate the bands early melodic death gems too.

“The Avenger” is an often overlooked but quality nugget in Amon Amarth’s pot of discography gold. It is up there with “Once sent…” and “Versus the world” as one of my favorites. “North Sea Storm” fucking rules and is one of band’s strongest tracks period. The solo and rocking out at the end get a rise out of my little viking longboat every time I hear them. The slower, pounding “Avenger” is also great and is very reminiscent of “Amon Amarth” from “Once Sent from the Golden Hall” and features another excellent solo section at the end. If I could make one criticism AA’s newer records it would be the lack of epic guitar sections. Johan Söderberg and Olavi Mikkonen are riffing and soloing beasts and together make one of the tightest guitar combos in metal. The fact that the band has had few line-up changes over the years comes through loud and clear in their ability to crank out quality records one after the other.

Anyway, back to “Teh Avenger”: “The last with pagan blood” is a punishing opener without an excellent groovy second half. “Metalwrath” sounds like the name of shitty Manowar song but it kicks ass and should appeal to fans of the bands newer, more straightforward songs like “Asator” and “Cry of the blackbirds”. “Bleed for ancient gods” and “God, his son, and holy whore” also keeps things speedy but are two of the less memorable tracks on here; not bad or sucky at but they just don’t stand out. The layered vocals near the end of “…pagan blood” are pretty annoying actually. Other than that, Johan “Truck Drivin’ Man” Hegg delivers his raspy-and-guttural-at-the-same-time vocals with expected quality. Frederik Andersson does nothing insanely special on the drums but he keeps a steady groove and pace going throughout “The Avenger” and his footwork on the ze bass drums is pretty impressive.

Amon Amarth certainly did not lose a step after their awesome debut “Once Sent from the Golden Hall”. “The Avenger” is a bit short and, like most Amon Amarth records, suffers from a bit of repetition but overall is a solid record with some excellent tracks like “North sea storm” and “The last with pagan blood”. If you like Amon Amarth go get “The Avenger” and realize that Stockholm’s Viking stalwarts have been raping and pillaging the metal world with gusto since way before your dumb ass first heard “With Oden on Our Side”. Got it?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go put some water in Daemonomania’s momma’s dish.

- Information
- Released: 1999
- Label: Metal Blade Records
- Website: www.AmonAmarth.com
- Band
- Johan “Bacon and” Hegg: vocals
- Johan “Not Hegg” Soderberg: guitars
- Olavi “Tsunami” Mikkonen: guitars
- Ted “Bundy” Lundstrom:bass
- Fredrik “I’m better than Lord K thinks” Andersson: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Bleed For Ancient Gods
- 02. The Last With Pagan Blood
- 03. North Sea Storm
- 04. Avenger
- 05. God, His Son And Holy Whore
- 06. Metalwrath
- 07. Legend Of A Banished Man