Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising (2011)

The Swedish masters of Viking infused Melodic Death Metal are back with their most catchy and melodic release up to date. With “Surtur Rising” the band validates why they are one of the premiere Melodic Death Metal bands in the world and they will surely please all fans and gather hordes of new fans as well.

As we all expected, the guitar work in “Surtur Rising” is outstanding to say the least. The riffing power of Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg is unrivaled and on this release they put together 10 songs of pure power and catchiness. Sure there are heaps of ‘traditional’ Amon Amarth sections, but the way the guitar melodies drives the music in this release is just excellent.

The band wastes no time and with “War of the Gods” they will immediately blow you away. This song features the classic Amon Amarth approach to things and surrounded by tight drumming, a pounding bass guitar line and powerful riffs, Johan Hegg vocals soar.  This song indicates the beginning of a very powerful and crushing release that will never leave your CD player / playlist for days and weeks to come.

The first identifiable head banging anthem comes with the name of “Tock’s Taunt – Loke’s Treachery Part II”, a song full of catchy melodies and brutal sections. We particularly love the melodic passage around the 3 minute mark. “Destroyer of the Universe” keeps things blasting with blistering solos and more head banging golden opportunities.

Fore the ‘slower’ paced fans, “Slaves of Fear” delivers nice tempo changes and a very melodic approach to things. Our next favorite head banging anthem comes in the shape of “Live without Regrets”, in this song our neck started to get sore from the constant motion induced by the crushing melody of this song.

Lurking in the middle of this album we have the monumental “The Last Stand of Frej”, our favorite song of this release. “For Victory or Death” is a song that will deceive you because of its harsh beginning only to explode into a full masterpiece near the 3 minute mark. In a similar shape of the band’s classic “Bloodshed”, we have “Wrath of the Norsemen”.

Closing the album we have a weird experimental instrumental section near the end of “A Best Am I” that makes this song very interesting to listen to. And with “Doom over Dead Man” we have the most melodic and slower paced song of the release, but feels very well placed as a nice transition back to real life after listening to one of the best releases in the last few years.

In general, we have to say that Amon Amarth has surpassed everybody’s high expectations with this monumental release. Each of the 10 songs crafted in this album feature the traditional Amon Amarth sound with a hefty dosage of new riffs and solos. The band’s sound is as crushing as ever and they showcase their abilities to produce songs that are both melodic and neck snapping. It can’t get any better than “Surtur Rising”, so line-up at the record store (or pre-order online) to get this release as soon as it drops.

Release: March 25th, 2011 (Europe) / March 29th, 2011 (North America)

Country: Sweden