THE GREAT HEATHEN ARMY
Amon Amarth are one of those bands that just seem to never run out of steam.Releasing their first demo in 1994 under the name Amon Amarth, they have consistently put out releases through the years leading up to today. Personally, I split their discography into three sort of eras; Once Sent From The Golden Hall (1998), The Avenger (1999), The Crusher (2001), Versus The World (2002) and lastly Fate Of Norns (2004) make up the first generation of Amon Amarth releases, with their fiery imagery and raw sound.
The second sort of era in Amon Amarth’s discography begins with 2006’s With Oden On Our Side and covers Twilight of the Thunder God (2008), Surtur Rising (2011) and ends with Deceiver of the Gods (2013). I find that beginning with Jomsviking (2016), Amon Amarth has entered an entirely new era for the band and their sound.
I need to admit right from the start that I wasn’t a huge fan of the previous Berserker (2019) album. I put that album on the backburner until just a few days ago, actually. I found it was full of filler and just didn’t have enough meat on it. I found a lot of the big, crunchy moments that I enjoyed off of Jomsviking and other favourites were lacking from Berserker. For that specific reason, I didn’t really expect much coming into The Great Heathen Army. I thought it was just going to be the same thing off of Berserker just rebranded a little bit.
All of my preconceived notions were absolutely wrong and unfair for me to have made in the first place. As far as Amon Amarth goes, this album is groundbreaking. What they have done with their sound is revolutionary compared to most of what they’ve put out before. Their success with The Great Heathen Army comes from their amalgamation of influences and previous structures. They have completely redefined their sound away from the epic melodic death metal they were known for.
There are tracks like Oden Owns Ye All and Dawn of Norsemen that take the listener back to more of the first wave of Amon Amarth, but still manage to amp it up to excitement levels that weren’t as strong on those first few albums. Johan Hegg makes what I can only describe as a guttural during a bridge riff in Dawn of Norsemen and it absolutely blew me away. Almost all of the songs are anthemic, but instead of a very basic song structure they threw a lot more into the song than just catchiness. There is a bit more of an emphasis on the instrumental aspects across The Great Heathen Army.
The most consistent thing about these guys is that they’re always proving just how tight of a band they are. They’ve proven time and time again that they know their songs and know their sound, and never miss a beat. The songwriting these guys are known for just seems to be getting better over time. I can’t stress how well written this record is. Each player has a position and a job to do, and they do it well. The drums really set the stage for everyone else, especially on a song like The Serpent’s Trail and act as a way to highlight the guitars. Johan Hegg explores his range a little bit more in The Great Heathen Army. The bass sounds amazing and really adds a whole new layer to the music. All in all, I think this is their finest release to date.
Amon Amarth has done something I’ve been wanting them to do for a very long time. In a lot of my metal groups across Facebook, the biggest argument when it comes to Amon Amarth is that they aren’t viking metal. They just don’t have the generic qualities, such as a folkier sound, to fit the bill as viking metal. That’s not the point, the point is that Amon Amarth has finally flirted enough with the folk metal side for me to be able to say that they’ve released a borderline folk metal song. Heidrun is one of the two songs that gave me the biggest shock as far as the direction they’ve taken. It’s almost like Raise Your Horn but in less of a death metal style. It feels more like a folk metal celebration song, and it absolutely works. Amon Amarth are really branching out with their songwriting and I feel like this will be an instant hit. It’s fun, chuggy, catchy, yet still heavy.
There were a couple of times where I felt like Amon Amarth were referencing the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and bands like Judas Priest in their songwriting. Obviously, bands in the NWOBHM are huge influences for the band. I just never thought they would actually incorporate direct influences from them. They dropped seeds across the entire album, but then one single track came out and said “hey motherfuckers, this is the sound we’ve been hinting at, now we’re going to shove it in your face and stomp your head into it”. That track comes in the form of the amazing Saxons & Vikings. The band does an amazing job introducing the track as a speed metal song, but then constantly throws that Amon Amarth twist to it. Suddenly half way through, Biff Byford jumps on the track and absolutely blows the whole thing away.
In the end, I’m super excited for Amon Amarth’s The Great heathen Army. It blew me away completely and destroyed everything I thought I knew going into this album. I’m going to have to give it a 4.5/5. This is one of those albums that just constantly get better and better as the record goes on. Not to mention I’m listening to it for the third time as I write this, and it just gets better with each listen. Amon Amarth’s 12th studio outing The Great Heathen Army, recorded with industry magician Andy Sneap, will be released on August 5th, 2022 on Metal Blade Records. Make sure you don’t miss this one, it’s going to be a banger!
***Review by Austyn Allen-Taylor