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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:23 am 
 

Swedish melodic death metallers Amon Amarth will release their twelfth full-length, The Great Heathen Army, on August 5 through Metal Blade Records. From the press release:

Quote:
From pole to pole and sea to sea, AMON AMARTH are undisputed kings of Viking heavy metal. Formed in Tumba, Sweden, in 1992, they have forged an extraordinary legacy over three decades of thunderous, anthemic metal, all rich in the magical imagery of Viking history, folklore and culture.

From their underground smash debut Once Sent From The Golden Hall (1998) onwards, Amon Amarth have been an unstoppable creative force. With a unique and unmistakable sound that combines the best of several epic strains of metal, the quintet have become renowned for their ageless anthems and explosive, theatrical live shows. Albums like 2008's widely acclaimed Twilight Of The Thunder God and 2016's conceptual triumph Jomsviking, the Swedes have been consistent standard bearers for heavy metal as a life-affirming and communal experience, armed with a seemingly endless stream of instant classic songs.

Now reaping the rewards of all those years of hard work, Amon Amarth are now regarded as one of the metal world's most vital and imperious live acts. From headlining festivals across Europe to claiming a place on Slayer's final tour of the US in 2019, they have honoured the adventurous ethos of their Viking forebears by taking their music anywhere and everywhere.

Unfortunately, as the world ground to a halt early in 2020, Amon Amarth were in the midst of a wildly successful world tour in support of their most recent album, Berserker. Disappointed but unbowed, the band decided instead to forge a new creative path, resulting in their most crushing and heroic full-length album to date, The Great Heathen Army.

"Basically, we were in South America when the shit hit the fan, so we had to cancel the last couple of shows and head home," recalls vocalist Johan Hegg. "At first we thought we'd just see how it played out, and maybe book a couple of tours, but fairly soon we realised it was going to be a long hiatus. When it was getting close to being a year, we thought, fuck it, there's no point in going back out on the road with an old album, so let's just start working on new stuff instead. So that's what we did."

One of the best-loved metal bands in the world, Amon Amarth are firmly dedicated to aiming high when they hit the studio. Recorded with esteemed studio guru Andy Sneap at the controls, The Great Heathen Army represents another bold leap forward for the band, as their trademark sound undergoes yet another skilful, evolutionary overhaul, both lyrically and musically. From the noisily rabble-rousing Find A Way Or Make One and the pummelling, pugilistic Get In The Ring, to the evocative fury of Saxons & Vikings and the cinematic squall of the title track, The Great Heathen Army encapsulates the essence of this legendary band, while still allowing acres of space for new ideas.

"Again, The Great Heathen Army is not a concept album like Jomsviking, but I'm taking inspiration from some of the same historical elements," says Hegg. "There were also some really cool and different ideas I wanted to explore, and they came very much from my wife, Maria, who has been tapping into the more esoteric aspects of Viking lifestyle and culture. Musically, I would say there are a couple of surprises on there, a little bit of uncharted territory for Amon Amarth. Overall it's one of the heavier albums we've made. There are some dark and heavy songs that are really powerful and in-your-face, but we obviously have some trademark Amon Amarth songs on there as well, and a few surprises. It's a really well-balanced album. It sounds great. Andy Sneap is awesome. It was great to be able to work with him again."

Guitarist Olavi Mikkonen adds: "We've been away making new music and we're back with new darker, more death metal-sounding album. If 'Berserker' was our 'heavy metal' album, then 'The Great Heathen Army' is our 'death metal' album. But with that said, it's still very much contemporary AMON AMARTH, but perhaps style-wise we have gone back to our roots a little bit."

Buoyed by the most dynamic and destructive set of songs Amon Amarth have written in a long time, The Great Heathen Army is an album fuelled by inspirational stories. While still rooted in times past, these tales of bravery, brutality and dogged determination have very obvious resonances amid the troubled times we live in today.

"That's kind of what the song Find A Way Or Make One is about," Hegg notes. "You might be facing obstacles, whether it's the pandemic or something else, and there are no ways around it, so you have to make a way. That's what the Vikings did. You can't stop fighting just because there is something in your way. I often use mythology and history as a backdrop for other things I want to discuss. I've always done that. The Great Heathen Army is about when the invading Viking fleet arrived in England in 865 AD. The Vikings had been raiding England for a long time, but this army was something else. It was an invasion army and deadly effective against the British. It's a massive historical event. It's fascinating. Somehow, the English won and they defeated the heathen army, so anything is possible!"

Armed with their 12th and arguably finest album to date, Amon Amarth are poised to return to full action with a bloody, broadsword-wielding vengeance. The release of The Great Heathen Army will kick-start another relentless global campaign, commencing with a co-headlining tour of Europe alongside Machine Head and fellow countrymen The Halo Effect. Still ruthlessly devoted to the ways of the warrior, Amon Amarth have Odin's wind in their sails like never before.

"We've always had the mindset to always outdo ourselves and write a stronger album than the previous one," Hegg concludes. "We always try to do something special with each album, too. Song by song, I think this might be one of the strongest albums we've ever made. It was really difficult to agree on the singles for the videos, because everyone had such different opinions. I think that's a good sign!"


Image

Tracklisting:
1. Get in the Ring (04:24)
2. The Great Heathen Army (04:04)
3. Heidrun (04:42)
4. Oden Owns You All (04:17)
5. Find a Way or Make One (04:30)
6. Dawn of Norsemen (05:32)
7. Saxons and Vikings (04:55)
8. Skagul Rides with Me (04:34)
9. The Serpent's Trail (06:01)

Get in the Ring has been released as the first single:
Spoiler: show


So I know the more recent Amon Amarth material post-Twilight of the Thunder God has gotten some mixed reception, with many not really on board with their move to a more straightforward heavy metal sound, but it sounds like they're at least revisiting their older sound a bit with this new record. The single is better than anything from Berserker, at least IMO.

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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:31 am 
 

Nice Marvel flick poster for that album art. I always largely ignore this band but morbid curiosity will win.
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Forever Underground
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:40 am 
 

I'm getting more and more bored of metal with a predominantly masculine imagery.
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klaar
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:10 am
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:50 am 
 

The cover looks like a mobile game Ad that after you downloaded it , it doesn't deliver what the ad shows at all.

Anyway, let's see. After "Twilight..." I didn't enjoy anything they've made.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:51 am 
 

I feel like Metal Blade told them to get a song on WWE so they just said fuck it and named it Get In The Ring. And never thought in a million years they would have a dieselpunk music video. Weird.

I dig the song though, feels like it would have been right at home on Surtur Rising.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:52 am 
 

Forever Underground wrote:
I'm getting more and more bored of metal with a predominantly masculine imagery.


Black/speed metaller Midnight's got you covered.... :oh shit:
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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:53 am 
 

narsilianshard wrote:
I feel like Metal Blade told them to get a song on WWE so they just said fuck it and named it Get In The Ring. And never thought in a million years they would have a dieselpunk music video. Weird.

I dig the song though, feels like it would have been right at home on Surtur Rising.


It's actually supposed to be the entrance theme for Erick Redbeard (formerly Erick Rowan in WWE) in AEW (he also stars in the video), so you're not wrong.

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goetia_unreleased
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:18 pm 
 

Never put yourself on the album cover. Ever...
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:24 pm 
 

Some reason, the video reminds me of Cradle of Filth's Foetus of a New Day Kicking.
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Razakel
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:43 pm 
 

goetia_unreleased wrote:
Never put yourself on the album cover. Ever...


Unless you're Immortal.

Haven't been a fan of anything they've done in ages and can't fathom the aesthetic they're going for, but the song itself wasn't actually half bad. Kinda reminded me of the heavier stuff off Verses the World.


Last edited by Razakel on Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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matras
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:45 pm 
 

Alexa; show me a band that turned into a parody of themselves.

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Nocturnal_Evil
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:26 pm 
 

I still love this band's output up until Jomsviking, but more and more (arguably since Twilight of the Thunder God), they've become more and more bloated/cheesy to the point where it's clear they're just going through the movements. I didn't even give Berserker a listen outside of the singles, it was so stale sounding. As another person above me said, its all very comparable to the whole Marvel craze going on in the film world these days: lots of try-hard "epic" flashiness with nothing new underneath it all. I suppose it's what sells, though.
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klaar
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:35 pm 
 

goetia_unreleased wrote:
Never put yourself on the album cover. Ever...


Only Immortal can do this.

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Curious_dead
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:42 pm 
 

Or Opeth...

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Nocturnal_Evil
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:55 pm 
 

Or Ozzy.
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true_death
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:56 pm 
 

New song is great. A welcome return to form, if you ask me...been getting tired of their "Accept w/ growls" shtick for years now and it's about time they bring back the death metal feel. I'm not expecting the Bolt Thrower influence from the early albums to rear it's head, but that would certainly be welcome :nods:. Kind of interesting that "Put Your Back Into the Oar" isn't on the album, but I'm not complaining (even though I did enjoy that track).

And I actually kinda like the album cover :oh shit:. It reminds me of Overkill's Taking Over. Pretty much nobody does this anymore, and at the very least I definitely prefer it to the "generic Hollywood viking" bullshit on the last couple covers they've had. I actually appreciate that they've taken a more simple, stripped down approach in a day and age when artists like Elrian Kantor or Zbigniew Bielak are so popular (and arguably overused).
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Mitternachtswolf
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2022 7:04 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 3:16 pm 
 

Sounds fine. Been enjoying AA for over 20 years. I'll at least throw "Back into the Oar" onto my digital copy of this album once I download.

As for the art, meh. I'm sensing there's probably an alternate for the t-shirts.

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cultofkraken
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 3:35 pm 
 

Definitely something better about this. I don’t like the video and I think AA should stick to history and myths but musically better than anything north of Surtur Rising.
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tahu157
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:11 pm 
 

goetia_unreleased wrote:
Never put yourself on the album cover. Ever...

Nah, I think we need more band-photo album covers actually.

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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:34 pm 
 

true_death wrote:
And I actually kinda like the album cover :oh shit:. It reminds me of Overkill's Taking Over.


Taking Over cover is fucking terrible :lol:
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Ace_Rimmer
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:39 pm 
 

Song sounds nice, a bit more ballsy than the last album.

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LilTito
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:42 pm 
 

Who gives a shit honestly

And wow thats a BAD album "art"

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KaiKasparek
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:44 pm 
 

Metal_On_The_Ascendant wrote:
true_death wrote:
And I actually kinda like the album cover :oh shit:. It reminds me of Overkill's Taking Over.


Taking Over cover is fucking terrible :lol:


Fuck off, that cover rules.
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CoffeeCat
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:31 pm 
 

.
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Thexhumed
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:53 pm 
 

This feels like an "OK, contract says we need to release a new album, time to enter the studio, boys" kind of album rather than a "guys, I have some cool ideas for an album" album.
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lupin99
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:53 pm 
 

This type of metal gets boring after awhile. I used to enjoy Amon Amarth but I feel that they get boring really fast. Actually majority of of melodic death metal is boring to my ears.

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Demon Fang
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:27 pm 
 

The album art is goofy but that single is honestly worlds better than anything from their last two albums. I'm actually kinda looking forward to this, even if it ends up more on par with Deceiver/Surtur.

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controlledbleeding
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:02 am 
 

goetia_unreleased wrote:
Never put yourself on the album cover. Ever...


they did on the first album's cover art in 1998.

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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:11 pm 
 

Four or five beefy bois scowling is fine for the PR blurb and suits the aesthetic, but I could go for more band photos as album covers that actually reflected the personalities of the musicians involved. Who's the goofball, who's the beleaguered one, who's just glad to be there? Go full TVTropes Five Man Band on that shit, there's a reason why people gravitate to it.

I'm sure it'll be another perfectly fine Amon Amarth album doing perfectly fine Amon Amarth things. It's too safe to ever truly shit the bed.
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Curious_dead
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 3:04 pm 
 

Honestly as far as covers with band members go, this one is pretty cool. Not awesome, and personally I prefer something more imaginative, but it's not terrible.

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marktheviktor
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 1:01 am 
 

In years past, a new AA album announcement would elicit many posts. Now, it’s pretty ho-hum.

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Niolu
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Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:05 am
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 5:11 am 
 

I think I've given up on AA after Twilight of the Thunder God.

It kinda struck me when I was unable to tell from which album two particular songs came from. It all blends together at some point. Ofc they share this issue with some other "big" bands like Powerwolf or Sabaton.

My friend used to say that
Quote:
If you listen to one (album), you've listened to them all


Can't say I disagree.

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Krist4Lyne
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:09 pm 
 

I like AA but artwork is truely terrible.
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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 9:57 am 
 

They just released the video for the title track:


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linkavitch
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 10:14 am 
 

Cover art is fine and the new song is just Amon Amarth being Amon Amarth.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 11:29 am 
 

Holy shit, I would totally play a board game based on the 9th century Danish incursion into England. Though it does make we wonder if they've just been watching a lot of The Last Kingdom and were like, "fuck it, that's our theme for this album."
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~Guest 1452000
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 11:46 am 
 

Berserker was so bad, it seems like they don't care about making decent music anymore. No hopes for this whatsoever.

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Thexhumed
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:12 pm 
 

Kalaratri wrote:
They just released the video for the title track:



Are they trying to jump into the Stranger Things aesthetics wagon here?
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:18 pm 
 

Kalaratri wrote:
They just released the video for the title track:



You know it says a lot when Iced Earth did a better song about the Great Heathen Army than Amon Amarth. This is completely pedestrian.
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Nocturnal_Evil
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 4:57 pm 
 

Spiral Architect wrote:
Berserker was so bad, it seems like they don't care about making decent music anymore. No hopes for this whatsoever.


I found myself doubting if this really was the same band that put out With Oden On Our Side....

This is incredible, and not in a good way.
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