Amon Amarth has summoned the great ancients.
Four years after their last raid, Johan Hegg (vocals), Olavi Mikkonen (guitar), Ted Lundström (bass), Johan Söderberg (guitar), and Jocke Wallgren (drums) have brought their thirteenth album, The Allfather Awakens, to life.
We start off on familiar ground with Gjallarhorn, a track that brings together everything you’d expect from these five Vikings and their Melodic Death Metal, at times aggressive, as in the screams and Old School touches, but also a bit more accessible during the choruses and backing vocals. No real surprises here, then, but the kind of effectiveness we love, just like on the shorter, more melancholic Eight Legs of Thunder, which tells the story of the horse Sleipnir, while the rhythm section gallops along to recreate that turbulent ride through mountains and storms. The sound becomes much more massive on Kvasir’s Blood, adopting majestic tones for this important Norse figure, even developing some passages that are almost heavy and unsettling with the backing vocals before returning to more accessible elements. As a tribute to the crowd surges they know so well how to row, the band follows up with We Rule the Waves, a track that once again will lend itself perfectly to rows of the most enthusiastic headbangers during one of the album’s most energetic choruses; but this time, the musicians take a risk with Upphaf, an acoustic composition where Johan’s voice is slightly more subdued. Of course, having already been unveiled some time ago with a particularly intimate music video, the track remains just as surprising coming from them, ultimately returning to their usual intensity with Die with a War Cry, the shortest but clearly not the least lively track from the band, given its perfectly executed accelerations. The piercing harmonics finally lead us to Raven God and its at times almost dreamy mid-tempo where the quintet remains on solid ground, just as they do on the title track The Allfather Awakes, which nonetheless offers more energetic touches and lead parts that are a bit more Old School with their jerky feel. Pure ferocity returns with Oden’s Hunt, which grants us a brief respite only to better build momentum and sweep us away in its frenzied rush of dark choruses, then on to the long and final more joyful composition, Ascending like an Eagle, which also lets us catch our breath before charming us with an approach that’s initially slower but still masterfully controlled in terms of rhythm and which will soon have us headbanging one last time.
While some may be quite critical of Amon Amarth at times, the band delivers exactly what’s expected of them, offering a handful of new tracks on The Allfather Awakens that fans will undoubtedly enjoy. There’s a surprising little twist worth noting, but what stands out most is their consistency and loyalty to their artistic vision.
80/100