Pop-Quiz. What does the name Amon Amarth stand for? Now before everyone starts whining and complaining, “It’s not fair. I’m a product of the American public school system. I don’t know anything about Viking mythology or history or grammar!” — don’t worry, the answer can be found in pop culture, which is something all of us dolts who were raised by MTV can appreciate. Amon Amarth is “The Mountain of Doom” in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I can’t wait for that question to come up in Trivial Pursuit. Getting back to the subject at hand, the underground Swedish legends Amon Amarth unleashed their latest album Versus the World Tuesday, January 14.
The listener is hit immediately with “Death in Fire.” The track is driven by a pummeling drum-line. A tribal beat mixes with melodic guitars. Unfortunately the vocals seem a bit buried by the overwhelming wall of sound. “For the Stab Wounds In Our Backs” begins and ends with a gloomy church bell and is reminiscent of Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Sonically this piece is similar to Napalm Death. “For the Stab Wounds In Our Backs” is one of my personal favorite song titles. It nicely reflects Amon Amarth’s happy-go-lucky friendly attitude. The title track “Vs the World” once again features drummer Fredrick Andersson’s incredibly punishing ocean of sound. One guitar dances along the melody while another delivers a jackhammer crunch. This trade-off of beauty and anger is a core trait throughout the album. “Thousand Years of Oppression” arises with a simple quiet narration before delivering a sonic pile driver to the listener. Throughout Versus the World the band retains their unrelenting attack. With “Thousand Years of Oppression,” Amon Amarth are able to switch gears without weakening their blow. “And Soon The World Will Cease To Be” — a title which basically delivers the philosophy and mission statement of the album — is steady crescendo leading to an ambush. This song, just like the rest of the disc, demonstrates how a bulldozer of sound can slam the listener without disintegrating into feedback or noise.
This is a unique sound blending the best parts of black metal, death metal and doom metal to create an unholy sonic landscape. Guitar melodies constantly lift and drive the tunes without melting into the loud and fast white noise that so many other bands embrace. Amon Amarth seem not to be a five-piece band so much as an orchestra providing the soundtrack for a war.
Copyright 2003 Ad Media Inc.