| Written by Kirsti Heitz Jomsviking track-listing: 1. First Kill 2. Wanderer 3. On A Sea Of Blood 4. One Against All 5. Raise Your Horns 6. The Way Of Vikings 7. At Dawn‘s First Light 8. One Thousand Burning Arrows 9. Vengeance Is My Name (bonus track – for digibook, digital, LP, and viking ship editions) 10. A Dream That Cannot Be (Featuring Doro Pesch) 11. Back On Northern Shores |  Release: 25 March 2016 Label: Metal Blade Records |
Amon Amarth line-up:
Johan Hegg - Vocals, Ted Lundström - Bass, Johan Söderberg - Guitar, Olavi Mikkonen - Guitar
Johan Hegg - Vocals, Ted Lundström - Bass, Johan Söderberg - Guitar, Olavi Mikkonen - Guitar
Amon Amarth has reached a big milestone in their career with the release of their 10th album, Jomsviking (2016). An epically heavy and inspiring album, Jomsviking (2015) transports listeners in to the world of the Jomsviking, a semi-legendary order of Viking mercenaries of the 10th/11th century. As frontman Johann Hegg expertly explains, the album relates the story of "A young man [who] is in love with a girl but unfortunately she's being married off. He accidentally kills a man when this happens and he has to flee, but he swears to have revenge and win her back. He can't let go of the past. He feels that he's been wronged and his life has been destroyed.”
The musicality of Jomsviking (2016) follows this storyline with aggressive beats that turn into melancholic chants paired up with all that Viking-goodness you come to expect from an Amon Amarth album. If you’re a fan of classic tunes from this band such as “Runes To My Memory,” “Death In Fire” and “The Pursuit Of Vikings” you won’t be disappointed as right off the bat you get tracks that have everything you desire from an Amon Amarth song. With chantable choruses that get your blood pumping and fast heavy riffs that follow galloping beats, you can almost imagine that you are part of the Jomsviking celebrating after a glorious battle or getting ready for an epic fight.
Jomsviking (2016) opens up with the first single off the album, “First Kill,” which has the trademark Amon Amarth touch. Moving on into “Wanderer,” we see the band adding a little more groovier riffs reinforced by the bassist, slowing the pace to express the melancholy of the protagonist running away from everything he knows after his first murder explained through a monologue in a velvety baritone. “Raise Your Horns” became an instant favourite of mine and I can see this tune being added to the list of Amon Amarth anthems. You can just imagine a long hall filled with warriors, or the metal equivalent: a concert hall filled with metalheads, drunkenly chanting the lyrics, raising their fists and crying out “Raise your horns, raise them up to the sky! We will drink to glory tonight!”
An interesting surprise was to see Amon Amarth’s first female/male duet with Doro Pesch pairing her heavy metal style vocals to Johan’s guttural baritone on “A Dream That Cannot Be.”
After 28 years and 10 albums, it’s nice to know that fans will not be bored by tired out themes and cookie cutter tunes. Quite the contrary, Amon Amarth vehemently stays within the world of Vikings and manages to produce lyrics that touch upon themes that fans have loved in the past but with a new angle. In the end, the story telling is diverse and this affects the actual music, creating an entirely fresh set of tunes filled with viking-licious goodness. “After ten albums you really need a challenge. We rose to the challenge and we're really proud of what we've created," explains Hegg. With their up-coming tour, you won’t want to miss out on the chance to feel the raw energy that comes from hearing these tunes live!
The musicality of Jomsviking (2016) follows this storyline with aggressive beats that turn into melancholic chants paired up with all that Viking-goodness you come to expect from an Amon Amarth album. If you’re a fan of classic tunes from this band such as “Runes To My Memory,” “Death In Fire” and “The Pursuit Of Vikings” you won’t be disappointed as right off the bat you get tracks that have everything you desire from an Amon Amarth song. With chantable choruses that get your blood pumping and fast heavy riffs that follow galloping beats, you can almost imagine that you are part of the Jomsviking celebrating after a glorious battle or getting ready for an epic fight.
Jomsviking (2016) opens up with the first single off the album, “First Kill,” which has the trademark Amon Amarth touch. Moving on into “Wanderer,” we see the band adding a little more groovier riffs reinforced by the bassist, slowing the pace to express the melancholy of the protagonist running away from everything he knows after his first murder explained through a monologue in a velvety baritone. “Raise Your Horns” became an instant favourite of mine and I can see this tune being added to the list of Amon Amarth anthems. You can just imagine a long hall filled with warriors, or the metal equivalent: a concert hall filled with metalheads, drunkenly chanting the lyrics, raising their fists and crying out “Raise your horns, raise them up to the sky! We will drink to glory tonight!”
An interesting surprise was to see Amon Amarth’s first female/male duet with Doro Pesch pairing her heavy metal style vocals to Johan’s guttural baritone on “A Dream That Cannot Be.”
After 28 years and 10 albums, it’s nice to know that fans will not be bored by tired out themes and cookie cutter tunes. Quite the contrary, Amon Amarth vehemently stays within the world of Vikings and manages to produce lyrics that touch upon themes that fans have loved in the past but with a new angle. In the end, the story telling is diverse and this affects the actual music, creating an entirely fresh set of tunes filled with viking-licious goodness. “After ten albums you really need a challenge. We rose to the challenge and we're really proud of what we've created," explains Hegg. With their up-coming tour, you won’t want to miss out on the chance to feel the raw energy that comes from hearing these tunes live!
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