Warthur If you want to get someone hooked on Amon Amarth's personal brand of Viking-flavoured melodic death metal, Surtur Rising is the perfect gateway drug - not only is it the finest collection of songs from the band I've heard so far, but it's also immediately likeable, grabbing the listener's attention from the opening and not letting go until the conclusion of Doom Over Dead Man. Amon Amarth wrest maximal advantage from the high production standards of the album, crafting a release which easily pulls off the difficult task of being accessible without compromising the band's sound. Of course, the fact that the album is all about a fire giant with a giant burning sword who even the Gods fear helps.

Kingcrimsonprog Amon Amarth have been on an upward trend over the last few studio albums, rising from relative unkowns to cult heroes to a genuine big deal, especially with the previous two albums which launched the band into the wider public consciousness and resultantly lead this album to be one of metal’s most anticipated albums in years.

The band do not disappoint and deliver more of their trademark Norse themed, twin guitar melodic death metal from the beginning of the album to the end. The songs are as catchy yet savage as ever, the musicianship is phenomenal (especially guitar solos) and the production job is top notch making the album sound absolutely fantastic on all levels.

Whether you enjoy the album or not will depend largely on whether you have had enough of the Amon Amarth formula, this album presents no large shift in musical direction and no abandoning of the lyrical or vocal styles associated with the band up until this point and what you get is essentially another Amon Amarth record along the same lines as the previous two, with all the technical and songwriting progress the band had made until that point.

Should you have tired of this forumla then by all means, feel free to give Surtur Rising a miss, but if you haven’t then this album is something you will want to be getting in on as soon as possible.

Opener ‘War Of The Gods,’ and the fast and dramatic ‘A Beast Am I’ are easily among the best songs the band have released in recent years, and the album draws to a close with the grand and melodic ‘Doom Over Dead Men,’ which distills perfectly everything Amon Amarth have come to represent.

In summary if you want a flawless sounding, perfectly executed Amon Amarth record, with great songs, great musicianship and the trademark Amon Amarth sound then Surtur Rising will not disappoint.

adg211288 Surtur Rising is the eighth album by long-running Viking themed melodic death metal act Amon Amarth, released in 2011. Surtur Rising admittedly represents more of the same from this Swedish band; however it maintains the high level of quality heard on the band’s previous releases, and has a real good go at going one better.

Opener War of the Gods has what I’d consider to be a typical Amon Amarth groove to it, with plenty of melody on offer and powerful growls from frontman Johan Hegg. Lead guitar work is also used to great effect. If you’re an existing fan listening to this you know what you’re getting and can rest assured that you’re going to like the album, because quite frankly if you liked their previous albums there is no reason not to like this. It fact with that assured you probably don’t even need to read the rest of this review, because it’s as I said above, Surtur Rising does indeed represent more of the same from Amon Amarth, but while the album doesn’t really break any new ground (although there’s an interesting System of a Down cover available for the iTunes download version), it also contains some real belters of tracks among its number, and War of the Gods represents just the first of them.

Other really great tracks include Töck's Taunt - Loke's Treachery Part II (a sequel to Hermod's Ride to Hel - Lokes Treachery, Part 1 from With Oden on Our Side), For Victory or Death, and Destroyer of the Universe, which is certainly one of my personal favourites from the album along with later tracks Wrath Of The Norsemen and A Beast I Am.

If the album could keep to the same level as those tracks mentioned above them it could easily rival the band’s best works such as With Oden on Our Side, but unfortunately every now and then there’s a track which will still pretty good, just lacks the same sort of punch. An example of this is Slaves of Fear. Others such as Live Without Regrets are an improvement on ones such as Slaves of Fear, but represent the middle of the road part of the album. Fortunately the album has its share of the really good songs in a bigger dose than the ones which are something of a letdown to the overall experience.

Overall though Surtur Rising is another solid Amon Amarth album that will please existing fans and could even still make them some new ones if for some reason you’re a metalhead who still hasn’t heard these guys (if not, where have you been?).

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)