Review
Over three decades into their tenure, Amon Amarth inhabit an odd stratum of heavy music, where arena row pits, pantomime longships, and branded festival theatrics can easily eclipse the melodic death metal powering them. Arriving after a stretch of coasting predictability, their thirteenth LP treats that outsized scale not as an autopilot setting, but as an engine to sharpen their steel.
The attack hinges on calibrated clarity, pinning furious double-kick battery beneath thick, dual-guitar gallops and Johan Hegg’s subterranean bellow. If “Gjallarhorn” and “We Rule the Waves” deliver Gothenburg-inflected charges and fist-pumping choruses designed for mass participation, the album’s sequencing breaks routine at the center. “Upphaf” pulls the plug entirely, pairing resonant acoustic strums with low, campfire-lit narration to forge a somber palate cleanser before the down-tuned chugs of “Die with a War Cry” resume the assault. Capped by the widescreen, six-minute arc of “Ascending Like an Eagle,” the record balances arena-sized bombast with veteran discipline.
