Amon Amarth: Surtur Rising

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Label: Metal Blade

Year: 2011

"The Vanir felt deceived
Höne was a fool
without Mímir at his side
Höne could not rule
In a fit of violent rage
Mímir's blood was shed
and to Odin's court they sent Mímir's severed head"

Here it is, folks, Amon Amarth's newest record, Surtur Rising. Needless to say I was VERY impressed with this album. I was hoping it wasn't going to be like Twilight of the Thunder God and I was happily surprised. What do I mean by "Like Twilight"? What I mean is, while it's still one of my favorite albums in my collection, I didn't care much for the two songs Guardians of Asgaard and Varyages Of Miklagaard. Not sure why, just didn't like them.

But this CD, from start to finish, is good. The song I have a problem with is the second track on the record: Töck's Taunt - Loke's Treachery Part II for the slowness of it. That, and I just didn't like the the construction of the song. My four favorite songs off the record are: War of the Gods, Destroyer of the Universe, Slaves of Fear and A Beast Am I. These four songs are great, but NOTHING has as much drive to it as Twilight of the Thunder God. That one song has more drive to it then an entire album in my opinion. If you ask me, they should an album with as much drive in every song as Twilight of the Thunder God. 

Now before I go any further, I do need to say that the only reason I listen to Amon Amarth is because I feel that they are telling stories with their music. I've always found Norse Mythology to be a fascinating and interesting subject, and I have done A LOT of personal research of it. I don't take ANY OF IT SERIOUSLY.

Now that the religious stuff is out of the way, let's get back to the music.

This is one album I could listen to several times over and still get a different feel every time. Depending on my mood, I may not listen to Amon Amarth at all for up to a week, maybe longer. But when I think Death Metal, I think Amon Amarth. I like my music to have some melody to it, which is why I will always prefer Melodic Death Metal to generic Death Metal.

I WON'T however listen to anything past With Odin On Our Side because I don't like the content of the albums. W.O.O.O.S. is almost too much for me as it stands. I haven't even listen to W.O.O.O.S. all the way through yet, and most likely never will. I found the songs I like, and I stick to them.

I'm keeping this one short because I'm vacation and don't want to spend most of my day in front of a computer screen. So I'll skip right to the rating.

9/10. I give it that because of the song I mentioned above that I don't like. If it weren't for that one song, this would more than likely have a perfect score. The music is awesome in my opinion. There isn't anything I don't like, save for the second track. But other then that, I give Amon Amarth Surtur Rising a 9/10. Good jobs, guys. Keep up the good work.

As always, I'm your host, Wattako.

Stay Shockey.