Twilight of the Thunder God, not of music
2010Levi Turner 2010-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 11 →
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mon Amarth. It’s loud. It’s Heavy mythology. It is inspired by European folk music from the ancient times. It’s Viking Folk Metal—and no, it is not a band that is going to carry the same legendary impact as The Beatles, or even Metallica for that matter. But that most certainly does not mean it is bad music. Amon Amarth’s eclectic and power-driven music merits an entire reality check on the music of the emerging generation and the culture it creates.
Amon Amarth’s album, “Twilight of the Thunder God,” contains everything that a Metalhead would want in music, and Amon Amarth manages to stand out as a Heavy Metal band without challenging the very legitimacy of the style itself.
Like most Heavy Metal bands today, Amon Amarth, and the album itself, are not 100 percent pure in their subgenre. Most Folk Metal bands incorporate Melodic Metal or Melodic Death Metal. “Twilight of the Thunder God” has no shortage of the Death Growls that we all love—and better yet, some of the best instrumentals in Heavy Metal today back the extreme growling with an epic aura. For subgenrefreaks, the album could be said to be EpicViking-Folk-Melodic-Death-Metal. That is a mouthful, so why don’t we just call it for what it’s worth: exceptional.
Opening with the song whose title is the album’s namesake, elation fills the heart. For the first time, one might feel tears of impression swell up even in the most macho of music fans because of this heroic-sounding anthem. The songs “Free Will Sacrifice,” and “Where is Your God” are arguably less melodic and have more in common with the likes of Pantera than Agalloch. They focus on the more extreme aspect of death metal, which can admittedly be a little boring since we have heard Cannibal Corpse more than too many times.
But “Twilight of the Thunder God” more than redeems itself with epic ballads such as “Guardians of Asgaard,” an extreme vocal style Doom Metal song about the legendary spiritual warrior guarding the sacred city of all Viking Gods. Maybe the Leif Ericsons of metal music have a special throne reserved with them behind those glorious, Nordic walls.
Every song on this album has its own place in Asgaard, I believe, but taking a more mortal look at things, many would say that this very album is a sign that music is condemned to the lofty gates of some Viking heaven to die. Listening to Amon Amarth and feeling reborn, your reviewer is perplexed as to why so many others are trying to say that music is dead.
This is not to say, though, that Amon Amarth is for the masses, or that it ever will be. First, the Swedish Metal band remains mostly in its home continent of Europe, where a vanguard of modern metal is being developed right underneath the American listeners’ noses (or better yet, ears).
And of course, your reviewer understands that he is not the embodiment of the youth of the world and is more than comfortable—in fact, feels at home—in the world of extreme metal. And yes, “Twilight of the Thunder God” will never be as palatable as “Avenged Sevenfold” or “Black Label Society,” but it will more than satisfy those who are curious. And that’s just what drives our generation today: curiosity.
No, you won’t hear bands as varied as John Legend with Amon Amarth on the same radio wave. In fact, you’d be hard
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