Review Summary: Amon Amarth sails away victoriously after their glorious battle with Surtur.
When I review music, I like to have it playing in the background. It helps keep my points fresh in my head, and generally makes for better reviewing. I couldn't leave "Surtur Rising" on for long, though, because it's really hard to review an album while headbanging.
Before I dig into this splendid-looking platter of metal, I'd like to acknowledge that many view Amon Amarth as fickle at times - that is to say, they don't always hold up to their previous standards or what they're truly capable of. While it's up in the air as far as meeting past standards...
Amon Amarth does a damn good job with "Surtur Rising", their latest release. The concept of this album is - you guessed it! - Surtur! The inglorious badass himself rises from Muspelheim, and boy, is his fury sublime as ever. Amon has always been quite adept at creating heavy, enjoyable tracks, and this record is no exception. Johan Hegg's songwriting abilities fit the music great, and his vocals even moreso. The new sound is by no means revolutionary, but it is refreshing, and sounds great while still retaining a definitive Amon feel to it.
This album really shows Amon Amarth's ability to create atmospheric tracks as well. While album opener "War of the Gods" is first and foremost a thrashingly heavy track, showing that Amon is still the piece of work they were in past releases, "Tocke's Taunt" is a much more emphatic release, with a very carefully-crafted atmospheric presence to it. Speaking of the second track, "Tocke's Taunt" is also a very good track. It shows a slow side at times, but the mood is welcome and gives a feel for what the rest of the album has to offer. My personal favourite is the third track, "Destroyer of the Universe", which is really heavy and really well done. The solo has a "shut up and windmill" feel to it, and the outro's vocals grind in the best possible way. With the first three tracks exhibiting this much heavy attitude and atmosphere, it's difficult to complain. "Slaves of Fear" is a decent track with an interesting meaning, and "Live Without Regrets" definitely deserves a listen for its war-cry take on the popular saying. "A Beast Am I" and "Doom Over Dead Men" hold a blend of both slow and fast moods, and the atmosphere in the last track is incredible, building off the synth outro of "A Beast Am I".
The album's faults lie within the tracks that could be tossed on any Amon Amarth album. "The Last Stand of Frej" is interchangeable with many of the more melodic tracks off of previous records and just sounds too slow to be Amon. I kept expecting something to happen - something awesome, something interesting - and it never did. "Wrath of the Norseman" is very reminiscent of the entirety of "With Oden on Our Side", although it does sound good, and "For Victory or Death" just isn't memorable enough to write too much about. That being said, when you can only complain about three tracks out of eleven, the album's pretty damn sharp.
The bonus track on this album is a cover of "Aerials" by
System of a Down. Despite there being a big gap in sound between the bands, Amon Amarth's cover does it justice. You wouldn't notice any difference if it was an actual Amon song, thanks to the epic guitarwork and Johan's epic screaming outro to the song. Basically, the song sounds like it would if the band had made it first.
All in all, great album, decent cover, and awesome artwork (though I don't know why the Viking has a horned helmet...). Give it a listen if you haven't already.
Recommended Tracks:
1.) War of the Gods
2.) Tocke's Taunt: Loke's Treachery Pt. II
3.) Destroyer of the Universe
9.) A Beast Am I
10.) Doom Over Dead Men
