Twilight of the Thunder God [CD/DVD] (CD - 2008)

The modern barbarians of Amon Amarth are dedicated to mining their native Sweden's Viking past for tales of battle glory and eternal feasting that they can build into their colossally melodic death metal. Their seventh album, TWILIGHT OF THE THUNDER GOD, makes plain its mission from the album cover, featuring the Mighty Thor wielding his mystic hammer against a giant dragon. The music itself bludgeons the listener just like that warhammer, with sturdy songs like "Guardians of Asgaard" pounding out a brutal mid-tempo beat, and "Twilight of the Thunder God" spinning a power-metal influenced web of twisting guitars and jackhammer drums.

If extreme metal existed back in the days of Vikings, Sweden's Amon Amarth would undoubtedly be the musical choice of vessels sailing rough and treacherous seas. And on the seventh full-length studio effort overall by the quintet, Amon Amarth sticks closely to the same sound and approach that got them this far in the first place. But unlike their prior studio efforts, several renowned names within the metal community drop by to lend a heavy hand, including Entombed vocalist Lars-Göran Petrov on "Guardians of Asgaard." Children of Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala provides a guitar solo on the title track, while Apocalyptica is heard on "Live for the Kill." As evidenced by such ditties as "Varyags of Miklagaard" and "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags" (how's that for two snappy song titles?!), technically demanding musicality, Godzilla-like growls, and rhythms/tempos compared to horses galloping into war are all proudly on display throughout Twilight of the Thunder God. I bet this is the type of music that YouTube's infamous Techno Viking listens to while getting ready for his next street festival dance. [A CD/DVD was also released.] ~ Greg Prato minimize