(CD/LP, Metal Blade, 2026)
It was difficult for me to admit that both “Berserker” and “The Great Heathen Army” had left me wanting more, even though live, AMON AMARTH were still performing at their usual high-quality level. Don’t get me wrong; I did try to like those albums, and there are a couple of songs that can, and have, entered the band’s setlist. But something was missing to such an extent that I approached “The Allfather Awakens” with some hesitation. Although, to be honest, the awakens part had already rekindled the fire.
The Viking ships showed up through stormy weather that was not strong enough to stop the massive “Gjallarhorn”. The chant-along riffs and Johan Hegg’s axe-on-stone vocals immediately made me think: AMON AMARTH. Yes, the song carries an atmosphere I had missed on the previous two albums. The kind that makes you want to stand at the prow, facing the wind with sea spray hitting your face. That imagery is actually quite different from the lyrics, which tell how Oden gained knowledge and sacrificed his eye. This is definitely a setlist opener, just like every number-one song on an AMON AMARTH album should be. There is even some RUNNING WILD quality in the guitars during the chorus, which made me like the song even more. Such a great start that I would have been utterly disappointed if the album had begun declining from there. Yeah, now I want to fill my Gjallarhorn from the pool, but I wouldn’t ask for a knife, as the lyrics suggest.
The galloping rhythm of “Eight Legs Of Thunder” has all that Swedish oomph, combined with the Heavy Metal riffage that was introduced, and very much welcomed, with “Twilight Of The Thunder God”. “Kvasir's Blood” enters with the head-nodding quality anyone who has seen Philip H. Anselmo live will immediately recognize. This comes with your lips forming the Dredd face before growling deeper than the deepest pit of Hell, “Born, born from the spit,” after using roof nails as mouthwash. This song speaks straight to your Viking soul before the guitar leads call you to chant along. By the way, what came from Kvasir’s blood was the mead that granted poetic inspiration to whoever drank it. Maybe Metal too.
I can definitely see “Rule The Waves” pairing with, or why not replacing, “Put Your Back Into The Oar” in future setlists, but if it were up to me, I would put “Upphaf” there instead. This may sound like a bizarre choice since this is essentially the first AMON AMARTH ballad. And it really is one: the distortion pedals are off and the drums have been reduced to percussion. The song is an open invitation to sit around the fire, beer in hand, and listen to Johan Hegg growl through the opening part of the creation of the world, when chaos was transformed into order. This wonderful segment makes “Die With A War Cry” hit even harder, with the subtle orchestrations setting the atmosphere before the aggression arrives with the verse “Facing destruction, annihilation.” It is once again time to grab your war axe and join AMON AMARTH on the battlefield.
The next three songs are dedicated to Oden, forming a solid trilogy that starts with the hi-hat grooves of the dramatic “Raven God”. I am sure you’ll raise a clenched fist while singing “And they call me Raven God,” another AMON AMARTH tradition I had missed while spinning one of their albums on my turntable. The epic “The Allfather Awakes” marks the moment for the trademark helicopter-headbanging sequence, while it is worth noticing the subtle keyboards in the background adding depth to this cinematic neck-warmer. Then the guitars put the axe’s kiss on this Viking cake. Appropriately, “Oden’s Hunt” is fast and riff-based, with the lyrics warning us that Oden is riding Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse, across the earth. The rhythm almost makes you picture those eight legs moving beneath him as the hunt charges forward.
The album closes with the triumphant “Ascending Like An Eagle”, which is connected to the previous album’s “The Serpent's Trail”. If you’ll excuse my honesty, “Ascending Like An Eagle” is way better, carrying a warrior’s attitude while the guitars reach deep into the AMON AMARTH arsenal and make us smile with our chests puffed out, singing “None of my demons are gone, but I've learned to rise above.” Damn, this feels so good.
Even though I don’t like describing albums as “returns,” “The Allfather Awakens” reminds me a lot of the AMON AMARTH I got hooked on decades ago. There is a raw power and storytelling atmosphere here that makes you wanna sit down and listen to the entire thing, with the only interruptions being the occasional need to refill your tankard.
Skål!
9/10
Links:
www.AmonAmarth.Com
www.FaceBook.Com/AmonAmarth
www.Instagram.Com/AmonAmarth
Tracklist:
01. Gjallarhorn
02. Eight Legs Of Thunder
03. Kvasir's Blood
04. We Rule The Waves
05. Upphaf
06. Die With A War Cry
07. Raven God
08. The Allfather Awakens
09. Oden's Hunt
10. Ascending Like An Eagle
Lineup:
Ted Lundström - Bass
Olavi Mikkonen - Guitars
Johan Hegg - Vocals
Johan Söderberg - Guitars
Jocke Wallgren - Drums