Amon Amarth are a Melodic Death Metal band from Sweden - who are my top recommendation for anyone out there who has yet to sample what the Death Metal scene has to offer and was wondering about a good band to start with.

This does not mean that Amon Amarth are not the real deal when it comes to Death Metal. On the contrary, it should be noted that the music that they play is actually rooted in Death Metal, and that they are not one of those Not-Death-at-all Metal bands with growly vocals. They are one of few bands out there who are able to perform the neat trick of being both Death Metal and Melodic at the same time, rather than alternating between the separate parts. Both Death Metal and melody are integral to their sound, yet they somehow manage to never stop being either.

Amon Amarth’s main lyrical themes, and calling it a lyrical obsession would not be amiss here, are based on the Vikings and Viking mythology. Don’t let that confuse you into thinking that they have anything in common musically with Viking Metal as they don’t. The Viking themes do permeate their music, and it is a shame that the term Viking Metal was already in use for something completely different before Amon Amarth came about as if it would otherwise have been perfect for them. They have an epic feel to their music which is quite rare in Death Metal with many songs that can be described as battle-hymns and which are always as majestic as they are savage. The double-kick war drums sound the call for battle, underpinning a uniquely melodic and aggressive guitar onslaught that is so perfectly evocative of the harsh men and even harsher Gods in a supremely harsh world that fill their lyrics. Vocalist Johan Hegg even comes across like a Berserker with a sore head, while always sounding very distinct and clear.

Many of you may be thinking that a Death Metal band singing about Vikings sounds like a sure-fire recipe for a shallow rent-a-shock lyrical gorefest, but thankfully Amon Amarth are above such things and have obviously been interested enough to actually do some research and learn about the culture, mythology, values and traditions of the people that they are singing about. Not surprisingly, the warrior side of the Vikings is especially popular with them and they have many epic tales of battle among their songs, but their lyrics are based on a keen interest in the culture and history of their Viking ancestors, rather than on any “The Vikings were cool because they drank alot and killed lots of people” nonsense. They manage to actually get under the skin of the Vikings and give a sense of the battles they fought from their perspective, and draw the listener into the Viking’s world.

You can’t get away from the Vikings in Amon Amarth. Almost every single song that they have ever done is either about or inspired by their mythology. It would be natural to assume that their name is derived from Norse Mythology, but Amon Amarth is actually Elvish for the Mountain of Doom in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but now that that little piece of trivia is out of the way it is time to completely forget Tolkien and not mention him again, because this is one common Metal obsession that Amon Amarth never sing about. Even the song “Amon Amarth” is actually about Vikings and not Hobbits as you may expect.

Amon Amarth are one of those dependable bands that have remained true to their original sound and ethos almost to the point where their albums basically start off again from where the previous one left off, and which tend to contain more of the same rather than any new musical shocks or real development. That said, their older albums do tend to contain their fastest and most ferocious songs, while the newer material tends to be more focused on the more melodic side of their sound and an increasing tendency to remain stubbornly mid-tempo on all of their songs, but it is definitely a case of a gradual evolution and a polishing of their sound rather than of any revolutionary changes in sound or style.

The quality of their albums is consistently high – I really haven’t heard a single song from this band that was anything less than great – which makes recommending a particular album a little tricky. The tendency is for Death Metal fans to prefer their earlier material and Melodic Metal fans to prefer their later material, so the best advice is to work through their discography chronologically if you are the former, and work backwards through it if you are the latter.