It’s been three years since I heard anything from Amon Amarth, as Metal Blade dropped me from their promo list several times and I missed out on the band’s last effort The Avenger. The last album of theirs I heard was Once Sent From The Golden Hall, and after hearing their most recent full length, The Crusher I think I’m going to have to hunt down a copy of their last release. Amon Amarth haven’t changed much in the past three years, they still play blackened groove laden Swedish death-thrash that packs the punch of Thor’s hammer as it crushes your face with a single mighty blow. Judging from my views on a large variety of Scandinavian death-thrash groups, I should have an equally negative view of Amon Amarth, however this quintet does the little things that the other bands I’ve scolded don’t do, namely write good songs. The group reminds me slightly of label mates, and fellow Swedes, The Crown, in that they play music that’s easy to get into, yet not at the expense of intensity, energy and aggression. When you think of Swedish death metal in 2001, what tends to come to mind is melodic death-rock in the vein of newer In Flames and Dark Tranquility, a much softer and more commercially acceptable sound. Thankfully Amon Amarth do not fit into this mould. This is the same Amon Amarth who kicked my ass three years ago with Once Sent From The Golden Hall, with their solid song structure, melody, groove, heaviness, aggression and all out intensity. Highlights of this disc include the opening track "Bastards Of A Lying Breed", "The Sound Of Eight Hooves", "A Fury Divine" and most notably their balls-out full-on aural assault cover of The Possessed‘s "Eyes Of Horror". This is the type of track that if Amon Amarth were to play it live every person in the room would be killing each other in the pit, whether they’re a fan of The Possessed or not. The one downside to this disc is the ridiculous album cover by Tom Thiel and Thomas Ewerhard, which depicts a muscle bound Viking, complete with goat horned helmet, slamming Thor’s Hammer into the ground with one hand and his other hand raised in victory. I realize that Amon Amarth are huge into the Viking mythology, and express it through their music, but the cover is just hilarious, the only way they could possibly make it more ridiculous would be if they had put Hagar The Horrible on the cover of the album. All of that doesn’t matter, however, and doesn’t detract from the music, so I’ll just leave it at that. If you liked Once Sent From The Golden Hall or The Avenger, you’ll love this disc, and if you’re even just a casual fan of aggressive Swedish death thrash, and want to hear it done right, then you’ll go to your local metal shop, buy this disc, and if they don’t have it, you’ll get drunk, return and smash the place apart with your battle axe, like a true Viking warrior… or just kindly ask them to order it, depending upon how big of a puss you are.

Review byTeufel