Amon Amarth - Berserker
Key Facts
Country: 🇸🇪
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Release Date: 3rd May 2019
Record Label(s): Metal Blade, Sony Music
Highest Chart Position: 16 (iTunes Album Chart)
Band Members:
Olavi Mikkonen − lead guitar
Johan Hegg − vocals
Ted Lundström − bass
Johan Söderberg − rhythm guitar
Jocke Wallgren − drums
Review
Rating (out of 5🤘): 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Favourite Track(s): Raven's Flight, Shield Wall, The Berserker at Stamford Bridge, Fafner's Gold, Valkyria
Raise your horns and hail the Berserker! From start to finish I was plunged into the Scandinavia of old riding across the sky with Thor looking down on the battles below. This definitely feels like a step up musically for the band. The incorporation of acoustic sections, I feel, makes the album flow better and give it a real atmosphere of storytelling. From what I get from the mini-documentary below the band really took their time to make sure everything was perfect for this album and it certainly shows in my opinion.
Musically, there is a lot more slower sections, we saw glimpses of this experimentation in 2016's Jomsviking and now the band are picking up from where they left off and really messing around with their effects and compositions to expand and redevelop their sound. I think this might be due to repeat riffs reappearing, having been around for 25 years I imagine it gets harder to write new riffs in your style without repeating yourself at some point. Either way it is only a good thing as we're presented with a dynamic and diverse yet raucous and powerful album. The intro riff and transitions in Valkyria are definitely some of my favourite riffs on this album, as they have a much more progressive feel rhythmically and the simple melody is catchy as hell. Into The Dark sees a more orchestral approach to the album and is the best track to finish on, as it replenishes the soul after being battered in battle through out the album.
Lyrically, Johan covers another broad range of Norse mythology and history. This time I noticed more Anglo-Saxon references (The Berserker at Stamford Bridge being the biggest and most obvious one) which as an English fan and Anglo-Saxon history enthusiast this definitely made me happy, given that much of English and Scandinavian history is shared. I've always admired Amon Amarth's lyric writing as they are always well written and packed full of interesting snippets that you want to look up and find the source of their inspiration, for me anyway. While Jomsviking was an awesome album, this has to be some of the strongest material the band have put out since 2008's Twilight Of The Thunder God and 2013's Deceiver Of The Gods.
Production wise, the album sounds huge, triumphant and epic. I can only speculate that it was layered to hell and some experiments were conducted to get the right amount of reverb, but overall its cinematic in its sound. If there was a film to accompany this album it would be the best soundtrack to a film in decades. I love some of the guitar tones Söderberg and Mikkonen have achieved on this album, the perfect mixture of death metal and traditional metal tones. With a rhythm section as tight as Amon Amarth's the bass and kick drum have all the weight in all the right places.
To conclude this saga, Berserker is easily in my albums of the year list. It brings everything you could possibly want in a melodic death metal album, soaring solos, epic melodies and thunderous rhythms to carry you through the trial and tribulations of the Nordic world. It is not very often you get a band this consistent in its subject matter without tiring out, but Amon Amarth are true storytellers, so if you're looking for a non-academic way to learn about the Vikings check out Amon Amarth. So grab some mead and enjoy the epic saga that is Berserker!
On a side note; this album is really good to work out too.
Musically, there is a lot more slower sections, we saw glimpses of this experimentation in 2016's Jomsviking and now the band are picking up from where they left off and really messing around with their effects and compositions to expand and redevelop their sound. I think this might be due to repeat riffs reappearing, having been around for 25 years I imagine it gets harder to write new riffs in your style without repeating yourself at some point. Either way it is only a good thing as we're presented with a dynamic and diverse yet raucous and powerful album. The intro riff and transitions in Valkyria are definitely some of my favourite riffs on this album, as they have a much more progressive feel rhythmically and the simple melody is catchy as hell. Into The Dark sees a more orchestral approach to the album and is the best track to finish on, as it replenishes the soul after being battered in battle through out the album.
Lyrically, Johan covers another broad range of Norse mythology and history. This time I noticed more Anglo-Saxon references (The Berserker at Stamford Bridge being the biggest and most obvious one) which as an English fan and Anglo-Saxon history enthusiast this definitely made me happy, given that much of English and Scandinavian history is shared. I've always admired Amon Amarth's lyric writing as they are always well written and packed full of interesting snippets that you want to look up and find the source of their inspiration, for me anyway. While Jomsviking was an awesome album, this has to be some of the strongest material the band have put out since 2008's Twilight Of The Thunder God and 2013's Deceiver Of The Gods.
Production wise, the album sounds huge, triumphant and epic. I can only speculate that it was layered to hell and some experiments were conducted to get the right amount of reverb, but overall its cinematic in its sound. If there was a film to accompany this album it would be the best soundtrack to a film in decades. I love some of the guitar tones Söderberg and Mikkonen have achieved on this album, the perfect mixture of death metal and traditional metal tones. With a rhythm section as tight as Amon Amarth's the bass and kick drum have all the weight in all the right places.
To conclude this saga, Berserker is easily in my albums of the year list. It brings everything you could possibly want in a melodic death metal album, soaring solos, epic melodies and thunderous rhythms to carry you through the trial and tribulations of the Nordic world. It is not very often you get a band this consistent in its subject matter without tiring out, but Amon Amarth are true storytellers, so if you're looking for a non-academic way to learn about the Vikings check out Amon Amarth. So grab some mead and enjoy the epic saga that is Berserker!
On a side note; this album is really good to work out too.
Metal Injection - Amon Amarth: The Making Of Berserker (In-studio Documentary)
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