Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods Review

Let's get the ball rolling. I fucking love Amon Amarth. Their particular brand of Viking inspired death metal is catchy, yet flowing with both sides of the emotional spectrum, foreboding, loss and sorrow are conveyed with ease and anger, victory and glory seems to run in their veins.

This is another heavily produced and polished Amon Amarth album, continuing the second era of the band which began in 2006 with the release of the mega successful and mega-awesome With Oden On Our Side. Every beat, strum and growl is clinical and visceral. However what lies underneath in terms of longevity? Will this be an album we come back to again and again? Sadly in my humble opinion the answer is no.

When I read about the song 'Hel' (featuring Messiah Marcolin) dividing opinions online, I was excited to hear the controversial song. However a sense of dread was hanging over my investigation. What if it was the worst thing Amon Amarth had done? I mean its pretty obvious which albums and songs are the better amongst the Swedes back catalogue, but none of them are devastating. None of them make you want to skewer out your inner ear and put it in a blender. To my disappointment, there's nothing embarrassing here, nothing controversial, just a deviation from the norm for the Vikings. The song if anything is a bit boring.

Let's have a look at the highlights shall we? Not all doom and gloom, I am glad to report. The sprightly second track 'As Loke Falls' is a cheeky number. Satisfying melodic chord changes in the verse and a suitably epic twiddly lead motif that recurs a couple of times give a sense of purpose to this track. The chorus of 'Coming of the Tide' has that sexy Swedish sheen to the lead, much like a vintage In Flames outing. The whole song is a bit more cohesive and finished structurally than most of the album. 'Shape Shifter' is fun in parts and suitably beefy but seems to be a bit confused both thematically and musically.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this album, and even after several listens there's no urge to hit the emergency eject button and no urge to facepalm. Its quality metal, but nothing new, nothing too exciting. There are a few darn catchy songs amongst some really dull ones, if you want the headline and not the analysis. Whatever you do don't let this album deter you from falling in love with a great band, who have, lets face it have been around forever, and dominate their particular corner of the metal world. As long as they keep their live performances as solid as ever this will be a minor blip, long forgotten on the path to Valhalla.