Amon Amarth – With Oden On Our Side

» 4 out of 5 Evil Faces

So, from what I gather Amon Amarth is a very popular band. Unfortunately, I have never really listened to them.

I remember hearing one of their CDs a few years back, but it seems that I did not like them much at the time. Or at least that is how I remember it anyway. So I kinda put them on a back burner until I forgot about them. Oops.

I have heard their name mentioned from time to time, but always thought, “Oh yeah, I do not like them“. Though with the addition of this site into my life. I have to forget some of those old memories and habits, and just listen to anything that falls into the metal genre.

I am glad I bit the bullet on this one, because for whatever reason, they sound pretty good to me now.

They remind me of the band Dawn. Since I have been a fan of Dawn for a number of years, it is a bit perplexing that I did not like Amon Amarth more when I previously listened to them. Maybe their sound changed. I will have to go back and listen to the earlier releases at some point.

In the meantime we are talking about their newest release With Oden on Our Side. So lets move on with that.

As mentioned above this is a cool CD. It is fairly monotone and goes at one speed throughout, but there are some cool marching riffs and it has a certain somber/doomy style that I am finding myself liking more and more with each listen.

I have read in a few places where Amon is referred to as being melodic. I am not sure I would really say they are melodic. It is nothing like what I consider to be melodic metal anyway. It is melodious for sure, but then I would say that most metal bands have some sort of a melody.

This is medium paced death metal with a hint of black metal. I dig it.