Amon Amarth

Invader

Ancient Mariner
Just noticed that there hasn't been much discussion on these crazy Swedish vikings, so I thought I'd start one.  Anyone listen to Amon Amarth?  I've only gotten into them a few months ago (thanks to recommendations from here).  I saw them live today and they absolutely kicked arse; I've never been in (or seen!) such a huge mosh pit before. 

To get some more in-depth discussion, I thought I'd show this bit of news: Amon Amarth are playing their first four studio albums in their entireties in four separate gigs in Germany, as well as select songs from their latest two albums and some new up-coming stuff:

"Reconquering the past

4 Evenings - 4 Shows - 4 Albums
Zeche Bochum, Germany


28.12.2008 ONCE SENT FROM THE GOLDEN HALL
29.12.2008 THE AVENGER
30.12.2008 THE CRUSHER
31.12.2008 VERSUS THE WORLD


Apart from playing the 4 albums in their entirety each night there will be a best of mix from "Fate Of Norns", "With Oden On Our Side" and of course the new upcoming album!

+Meet and greet with the band
+Special merchandise sold at each show
+New Years Eve Party on the 31.12

We've had plans of doing a smaller club show tour for quite some time now
where we'd mainly play older songs, but that has been very hard to pull off.
So when this idea was brought to us of re-visiting the 4 first full lenght
albums at Bochum in Germany we were all up for it.
This will be a once in a life time chance for us to play and our fans to
experience all the old songs that we don't have room for in the setlist
anymore, but are still too good to not play! Of course we'll also play songs from the new upcoming album, as well as "With Oden On Our Side" and "Fate Of Norns".

Since these shows will be unique we thought we'd might as well record the
shows too!

We're thrilled over this event and look forward to the shows. It will be
some hard work and preparation playing around 50 -60 different songs in 4
days. Some songs we haven't played for a very, very long time and some we've
never played live at all. But challenges are something that encourages us!

See you all there!"


Even if you don't like the band, what do you think of a move like this?  Something even Maiden could learn from, no?  They're basically relearning their first four albums just to play each song once.  True, Maiden's songs are more complex, but this is still a very bold move.  Respect from me.
 
That's pretty original! To which gig would you go?

I don't know them that well, but I realize that their popularity is growing very fast, the last years.
 
I've heard only the last two of the four, so I'd of course go to the show with one of those two (of which I like Versus the World more).  However, they play more stuff from Versus the World nowadays (in my gig, two from that and non from the one before it), so I think I'd rather see one of the earlier for originality if I was offered the choice. 

I suggest you check them out, Foro.  I know you're more into melodic/power/whatever metal, but I think these guys are pretty unique as a death metal band.  Their lyrics are great (okay, I'll admit I have a soft spot for vikings) and though their sound is very heavy, it's also very well produced; I'd group them into the melodic death metal category.  Their older stuff is faster while their newer stuff is more mid-tempo, and if you want to get into them I'd suggest you try their latest album, With Oden on Our Side, or their upcoming album, Twilight of the Thundergod, due to be released in the fall.  I think the album will be very good, as it seems that every album these guys make is better than the predecessor.

I got to meet the band in an autograph session, and they were really easy-going and friendly.  It was a nice experience for me since I haven't talked to the band members of bands I like before.
 
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