I really loved this album. Amon Amarth has never released a bad album but the past few releases have all sounded very similar. Though this one definitely sounds similar, it sets itself enough apart to sound refreshing.
Dunno, i LOVE the chorus in "Raise Your Horns". I don't care if it's predictable or not, but it's done perfectly, so it's just doesn't matter to me. God, the major part of heavy metal is predictable, I can't count how many times i've listened to the Tipton's intro riffs in Priest, but they are so legendary so I don't care that it's a cliche. Nevertheless, I agree with the overall score, I can feel that something is missing, but I can't really tell what this thing is.
I really appreciated the way you reviewed this Sam. My first couple play throughs I was somewhat disappointed in parts of the album but overall happy that Amon Amarth decided to take some chances and mix it up. At this point though, I had decided that I preferred Deceiver of the Gods better than Jomsviking. Fast forward 6 Months later and something very interesting happened. I started listening to Jomsviking... a ton. I started to listen into the lyrics and think about the story as a whole. I saw them in concert both in France and San Francisco for their Jomsviking tour and Jomsviking was really growing on me. What was really crazy is when I took another listen to Deceiver of the Gods and I just couldn't get into it. It was very odd to say the least but not only had I gotten extremely used to Jomsviking, I had craved it. Now, don't get me wrong I love their other albums but Jomsviking has grown to have a special place in my metal heart. I think it's my love of story (I'm a huge Power Metal fan as well Gile Kristians Viking Novels) that really captivated me. Anyway, I would encourage you to listen review this again after some time to reflect.
Joey Bryan exactly what happened to me. I would deffinently like to see a re-review cuz this album has grow to my favorite amon album. something I didn't think would happen when it first came out
This review is right on point, and, dude, you find the right words to (tactfully) elaborate on the places where this album diverges from their past works. Thanks! And yep-at the end of the day, it's still new tunes from Amon Amarth!
Very good review with which I mostly agree, but I gotta ask: why the fours skulls scale? I think you should definitely add a 5th, because the result right now is that the new Ihsahn record on which you were much more positive in your overall assessment got the same 4 skulls as the Amon Amarth one. It would have made more sense with 4/5 for Ihsahn and 3/5 for Amon Amarth.
I know I'm over a year too late on this but you said you don't think there's been a guest vocalist in an Amon Amarth track, there has been. Candlemass' singer guested on "hel" on Deceiver Of The Gods
Imo this is their best album of late. It's refreshing and trying out something new, which I love. Bands can't stay always the same. The highlight track on this album by far is "A Dream That Cannot Be", the addition of Doro Pesch turned out to be fucking amazing. This is a 10/10 album in my opinion.
My favorite songs on the album are First Kill, The Way of Vikings, At Dawns First Light, One Thousand Burning Arrows, A Dream That Cannot Be, and Back On Northern Shores. Don’t get me wrong, I like the whole album, the songs I listed are ones that stick out to me the most. 🤘🏻🤘🏻
When will you start reviewing the more underground bands? Wormed, Abhorrent and Putridity have dropped phenomenal releases in the last few months. Some bands that are in the big labels tend to get repetitive, predictable and generic.
I thoughly enjoyed Jomsviking from start to finish I give it 4 skulls out of 4 skulls like you I have been a fan of Amon Amarth for years, I love that they are still treading down familiar territory yet giving us a slightly different I am part of the fan base that loves the catchy sing a long courses, so Raise Your Horns was right up my ally and I thoughly enjoyed it A Dream That Cannot Be I really liked because it had a very familiar feel to it, yet it was completely different than anything we have had from Amon Amarth before and I though Johan Hegg's and Doro Pesch's voices worked very well together my favourite track on the album is At Dawns First Light, I did not mind at all that the guitars were not as heavy and aggressive as they have been in a lot of their past songs, I thought the guitars that they chose worked very well for the song
I love the entire album. In the song "Raise Your Horns", I believe he meant Mead but since some might not know what that is he uses beer instead. Awesome album, I personally think it is 5/4 skulls.
+gray man prepper Mead was their traditional drink but once they started raiding far away land the beer flowed freely.Wine was also raided/traded for the upper class to have something extra besides the beer & mead. Awesome album
I'm a little late getting here but I have to add my 2 cents seeing as Amon Amarth are one of my favorite bands. Own every Album by them, and saw them on this Tour and have the T Shirt. Sam, I feel your 3 star rating is rating this album as a Amon Amarth album rather then a stand alone Metal album that is a solid 5 Skulls all day long. Sure, all of us Amon fans have our favorites. "With Oden by our side" will always be my favorite but Amon Amarth is one of the Rulers of the Death Metal world. A hard working band that consistently delivers masterpiece after masterpiece to satisfy the Metal worlds Metal Cravings. You should have seen the crowds reaction to the Brutal "Raise your Horns". Everyone in the crowd including myself had Metal horns in the air and was singing along.. 5 Skulls all day Long. Anything else is total Metal sacrilege. Rob \M/
I agree with the rating, and i think your spot on here. It's a good album for those who can handle the band doing something a little different, but for those die hard fans who want another twilight of the thunder gods - this is not it. Solid review.
As someone who prefers Amon Amarth's earlier work (Once Sent From the Golden Hall being my favorite album of theirs) I didn't love this record. With that being said, I've really enjoyed every other album the band has put out and I'm hopeful that I will enjoy the next one.
I really like "Raise your Horns" and "A Dream That Cannot Be" Unfortunately the rest isn't that memorable, in my opinion. Still my favourite album from Amon Amarth is Surtur Rising. That one is packed with timeless classics!
wow, I think amon amarth has always done some easy songs, I mean, I've never heard a single solo of them where you think "Holy fuck, thats unnaturaly fast", or being really technical in any aspects. I really like this band, but have in mind they are not that kind of band who pushes his boundaries, they just play what they like without burning their brains writing songs
I really feel that over all a band is gonna take some chances and expand. Otherwise they get stale. so AA gets a solid 4 skulls from me. Bear in mind, I'm also a Blind Guardian fan, so I'm very into the concept of songs/albums with stories to tell. And it's pronounced Yomsviking! it even pronounces it in the track The Way of Vikings.
For some reason i feel like raise your horns is kinda out of place in the main story of album. It is more like Concert hit, rather than culmination storywise through album.
The last album was so over polished. These guys have never done a bad album. But if its as polished as Deceiver of the gods... I will be slightly disappointed.
Yes raise your horns is predictable....but they said it in there newly realesd DVD that they are beer drinking metal heads who want to have a good time and that's what raise your horn is all about my friend 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹
Poor review. A mispronunciation of the album name right off the bat, and lots of video footage of random crowd headbanging without showing what band the crowd was actually cheering for, made me feel like the host didn't fully research before posting. Had a very Hollywood, ungenuine feel to it. It was then hinted towards Amon Amarth being sellouts (words were never said, but I thought it was coming) for the song Raise Your Horns. I've listened to this song many times with no outside opinion, and not once did I ever think this song was not true to the bands roots. An incredibly catchy riff, guitars tuned way down to drop A, and lyrics true to their Viking influence. This song is is 100% accurate to what Amon Amarth is all about. I expect this song to become a crowd favourite at shows for old fans, and new. First Kill blew me away when I first heard it. At Dawns First Light definitely feels a bit like Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills, so I encourage you enjoy every harmonized note!
Missing those bloody days. Actually, I don't like this Amon Amarth. Sounds like Hammerfall with brutal vocals. I remember the first time I listened Vs. the World. Huh! I've never felt it was like an album, or musical piece. It was different. Made me feel like I am in that moment, in that war, felt like I lost, I teared.
raise your horns has nothing to do with drinking beer... and the album is pronounced Y-omsviking not J-omsviking just like the name Johan you say Yo-Han no Jo-Han
I have been a huge Amon Amarth fan since The Avenger album and i have to say that i was severely disappointed with thier new album, Jomsviking. Since With Odin on Our Side, Amon Amarth has been on a tear releasing great album after great album. Reaching their pinnacle with Deciever of The Gods. Though the album, Jomsviking, is greatly produced, the substance grows stale very fast. Its lacking in the music department, too many Metalcore style harmonies and each song, the instrumentation is not given the chance to breathe. Of course this is my opinion.
Who raises a stein in the pit anyway? a jerk spilling ale that's who! and wouldn't it be a horn? you can say Johan with the y sound, but not Jomsviking?! if you don't like certain songs just say so instead of using the fans as a scapegoat.
How do you pronounce Johan correctly but mispronounce Jomsviking? Also I feel like this review missed important parts of the album. The first four songs are very important to the story and the last two are also very important. The last song wraps up the story and ties into a couple of the other songs very well
I can't stand Doro Pesch, her voice is so annoying, it's like this strange guy on the "deceiver of the gods" who ruined the song "hel" and the one guest singer on "guardians of asgard" is also a weirdo
Such a mediocre album... I don't care if you like the band, on the contrary, you should be far more unforgiving because of that fact. If this album gets 3 skulls you better up the maximum to 10 skulls... That is how uninspiring, predictable, and pathetic I think it is. Just my $2 'cause I don't use cents :) Cheers.
I really loved this album. Amon Amarth has never released a bad album but the past few releases have all sounded very similar. Though this one definitely sounds similar, it sets itself enough apart to sound refreshing.
+Decaying Reverie I agree. picked up my copy today. After all its my favorite band in the genre.
The album gets better and better for each listen imo.
Why can't anyone pronounce it right... It's pronounced "Yomsviking."
Right
+Thomas Kittock maybe not everyone on the planet is swedish........sigh
Yan Jod Hey man, neither am I. I don't mean to be a piss or anything, I just think it'd be cool if they researched it a little.
+Yan Jod We're not swedish but we listen to those bands and know them enough to know by now after all these years that J is a Y in nordic languages.
+Yan Jod just look at Hegg's first name. it's pronounced Yo-haan, not Joe-haan, not terribly hard ro figure out.
Dunno, i LOVE the chorus in "Raise Your Horns". I don't care if it's predictable or not, but it's done perfectly, so it's just doesn't matter to me. God, the major part of heavy metal is predictable, I can't count how many times i've listened to the Tipton's intro riffs in Priest, but they are so legendary so I don't care that it's a cliche.
Nevertheless, I agree with the overall score, I can feel that something is missing, but I can't really tell what this thing is.
Very intelligent review, awesome work Sam, as always/
I'm really enjoying these Overkill reviews. Keep up the great work Sam! Insightful, fair and intelligent analysis!
I really appreciated the way you reviewed this Sam. My first couple play throughs I was somewhat disappointed in parts of the album but overall happy that Amon Amarth decided to take some chances and mix it up. At this point though, I had decided that I preferred Deceiver of the Gods better than Jomsviking.
Fast forward 6 Months later and something very interesting happened. I started listening to Jomsviking... a ton. I started to listen into the lyrics and think about the story as a whole. I saw them in concert both in France and San Francisco for their Jomsviking tour and Jomsviking was really growing on me.
What was really crazy is when I took another listen to Deceiver of the Gods and I just couldn't get into it. It was very odd to say the least but not only had I gotten extremely used to Jomsviking, I had craved it.
Now, don't get me wrong I love their other albums but Jomsviking has grown to have a special place in my metal heart. I think it's my love of story (I'm a huge Power Metal fan as well Gile Kristians Viking Novels) that really captivated me.
Anyway, I would encourage you to listen review this again after some time to reflect.
Joey Bryan exactly what happened to me. I would deffinently like to see a re-review cuz this album has grow to my favorite amon album. something I didn't think would happen when it first came out
Don't think he accidentally killed the earl's son. prettyu sure he did it because he "tried to take her away" or something
+Garrett O'Sheehan "I rammed his own sword, straight through his throat, and stood there watching him fade"
Yeah, total accident!
+Garrett O'Sheehan he killed the earl's right-hand man, not his son.
The last song ended, no one second later I got the notification for this video. Loved this fucking album!
The outro on "back on northern shores" is soooo fucking epic.
+Nader Zein It is! But my favorite is One Thousand Burning Arrows!
I totally understand cuz thats my second favourite track haha! \m/
The last song is pretty awesome.
My favorite song on the album!!
This review is right on point, and, dude, you find the right words to (tactfully) elaborate on the places where this album diverges from their past works. Thanks! And yep-at the end of the day, it's still new tunes from Amon Amarth!
I love this album. My favourite 2016 release
Every review gets better, thanks Sam!
Very good review with which I mostly agree, but I gotta ask: why the fours skulls scale? I think you should definitely add a 5th, because the result right now is that the new Ihsahn record on which you were much more positive in your overall assessment got the same 4 skulls as the Amon Amarth one. It would have made more sense with 4/5 for Ihsahn and 3/5 for Amon Amarth.
I love it! Super solid album, it's a must have in the Amon Amarth collection :)
I know I'm over a year too late on this but you said you don't think there's been a guest vocalist in an Amon Amarth track, there has been. Candlemass' singer guested on "hel" on Deceiver Of The Gods
Imo this is their best album of late. It's refreshing and trying out something new, which I love. Bands can't stay always the same. The highlight track on this album by far is "A Dream That Cannot Be", the addition of Doro Pesch turned out to be fucking amazing. This is a 10/10 album in my opinion.
Very cool to finally add some music in the reviews, I liked this a lot better.
Album of the year contender! Solid from beginning to end.. Heavy, clean and dirty, love it! 9/10
They had guest vocals on Deceiver as well. On the song Hel
Amazing album, I am listening to Back On Northern Shores mostly atm (best song) and then to Dream That Cannot Be (surprisingly good song).
Please Sam, review Heavenwood's "The Tarot of The Bohemians" album!
Thanks for the quality content. Cheers!
My favorite songs on the album are First Kill, The Way of Vikings, At Dawns First Light, One Thousand Burning Arrows, A Dream That Cannot Be, and Back On Northern Shores. Don’t get me wrong, I like the whole album, the songs I listed are ones that stick out to me the most. 🤘🏻🤘🏻
was sure you would make a review today for Jomsviking :D they rule
just ordered it. so pumped!
When will you start reviewing the more underground bands? Wormed, Abhorrent and Putridity have dropped phenomenal releases in the last few months.
Some bands that are in the big labels tend to get repetitive, predictable and generic.
gonna pick this up tomorrow. thanks for the review. fate of Norns still my favorite
I am 99% sure the beer in raise your horns is referring to the meed halls of Valhalla
on a sea of blood is the best track alongside first kill and wanderer
what about back on nothern shores?
+Josh Franklin honestly I didn't like it so much but raise your horns, wanderer, and the way of Vikings are my other favorites!
I thoughly enjoyed Jomsviking from start to finish I give it 4 skulls out of 4 skulls
like you I have been a fan of Amon Amarth for years, I love that they are still treading down familiar territory yet giving us a slightly different
I am part of the fan base that loves the catchy sing a long courses, so Raise Your Horns was right up my ally and I thoughly enjoyed it
A Dream That Cannot Be I really liked because it had a very familiar feel to it, yet it was completely different than anything we have had from Amon Amarth before and I though Johan Hegg's and Doro Pesch's voices worked very well together
my favourite track on the album is At Dawns First Light, I did not mind at all that the guitars were not as heavy and aggressive as they have been in a lot of their past songs, I thought the guitars that they chose worked very well for the song
I love the entire album. In the song "Raise Your Horns", I believe he meant Mead but since some might not know what that is he uses beer instead. Awesome album, I personally think it is 5/4 skulls.
+gray man prepper Mead was their traditional drink but once they started raiding far away land the beer flowed freely.Wine was also raided/traded for the upper class to have something extra besides the beer & mead.
Awesome album
3/4? i dont like your rating system! lol but nice review anyways
+Jadograd Most of the time it's out of 2 skulls
I'm a little late getting here but I have to add my 2 cents seeing as Amon Amarth are one of my favorite bands. Own every Album by them, and saw them on this Tour and have the T Shirt. Sam, I feel your 3 star rating is rating this album as a Amon Amarth album rather then a stand alone Metal album that is a solid 5 Skulls all day long. Sure, all of us Amon fans have our favorites. "With Oden by our side" will always be my favorite but Amon Amarth is one of the Rulers of the Death Metal world. A hard working band that consistently delivers masterpiece after masterpiece to satisfy the Metal worlds Metal Cravings. You should have seen the crowds reaction to the Brutal "Raise your Horns". Everyone in the crowd including myself had Metal horns in the air and was singing along.. 5 Skulls all day Long. Anything else is total Metal sacrilege. Rob \M/
Haven't bought anything from these guys since ''The Crusher'' and i gotta say it's fucking great!
Well you better buy some of their other stuff as well. I fucking love twilight of the thunder god
I agree with the rating, and i think your spot on here. It's a good album for those who can handle the band doing something a little different, but for those die hard fans who want another twilight of the thunder gods - this is not it. Solid review.
We will meet where the beer never ends! Fuckin love it.
i always liked this guys videos and reviews..:)
As someone who prefers Amon Amarth's earlier work (Once Sent From the Golden Hall being my favorite album of theirs) I didn't love this record. With that being said, I've really enjoyed every other album the band has put out and I'm hopeful that I will enjoy the next one.
Vikings made bior (beor, etc) so it's thematic to have bior (or beer) in lyrics
+Lee Tewksbury His critique isn't about doubting the historical accuracy, but that it comes off a bit cheesy.
Tony D
You get what you get. This is a story told through song, if the teller wanted beer, they have beer :P
I really like "Raise your Horns" and "A Dream That Cannot Be"
Unfortunately the rest isn't that memorable, in my opinion.
Still my favourite album from Amon Amarth is Surtur Rising. That one is packed with timeless classics!
CeetjeBeetje one thousand burning arrows, give it a try, I burst into tears every single time I listen to that song
Amon Amarth rules! can't wait to hear this album!! \m/
wow, I think amon amarth has always done some easy songs, I mean, I've never heard a single solo of them where you think "Holy fuck, thats unnaturaly fast", or being really technical in any aspects.
I really like this band, but have in mind they are not that kind of band who pushes his boundaries, they just play what they like without burning their brains writing songs
and that chorus is so epic that I can sing it alone and feel there are 1000 people on my back singing along
Great album. picked up a copy today
I really feel that over all a band is gonna take some chances and expand. Otherwise they get stale. so AA gets a solid 4 skulls from me. Bear in mind, I'm also a Blind Guardian fan, so I'm very into the concept of songs/albums with stories to tell.
And it's pronounced Yomsviking! it even pronounces it in the track The Way of Vikings.
This album is an absolute 4/4 for me, best record of this year and perhaps last year.
well concept albums always take time to hit the board... take queensryche's operation mindcrime for example... then again, I liked this album...
I LOVE new Amon Amarth \M/
Excellent review
Didn't talk about the wanderer or the way of vikings?
yoms - vee - king
All Of Amon Amarth Albums Are Great Some Are Better Than Others But All Are Great Well In My Opinion Anyway 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
love "raise your horns" anthemic, not cheesy at all imo, gonna destroy live..not 100% on the spoken word intros etc, but still a solid album
yeah raise your horns was mt favorite song tbh
For some reason i feel like raise your horns is kinda out of place in the main story of album. It is more like Concert hit, rather than culmination storywise through album.
Killer Album one of their best!
#hailOdin
this is Samuel Dunn, right?
I was pleasantly suprised by the Album. Didn't love their last few outings as much .
now that Judas Priest are gone, Amon Amarth aspire to join the holy trinity of metal
Rictus Metallicus I mean priest isn't gone. They're putting out another album next year
wheres the new lock horns??
If you really listened to the album you should have noticed that it's "Yomsviking" in the ways it should be pronounced.
"I'm gonna be a little harsh on this album...3 out of 4" Bud that doesn't seem very harsh.
Great album
kill the "J" sound and use a "Y" sound and you'll have the pronunciation of Jomsviking correct.
can you review asking alexandria new album
I think it's a fuckin great album.
The last album was so over polished. These guys have never done a bad album. But if its as polished as Deceiver of the gods... I will be slightly disappointed.
Amon Amarth haven't released a bad album
Yes raise your horns is predictable....but they said it in there newly realesd DVD that they are beer drinking metal heads who want to have a good time and that's what raise your horn is all about my friend 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹
Last couple albums have been masterpieces this one is average agree with the review.
Amon Amarth have been releasing the same album for some time now.
It's pronounced Yoms Viking
Poor review. A mispronunciation of the album name right off the bat, and lots of video footage of random crowd headbanging without showing what band the crowd was actually cheering for, made me feel like the host didn't fully research before posting. Had a very Hollywood, ungenuine feel to it. It was then hinted towards Amon Amarth being sellouts (words were never said, but I thought it was coming) for the song Raise Your Horns. I've listened to this song many times with no outside opinion, and not once did I ever think this song was not true to the bands roots. An incredibly catchy riff, guitars tuned way down to drop A, and lyrics true to their Viking influence. This song is is 100% accurate to what Amon Amarth is all about. I expect this song to become a crowd favourite at shows for old fans, and new. First Kill blew me away when I first heard it. At Dawns First Light definitely feels a bit like Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills, so I encourage you enjoy every harmonized note!
the production has the whole top end chopped off - very dark sounding, which kinda sucks
Raise your horns was the best track
Missing those bloody days. Actually, I don't like this Amon Amarth. Sounds like Hammerfall with brutal vocals. I remember the first time I listened Vs. the World. Huh! I've never felt it was like an album, or musical piece. It was different. Made me feel like I am in that moment, in that war, felt like I lost, I teared.
4:32
youre welcome
raise your horns has nothing to do with drinking beer... and the album is pronounced Y-omsviking not J-omsviking just like the name Johan you say Yo-Han no Jo-Han
I have been a huge Amon Amarth fan since The Avenger album and i have to
say that i was severely disappointed with thier new album, Jomsviking.
Since With Odin on Our Side, Amon Amarth has been on a tear releasing
great album after great album. Reaching their pinnacle with Deciever of
The Gods. Though the album, Jomsviking, is greatly produced, the
substance grows stale very fast. Its lacking in the music department,
too many Metalcore style harmonies and each song, the instrumentation is
not given the chance to breathe. Of course this is my opinion.
jumsviking
Who raises a stein in the pit anyway? a jerk spilling ale that's who! and wouldn't it be a horn? you can say Johan with the y sound, but not Jomsviking?! if you don't like certain songs just say so instead of using the fans as a scapegoat.
avenger was there best by far
it's yoms, yomsvaiqing. Jomsviking.
ffs.
How do you pronounce Johan correctly but mispronounce Jomsviking?
Also I feel like this review missed important parts of the album. The first four songs are very important to the story and the last two are also very important. The last song wraps up the story and ties into a couple of the other songs very well
Pronounced yomsviking
disappointment of the year lol
In my opinion, it's not big enough for Amon Amarth. It's an okay album. Nothing special.
I can't stand Doro Pesch, her voice is so annoying, it's like this strange guy on the "deceiver of the gods" who ruined the song "hel" and the one guest singer on "guardians of asgard" is also a weirdo
No need for a female vocalist
Well, it's supposed to be a conversation that Jomsviking has with a woman, so would be kind of weird if it was a man singing.
Such a mediocre album... I don't care if you like the band, on the contrary, you should be far more unforgiving because of that fact.
If this album gets 3 skulls you better up the maximum to 10 skulls... That is how uninspiring, predictable, and pathetic I think it is.
Just my $2 'cause I don't use cents :)
Cheers.
Can you explain further in detail as to why you didn't enjoy it?
Unreasonably harsh review from our man, Norman.