Hailing from Sweden, this is Amon Amarths 11th release since 1991, though not all of these are studio albums. For those of you unfamiliar with Amon Amarth, shame on you!!! Because these guys are so unique within the death metal genre, due to the fact that the majority of their lyrical content is based around Norse mythology, they sort of pioneered the genre of Viking metal, although it iss not technically an actual genre. But whatever it is, these guys have perfected their sound over the past 15 years and have really developed their own unique signature sound.

And certainly, looking at the cover art and booklets, the imagery adds to this, as it is all images of vikings in battle against the gods themselves.

The music is not technically lightning fast like other bands, but it is not supposed to be, it is supposed to be slowed, folkish, heavy, melodic, powerful, and this style they have developed is wonderous. Having said that, there are some really good moments of double bass blasting that fits the low end melodic rhythm to perfection.

1. Twilight of the thundergod: (4.09) Awesome intro, brilliant extended growl to come in with awesome paced double bass and low end melodic guitaring. The vocals come in clear and like most Amon amarth albums, you can mostly fully understand the lyrical content, which is another thing I like about this band, as their lyrical content is pretty cool and trys to give you an insight of the mind of the viking and how they lived day to day. Unlike most death metal where you cannot understand the growling and the lyrical content tends to be on the satanic, sadomasichistic, perverted and shocking for the sake of shocking, not that there is anything wrong with that, but it can get stale and it is refreshing to have bands like Amon Amarth (Nile also sing about Egyptian mythology). Back to song, great intro, great title song and worthy of having the album named after this track.

5. Varyags Of Miklagaard (4.18) A good song that praises those deeds done in battle, up beat and heavy as hell, great song.

7.No fear for the setting sun (3.54) Basic riffing brings the song in and after a few short verses the signature low end half step groove comes in for the chorus, beatiful.

9. Live for the kill (4.10) Easily my favourite song, with a bonus, the last third of the song starts with a lovely piece of cello work done by the one and only Apocalytica. The beggining has real presence and heavyness about it and then some serious energy comes in at the chorus 'A predators heart knows no remorse', the songs heart beats like that of the viking hunting his prey, which they liken this heart to be like that of the wolves, a fierce predator who's skills are honed a battled hardened and lives for the kill!

I realy feel that this is an album that you should own, it has everything, great songs, a bonus live DVD, great art work plus the added layer of stories of Vikings long past and the mythology they lived and died by. What more can you possibly want from an album? I hope this format is something that takes off a lot more with other artists, especially in the metal genre, as they tend to not get much air time on t.v. so unless you see them live, you don't get to see them that regularly, this bonus DVD is good, but like 'In Flames' did with 'Come Clarity', they actually filmed themselves in the studio playing the entire new album, perfect. With the age of shareware, simply creating an album and relying on people buying it, unfortunately is not enough these days, artists need to think outside the box and start using technology to their advantage, not blame the public for exploiting it, and this example and the In flames example and even metallicas new one are ways of thinking outside the box, getting people interested again in having the original and the extras....., but I digress, buy this album, a total must have!!!!