Swedish melodic death metallers Amon Amarth have returned in
2013 with their 9th studio album, “Deceiver of the Gods”. That’s
pretty much all you need to know to get an understanding of exactly what this
record sounds like. Based on the two singles for the album, the title track and
“Shape Shifter”, this record sounded like it was shaping up to be slightly
darker (certainly more evil than “War of the Gods” from the previous album). Even
though they were really no different from Amon Amarth’s typical sound, they
were more riff-based and overall slightly less melodic. It quickly became
clear, however, that “Deceiver of the Gods” would be the logical continuation
of the sound the band has crafted over their career, and, in particular, over
the last three albums.
“Deceiver of the Gods” starts out with its best material.
The title track features a pummeling riff before launching into the standard
Amon Amarth fanfare. Johan Hegg’s inhumanly deep growls sound better than ever.
His vocals have always been on the easier side to understand, but the lyrics
are even more obvious now. Underneath the screams of Viking tales are the two
main musical sounds of Amon Amarth: melodic leads with glorious double bass and
tremolo picking rhythm guitars, or heavy chugging with every second or third
note accented. The second song, “As Loke Falls”, offers a slight deviation in
terms of the style of melodic lead; it sounds more like a tapping lick than the
typical down-picked affair. Nevertheless, the rhythm section follows the
standard bludgeoning assault. “Hel” is the only song that has any
experimentation; it features some clean vocals from former Candlemass singer
Messiah Marcolin. While he’s a great singer in his own right, this combination
doesn’t seem to work entirely as planned. This song is really more proof that
Amon Amarth should stick to what they do well. The final track, “Warriors of
the North” is long by Amon Amarth’s standards, but it feels like a normal
length track. It has an outstanding (albeit predictable) riff that drives the
vast majority of the song, and is a solid closer to a great album.
When 6 out of the 10 songs stand out easily after the first
couple of listens (and there have been plenty more listens since then!), a band as
predictable as Amon Amarth has done something right. I wouldn’t say this is
their best work, but it’s by far the easiest to get into of the albums I’m
familiar with. It’s difficult to imagine any fan of the band being disappointed
with “Deceiver of the Gods”.
Highlights
"Deceiver of the Gods"
"As Loke Falls"
"Father of the Wolf"
Final Rating
4.25/5 or 85%.