With Oden on Our Side

 

With Oden on Our Side came out in 2006

Track Listing:

1. Valhall Awaits Me
2. Runes to My Memory
3. Asator
4. Hermod's Ride to Hel - Lokes Treachery Part 1
5. Gods of War Arise
6. With Oden on Our Side
7. Cry of the Black Birds
8. Under the Northern Star
9. Prediction of Warfare

Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Viking Metal (a term the band despises, but, don't play Viking Metal if you don't want to be called Viking Metal)

I bought this album at a concert and have regretted it ever since.  Amon Amarth aren't BAD, they're just meh.  I love Melo Death but it has a tendency to get over produced and lose any bite it has. 

Enter Amon Amarth.  This album (and every other one I've heard) is polished as hell.  It destroys the character of the songs and the band.  I've spent 20 years trying to figure out why people love Amon Amarth, so let's listen here and see why Im still baffled 

Valhalla Awaits Me - Solid melo death riff, polished to perfection drums and screams so clear they might as well be singing.  Oh and the lyrics are about vikings.  But they're definitely not Viking Metal

Runes to My Memory - Temolo picking and chugging riffs with crystal clear screams and click track drums.  And Vikings.  The arpeggio section grew on me though.  Has a cool sound to it

Asator - If I look up Asator it's going to be some Norse god isn't it?  Yep, it's another name for Thor

Hermod's Ride - I wonder where part 2 is.  Either way if you listened to the last two songs then you've heard this one. God this song takes forever to go absolutely nowhere.  That verse is painfully boring

God's of War Arise - Kratos? (Honesty though, that intro/ chorus riff is cool)

With Oden on Our Side - Alright, I'll try on this one.  The intro riff isn't cool enough to play for a solid 30 seconds.  Verse sounds like the rest of the album.  Viking conflict lyrics, stuff about battles.  I wanted to like the bridge but it ended up not being as cool as I thought it was going to be.  Also it's impressive they managed to make a 4 minute Metal song feel like an 8 minute metal song

Cry of the Black Birds - Is that the same riff as Between Angels and Insects from Papa Roach? Has that feel at the start at least.  The verse riff is cool, I'll give them that. Chorus is meh.

Under the Northern Star - Change of pace for the first half and then straight back to their regular 140 BPMish pace

Prediction of Warfare - Here we are at the end.  More vikings, more click track perfect drums and over polished guitars (this is what I wrote before the song started.  Shocker, I was spot on).

1 red song and no green songs.  Like I said above it's just too polished.  No surprises and just 45 minutes of singing about vikings.  It's boring as hell and I still regret buying it 20 years later 

2/5