Swedish masters of melodic death metal Amon Amarth are back with their new opus. This new full length contains nine songs. Some of the songs have usual Viking melodic death metal themes with great epic melodies and catchy hooks crossbred with brutality of primordial mid tempo death metal which somehow became courtesy trademark of this great band. Get In The Ring is a classic epic Amon Amarth opener with lyrics a bit different from their themes. The title song has too many groove moments and kind of not so powerful chorus, so it did not impress me so much. Heidrun is one of my personal favorites on this album, somehow reminding me of Thyrfing, in riffs and songwriting. Johan Hegg´s voice is powerful and brutal, but I love how I understand almost everything he is singing and that is a trademark of excellent death metal singer. Oden Owns You All reminds by title of Einherjer but music is vintage Amon Amarth with such sweet melodic guitar work, making it one of the best on this opus. Find A Way Or Make One is hard hitter with uplifting warrior lyrics and anthemic chorus, some say that Amon rehash all their albums over and over again, but I beg the differ. Or if they do it, they do it perfectly. Dawn Of Norsemen did not sit for me right, maybe because it lacks something, just to be a great song, this way it is only a decent one. Now we come on best part of this opus, Saxons And Vikings, featuring excellent guest performance by Saxon´s Biff Byford, thus creating a perfect mixture of these two warrior folk. I listened to this one over and over again. Skagul Rides With Me is an epic decent anthem of warrior pride and never surrendering defiance. The Serpent´s Trail is the longest song on this opus and finishes this record with rolling and epic guitar work, great lyrics and songwriting. Good album.
Ach, Hungary. Lovely land and our neighbors not even thirty kilometers from my hometown is Croatian-Hungarian border. BlackWeald is a dark ambient/drone project from that land, with a touch of dungeon synth and epic melodies here and there in 14 songs that are featured on this new opus. What I love about this one is that it does not get boring or repetitive for one second. The slow gradation of eerie horror atmosphere creeps in with length and solitude of this music. This one is an atmosphere of careless Summer hot corn and wheat fields of Hungary turning into something sinister, death itself, but us being to closeminded and stupid to see it and acknowledge it. This reminds me why I love horror and why I love music like this one. The usage of old samples in Hungarian only adds to the overall creepiness and feeling of loneliness, dread, suicide, depression and anguish. This is not for everyone, but selected few will appreciate this one. I know I do.
The Interrupters are back with their new full length album, number four in their career which became rather quickly stellar and shiny thanks to Tim Armstrong of Rancid, who kind of took this band under his wind and produced the records, wrote songs and provided guest appearances on their albums. I must admit that I am a fan of this band, their first two albums are legendary, also last one had some really good gems on it, but was not great like the first two. The Interrupters play a mixture of ska and punk rock with lots of melody, even being pop band disguised in punk rock wrapping as far as I am concerned. These new fourteen songs provide similar formula, melodies, great harmonies and memorable choruses, like for example excellent first single In The Mirror which is my personal favorite on this record. There are some excursions into pure reggae waters like with Kiss The Ground. Lyrics are personal and I think this album is somehow more serious lyrics wise, dealing with personal battles, rising from defeat, inspiration, lust for life and positivity. Amee Interrupter is a superb vocalist and her voice is for sure one of the best I have ever listened in punk rock scene. There are couple of melancholic moments on this one kinda making me sad, but in all this album is what you would expect from this band. Other songs that I must mention are excellent upbeat Jailbird, also Let ´Em Go and Love Never Dies. Good album number four.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 