Twilight of the Thunder God - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	Death Magnetic
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•	Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder(Special Edition 2 CD)

Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
CD/DVD. The title of the 2008 album by Amon Amarth is Twilight of the Thunder God. It will feature guest appearances by Lars G"ran Petrov of Entombed, Roope Latvala of Children of Bodom, and the cello metal band Apocalyptica. Along with the release of the album will be an eight-page comic strip based on Norse mythology which will be released by magazines from all over Europe. Amon Amarth will go on a North American headlining tour in October 2008, with support from Ensiferum, Belphegor, and a melodic death metal band from Tampa named The Absence. The band toured the earlier part of 2008 as support for the well known band Slayer throughout Europe in the Unholy alliance Chapter 3.

Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Melo-death or Power-death? Whatever it is, it's great! October 1, 2008
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

First off, I'm not a death metal aficionado. If you have read my review on "With Oden on Our Side" you'll know that Amon Amarth was my first real purchase in the Death Metal genre. I was attracted to them because the music in the snippets I'd heard was just the kind of thing I like. Aggressive, rough even, but beautifully melodic. It helped that Johan Hegg's vocals are incredibly easy to understand as he enunciates his growls and sings very rhythmically.

I'd read some of the early reviews on Metal sites about this CD, and snapped it up. While "With Oden on Our Side" had a few songs which really stuck out for me, and a couple which later elevated themselves on further listenings, "Twilight of the Thunder God" strikes me as an even more consistently melodic CD. The music is never pushed to the background by the vocals and usually takes the forefront. I'm listening to it yet again right now, and am reminded that there are even some guitar solos which wouldn't be out of place on traditional heavy metal or power metal CDs.

One other thing I really like about the music is that it's heavy and textured. Some other melodic death metal that I thought I might like left me a bit cold, and it was usually a combination of the singer being too dominant and the music sounding a bit thin. There's definitely a strong bass element here which works very nicely.

While the songs rarely tend to be extremely fast (most would fall squarely into 'mid tempo' with a couple of faster songs), different emphasis on drums or guitars make most of them feel unique. I really don't have any favorites yet, but overall I like it significantly more than their previous effort.

The special edition has a bonus DVD with some live performances that rounds out an already great package.

5 out of 5 stars

Phew!!! A review and some band history too... October 1, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I have always considered Metallica as my overall favorite band (yes this is an Amon Amrth review). Then there has been the last 15 years and my confidence in my favorite band choice has been tarnished. The "Black" album was the twilight and the subsequent years brought only darkness and despair. There has recently been light again with "Death Magnetic" but let's get back to the twilight.

A few years ago I began expanding my metal horizons and discovered bands like Ensiferum, Turisas, Einherjer, Unleashed, Wintersun and Tyr to name just a few. Somewhere between Ensiferum and Turisas I picked up the album "Fate of Norns" by Amon Amarth (translated as Mount Doom for all you Tolkien fans). Now, I am of Norwegian heritage, and vikings hold a special place in my heart. "Fate of Norns" blew me away. It perfectly combined my love of all things metal and my love of all things viking. I had found the perfect band. I had to check out their previous work...

It turns out that "Fate of Norns" was the fifth full length album our friends from Sweden had released. Their previous efforts, "Once Sent From the Golden Hall", "The Crusher", "The Avenger" and "Versus the World" beckoned me. The first three albums were more stright forward death metal with a hint, here and there, of what was to come. "Versus the World" saw a change in the band, with a much more melodic texture over the double bass, pounding death metal machine underneath. It is also where Johan Hegg, the bands prodigiously bearded lead singer, hit his stride. Hegg is, quite frankly, amazing. I have failed to find another lead with such a powerful, growling voice who you can actually understand! Every freakin' word, clear as a bell, well at least to a semi-trained ear! So, I was hooked. "Versus the World" was even better then "Fate of Norns" and I began to wait for their next release...

In 2006 Amon Amarth released "With Oden on Our Side" to the world. To say the least, I was not disappointed. It was, I believe, better then "Fate of Norns" and in some ways better than "Versus the World". So, now here is a band that I have elevated to near the top of my all time favorite bands list and I read that they have signed a new three album deal. I start to worry. Is it the beginning of a sellout? There are guest appearances on the new album. Uh oh. They announce a special addition of "Twilight of the Thunder God" with a comic book and bobble head dolls. I start to panic! I want them to be more popular (in the U.S.) but will they just release garbage from here on out? It has happened to my favorite band before.....

...and then I hear the new album. Phew!!! It is a masterpiece!!! It is the band's best album of the seven they have now released. It has mid-tempo melodic tracks, specifically "Varyags of Miklagaard", "Free Will Sacrifice" and "Live for the Kill". The title track is brutal and has a short but outstanding guitar solo by Children of Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala. "Guardians of Asgaard" will stick in your head, well, for a long, long time. You could lead an army into battle with "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags". And then there is "Where is your God?". Here you cannot really understand Mr. Hegg. But all is forgiven because Amon delivers almost four minutes of pure, unadulterated viking brutality! The first time I heard it I shed a tear, a tear of joy for it is truly hardcore ("Asator" on crack).

So, Amon Amarth delivered. Their string of awesomeness is unbroken. I will now enjoy an even larger library of melodic, brutal viking death metal. And then I will wait. Wait with apprehension for their next album. Will they pull it off again? I believe they have the gods on their side. If you have any interest at all in death metal, melodic death metal, metal, vikings, head banging, moshing, etc. you owe it to yourself to at least try listening to Amon Amarth. I guarantee you will find something you like.

Hail to the mighty Amon Amarth!

5 out of 5 stars

Amon Amarth deliver once again!! September 30, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

What a beautiful album this is. this could very well be my new favorite AA cd. i cant stop listening to it. great diverse blend of old and new styles and everything in between. can listen to this album straight through without skipping over any filler tracks, and ive done just that several times a day since it arrived last week. beautiful production. every instrument is crystal clear. Hegg's vocals sound amazing. if you're any kind of AA fan this album shouldnt disappoint cuz it has a little of everything on it. if you like super heavy brutal, there is "where is your God?". if you like sing along arena songs, there is "Guardians of Asgaard" which is sure to be a concert favorite for years to come. if you like the classic AA sound, there is "Varyags of Miklagaard" which is my personal favorite. if you like galloping battle songs, then "tattered banners and bloody flags" is for you.

just when the cd is over and you dont think anything could be better than this, you pop in the free DVD and get your butt kicked once again. yes a FREE DVD. and its not some bootleg low quality drivel that other bands might through in just to get sales. this is a professionally done full concert. it is just over an hour long. crystal clear footage, letterboxed for your widescreen viewing enjoyment. 5.1 surround sound. beautiful. features many songs from their last album "with oden on our side". they could have easily sold this concert DVD seperate and the fans would buy it. but no. AA gives it to you for free. thats what kind of band this is.

so if you are a long time AA fan, this wont disappoint you. if you wanna get into AA for the first time there is no reason why you shouldnt start here cuz you get a great album showcasing their style as well as the DVD which contains some of their older songs.

5 out of 5 stars

This is an Incredible Album! September 30, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Just by reading this you have shown that you have an interest in the kind of music Amon Amarth produces, and if you are in any way inspired by this type of music, you will not find a better example of all that is good about what metal has become. This stands to be a true classic 20 years from now as the greats of the past still stand tall today such as Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, Judas Priest's Defenders of the faith, Dio's Holy Diver, Ozzy's Diary of a Madman, Metalica's Master of Puppets etc. etc. Yes its that good!! for those who are not familiar with Johan Hegg's vocal style, I recommend that you do your best to dis-associate any associations you may have to link with just about every pretender who ever tried to use this style in the past. Johan Hegg Stands alone in this category. He does the un-imaginable of conveying true heart felt emotion in a growl that I have never heard anyone even come close to. He is the best in the business hands down. The rest of the band are the epitome of what good heavy metal is supposed to be, and they have refined all that got us excited about this form of music in the first place and concentrated it into a form of crack for the musical soul and delivered it to us in the form of a Viking warrior.
Bang your heads my friends, it doesn't get any better than this! \m/

5 out of 5 stars

...in the middle of the night.... September 30, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful

Sometimes it's great things you come across when you can't sleep due to jet lag :-) Started to surf amazon's mp3 downloads and stumbled over this new album wihin hours of its release...pure accident, but a great one:

Fantastic riffs, hard yet melodic, dirrrty guitars, epic feel...all you love in Viking Metal!

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