amon_amarth_2011_05

» Amon Amarth 2011 05 14

Reviewed by Tobbe
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Special guests: The Black Dahlia Murder + Evocation
City: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Tyrol
Date: 14 May 2011
Amon Amarth set length: 88 minutes

Amon Amarth

Saturday night in Stockholm and the guys in Amon Amarth are back in their hometown. This melodic death metal band is gaining more and more fans for each album released and tonight's show at Tyrol is sold out. On their recent tour leg in the States, they played their latest album, Surtur Rising, in its intirety, so I didn't know what to expect for tonight's set.

Lights go out and the intro starts. Two minutes later the band enters the stage with War Of The Gods from the latest album. The band is tearing the venue up right from the start with their fast and hard beats and riffs, and near constant headbanging. The audience is wild and the mosh pit is almost as constant as the band's headbanging. The band looked focused and they seemed excited to play to their home crowd, which actually lead singer, Johan Hegg, told us later on. After more than a decade of live shows, the guys have turned out to real professionals and they know how to please a crowd.

The set continues with a bunch of songs from the two latest releases, above mentioned Surtur Rising and Twilight Of The Thunder God, released in 2008. We get nine songs combined from these albums, which most of the people in the crowd are happy with, since in many fans' ears Amon Amarth is making every new album better than its predecessor. We also get a couple of surprises tonight like Masters Of War from The Crusher and God, His Son And Holy Whore from The Avenger. Two songs which I don't fancy a lot, but it is always nice when you can't figure the setlist out before they play it.

Songs from all eight studio albums are played. We don't get full versions of all the songs though, since both Victorious March and Death In Fire are mixed together in a medley with Gods Of War Arise. After this medley the band says good night and walks off stage.

A couple of minutes later they are back after the usual chanting and hand clapping. They finish this fantastic gig with three of their absolute best songs and the crowd is still following every move and are screaming their lungs out to these songs. Especially Twilight Of The Thunder God goes down extremely well tonight. They end this gig with their anthem, The Pursuit Of Vikings, and afterwards the guys don't seem to want to leave the stage and they stay for a couple of minutes to cheer with the people up front.

Tonight's show was one of the better Amon Amarth shows I've have witnessed and the setlist was almost perfect, focusing mainly on their latest material and with songs from all albums. A couple of more songs would have been excellent though and therefore this gig won't reach 9 full chalices. Also the harmony guitar was sometimes almost silent and I missed a little pyro and effects as well. Hopefully they will return to a stage in Stockholm in the near future. I think there will be no problems with ticket sales if they play another gig in Stockholm on this tour.

8,5 chalices of 10

Setlist:

Intro
War Of The Gods
With Oden On Our Side
Destroyer Of The Universe
Masters Of War
Live For The Kill
Guardians Of Asgaard
Doom Over Dead Man
Slaves Of Fear
God, His Son And Holy Whore
Varyags Of Miklagaard
For Victory Or Death
Victorious March/Gods Of War Arise/Death In Fire
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Intro
Twilight Of The Thunder God
Runes To My Memory
The Pursuit Of Vikings