If your anything like us, then Amon Amarth is a band that are constantly in rotation. From the more raw and sonically intense ‘Once Sent From The Golden Hall’ to the more melodically controlled ‘Jomsviking’, Amon Amarth’s 25 year back catalogue has something for everyone. Metal Wani had it right when they said about Amon Amarth, ‘”I have an idea, let’s start a band centered around Vikings and tour the world for 25 years”. It sounds like a drunken idea you’d have one night with your mates’. Yet that is exactly what Amon Amarth set out to do and to their credit, have done.
To mark the more than impressive milestone, on the 16th of November Amon Amarth have offered the fans a new documentary and accompanying live albums totalling over 4 hours of content. Titled ‘The Pursuit of Vikings: 25 Years In the Eye of the Storm’ Amon Amarth’s retrospective documents the bands history from their suburban beginnings as Scum to the modern Swedish behemoth that they are today. Beginning with vocalist Johan Hegg and guitarist Olavi Mikkonen talking to the camera, we learn of the early days of the band and of the many, many challenges that they faced on their raid of the metal shores through the first three releases and how they even questioned whether the band should continue to exist.
Thankfully, they did. And as they begin to talk about the period that really cemented the Amon Amarth’s sound, the documentary enters the period where we at Metal Mashup first grabbed our horns and boarded the ship with ‘Fate of Norns’. Yet the band itself of not the only lens through which we gain insight, for the fans too get their say in their own dedicated segment of the documentary dedicated to the sharing of their personal experiences with the band and Amon Amarth’s material.
Also included in ‘The Pursuit of Vikings: 25 Years In the Eye of the Storm’ is two live sets that span the back catalogue of the band. The first set is on a smaller statge and focuses primarily on the bands older material from albums such as ‘The Avenger’, ‘Versus The World’ and ‘Twilight Of The Thunder God’ and a second set that showcases their newer material in the best way possible complete with longboat and flame.
To summarise, ‘The Pursuit of Vikings: 25 Years In the Eye of the Storm’ is for the fans, and with amazing audio from the live performances it’s a must.