Amon Amarth is a band that very much comes and goes with me. Obviously, over the years, the vikings of heavy metal have become among the most popular bands in the extreme metal scene. While the albums of the early to mid 2000’s piqued my interest — Death In Fire through With Odin On Our Side — the last three releases have just kinda… blended in. The same powerful, battle-ready music, but just done without enough advancement from the preceding work. Were they bad? Of course not. But they just weren’t anything I would get hyped up about. The same was true as the release date of Jomsviking began approaching. I figured I would inevitably listen to at some point, but I wasn’t exactly counting the hours until it dropped. Well, that ‘at some point’ turned out to be this past week and I am thrilled to report that this is the most impressive work Amon Amarth has put forward in some time. And I find myself once again on Amon Amarth’s longship, ready for battle. Continue reading →