Author: Unknown
•2:46 PM
By Ross Everett

Throughout its history, heavy metal has done well to avoid pretense. Bands sung about topics like slaying dragons, chasing women, and partying. Then, at some point during the 1990s, the cancer of nu metal started to metastasize in the heavy metal genre. Bands started singing about relationships and their feelings in an effort to gain mainstream popularity. Were not talking about an obligatory power ballad here and there"some bands sung about nothing else than how miserable they were and how sad they were over a failed relationship.

The good news is that the 'nu metal' movement has been met with a serious backlash. Among the defenders of traditional metal values is Swedish Viking metal band Amon Amarth. As the name implies, bands from the Viking metal genre sing about subjects of interest to vikings such as sailing, lusting for adventure and conquest, furious winds and treacherous seas.

Amon Amarth took their name from a landmark in J.R.R. Tolkiens Middle Earth that means Mount Doom in the Elvish language of Sindarin. Drawing musical inspiration from bands such as Bolt Thrower and their Viking metal predecessors Bathory and Enslaved, who in turn took their cue from the great American band Manowar, Amon Amarth plays their own unique style of melodic death metal. Most of their lyrical content is derived from Viking history and Norse mythology.

The bands international popularity began to take off in 1998, when they signed with Metal Blade Records and released their major label debut Once Sent From The Golden Hall. Their most recent releases on Metal Blade"2004s Fate of Norns and 2006s With Oden On Our Side"has seen the band become one of the top metal acts in North America as well as their native Sweden.

Amon Amarth recently extended their deal with Metal Blade records, and released their latest album 'Twilight of the Thunder God' in September 2008. The album quickly became the best selling release of their career, and was met with critical acclaim from the heavy metal media worldwide.

Heavy metal is gaining strength and resuming its powerful greatness under the marauding sound of Amon Amarth. The band tours constantly, so dont miss their brutal onslaught when they come to a town near you.

About the Author:

|
This entry was posted on 2:46 PM and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

0 nhận xét: