{"id":78665,"date":"2019-05-02T18:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=78665"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:20:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:20:30","slug":"review-amon-amarth-berserker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-78666\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>More of the same is not a bad thing. Not when you are Swedish titans <strong>Amon Amarth<\/strong>. They have played Viking-flavoured death metal since 1992 and it\u2019s fair to say they have a firmly established sound. \u2018<em>Berserker<\/em>\u2019 is their 11th album, but their rule of thumb still applies; treading the same path is dangerous, you had better bring your highest calibre weaponry.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re unfamiliar with the term \u2018<em>Berserker\u2019<\/em> it describes ancient Norsemen who fought in a trance-like state. It\u2019s not a bad description of how the record sounds either. It&#8217;s focused, frantic and absolutely furious. Without the concept album trimmings of 2016\u2019s \u2018<em>Jomsviking<\/em>\u2019, the new record never gets bogged down by a narrative, making it feel freeform and flighty. You get a few acoustic guitar trills on the opening to \u2018<em>Fafner\u2019s Gate<\/em>\u2019 and a little piano closes the record, but the rest is a glorious whirlwind of riffs. \u2018<em>Valkyra<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018<em>Crack the Sky<\/em>\u2019 feature two of the best, but there are no weak links. All the riff work from Olavi Mikkonen and Johan S\u00f6derberg is both powerful and fun.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Amon Amarth - Crack the Sky\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5cLFdIzMhn8?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Production duties were handled by Jay Ruston. It was an interesting choice, but a good one. Despite previously mixing the band\u2019s work he is known for more outlandish records, including Steel Panther and Fall Out Boy\u2019s \u2018<em>Mania<\/em>\u2019. However, his technique brings the best out in the Swedish band\u2019s work.\u00a0 Each song is hard-hitting in its own right, but the album functions as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>Having always written songs about Norse mythology, it\u2019s funny how the huge success of Marvel\u2019s Thor movies has suddenly aligned their music with the zeitgeist (there\u2019s even a song here called \u2018<em>Mj\u00f6lner, Hammer Of Thor<\/em>\u2019). Combined with the album\u2019s production, it could certainly help grab wider attention.<\/p>\n<p>Like its namesake, \u2018<em>Berserker<\/em>\u2019 is a big vicious brute of a record. By falling back on solid song-craft, <strong>Amon Amarth<\/strong> have propelled their music forward. Crammed with excellent riffs, it\u2019s relevant, exciting and is certainly one of their career highlights.<\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<em>Berserker<\/em>\u2019 by <strong>Amon Amarth<\/strong> is released on 3rd May on <strong>Metal Blade Records<\/strong>\/<strong>Sony Music<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Amon Amarth<\/strong> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amonamarth.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/AmonAmarth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>| <a href=\"http:\/\/www.Twitter.com\/aminamarthband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/amonamarth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ian Kenworthy (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WhisperingSand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@WhisperingSand<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Focused, frantic and absolutely furious&#8230; &#8216;Berserker&#8217; is one of Amon Amarth&#8217;s  career highlights.<br \/>\n&#8220;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":78666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3826,16934,15621,70,2500,5068],"class_list":["post-78665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-amon-amarth","tag-berserker","tag-ian-kenworthy","tag-metal-blade-records","tag-review","tag-sony-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Focused, frantic and absolutely furious... &#039;Berserker&#039; is one of Amon Amarth&#039;s career highlights. &quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Focused, frantic and absolutely furious... &#039;Berserker&#039; is one of Amon Amarth&#039;s career highlights. &quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-02T17:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-07T13:20:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-e1557256832937.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Kenworthy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Kenworthy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker - Already Heard Staging","description":"\"Focused, frantic and absolutely furious... 'Berserker' is one of Amon Amarth's career highlights. \"","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"\"Focused, frantic and absolutely furious... 'Berserker' is one of Amon Amarth's career highlights. \"","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2019-05-02T17:00:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-07T13:20:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":510,"height":510,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-e1557256832937.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ian Kenworthy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Kenworthy","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/"},"author":{"name":"Ian Kenworthy","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/e00899caa476ac5e5fc7ef785c987de1"},"headline":"Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker","datePublished":"2019-05-02T17:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:20:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/"},"wordCount":383,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-e1557256832937.jpg","keywords":["Amon Amarth","Berserker","Ian Kenworthy","Metal Blade Records","Review","Sony Music"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/","name":"Review: Amon Amarth \u2013 Berserker - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-e1557256832937.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-02T17:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:20:30+00:00","description":"\"Focused, frantic and absolutely furious... 'Berserker' is one of Amon Amarth's career highlights. \"","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-amon-amarth-berserker\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-e1557256832937.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Amon-Amarth-Berserker-Artwork1-e1557256832937.jpg","width":510,"height":510},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/e00899caa476ac5e5fc7ef785c987de1","name":"Ian Kenworthy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f783f0372cac70e4f23bc75bf8457c1866467c2282723fa8314019f18e66003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f783f0372cac70e4f23bc75bf8457c1866467c2282723fa8314019f18e66003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f783f0372cac70e4f23bc75bf8457c1866467c2282723fa8314019f18e66003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ian Kenworthy"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/ian-kenworthy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78673,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78665\/revisions\/78673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}