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Amon Amarth Concert Review
When Amon Amarth last toured the US in the winter of ‘07, it was in support of the ‘With Oden On Our Side’ LP. Less than a year later, the stalwart group has returned to the Chicago House of Blues with a new tour package, a new album, and a new look. Compared to the last tour—featuring Himsa and Sonic Syndicate—the Twilight of the Thunder God lineup is a shoo-in winner, with support coming from The Absence, Belphegor, and Ensiferum.
Scheduled to open the show at 5:30 was The Absence. As had been the case with Himsa before them, The Absence were the only American group on the bill, as was obvious from their performance—a polished blend of Swedish melodic death harmonies, new wave thrash, and an underpinning of core that they cannot quite shake. Though all the members were proficient, the guitarists stole the spotlight with nimble harmonies and nimbler solos. Peter Joseph in particular was looking at ease, swinging his waist-length dreads around and wielding a black Ibanez Xiphos. Numerous times, vocalist Jamie Steward descended from the stage into the photo pit to embrace and provoke the front row. The audience was altogether receptive and occasionally enthusiastic, particularly during their cover of Testament’s ‘Into the Pit’, for which a rousing circle pit was started. While their set wasn’t the highlight of the night, no one had expected it to be, and they left us in good spirits for the rest of the night.
We could certainly use that good cheer for the next act, Belphegor. Led by Helmuth, these depraved Austrians have been touring relentlessly for the past few years, landing on three American tours since ’05. From our exchanges in years past, I knew that Helmuth was hardly a normal individual to begin with, but recently his mind seems to have strayed even further from the norm, particularly without Sigurd as a steadying presence. And at 6:15, Helmuth took the stage, flanked by bassist Serpenth on his left and new guitarist Morluch on his right (drummer Torturer offset on the right, as were all the other opening drummers). With black body paint striping his arms, he wore black mesh pants tucked into combat boot galoshes, a bullet belt, a bulletproof vest, and his ever-present Jesus pendant. Hanging upside down, of course.
Gazing at the audience with distaste, he snarled his customary greeting, “Ve are Belphegor. Ve Come to do the Devil’s Vurk.” He left a few words of the phrase out, though, and seemed throughout the set to have some other issues with his English. His heavy accent and barked delivery contributed to an uncanny resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger, which left some folks bemused, some a little bewildered, and the dynamic between audience and performer thoroughly upset. Between songs, Helmuth addressed the crowd a few times and waited for a reply, but since so few people understood him, most remained quiet. After a few songs of awkward pauses, he gave over with the dialogue and focused on his guitar, meting out his sinister arcing riffs and hanging on the tremolo arm for solos.
This focus paid off, since at the outset the band had seemed unusually uncoordinated: Torturer’s usually precise footwork was spotty, and the pinpoint starts and stops of the riffing weren’t quite up to par. Helmuth warmed up quickly, though, as did his other guitarist, while bassist Serpenth was solid throughout, providing supporting vocals on such tracks as ‘Hell’s Ambassadors’. Their setlist drew primarily from their newest two albums, in which Helmuth seems to take particularly sadistic delight. This is particularly understandable for ‘Bondage Goat Zombie’, which breaks from the band’s usual Antichristian themes to celebrate perverse sexuality. For their last, song, Helmuth even donned a leather gimp mask with spikes embedded in the forehead. When their 30 minutes ended, the audience was unanimously appreciative, though some of us (myself included) were cheering the spectacle as much as the performance.
Following them was direct support from the Finnish Ensiferum. Like Belphegor and Amon Amarth, Ensiferum recently played on American shores, headlining for the Paganfest tour. Their set on this tour was shorter but still significant at 45 minutes, allowing them to cover such fan favorites as ‘Another Magic Potion’, ‘Iron’, ‘Ahti’, and so forth.
The front members—guitarists Petri Lindroos and Marko Toivonen and bassist Sami Hinkka—all wore kilts emblazoned with the Finnish flag, went shirtless, and had dashes of face paint to complete the pagan look. Redoubtable drummer Janne Paeviainen and keyboardist Emmi Silvennoinen had relatively conservative dispositions and dress, but were no less professional in performance. As complements of Amon Amarth’s Viking theme, Ensiferum had stage props of their own—small banners, a shield hanging from the keyboard, et cetera, but despite their garish dress and props, Ensiferum carried through their set with minimal fanfare and businesslike precision. They did seem to be enjoying themselves, though—well, perhaps not Janne, who was ceaselessly stern—and Petri always had a smile about his lips when speaking to the crowd.
While playing, he mostly stood at his microphone with one foot on the monitor, spitting out his lyrics like Jari before him and keeping pace with his exceptional speed picking. Marko and Sami each had microphones as well, and provided clean vocals harmonies that exceeded expectations. Otherwise, each played moderately to his respective side, Marko with looks and small gestures, Sami with raucous headbanging and swings of his gorgeous custom 7-string bass. After having first seen them headlining Paganfest at the kick-off party for Chicago Powerfest, where they played ‘Victory Song’ in its entirety, this set could hardly compare, but the crowd loved every song nonetheless.
Following one last layover (punctual as always at the House of Blues) Amon Amarth’s time had come. The crowd had packed in at this point and started a couple cheers during the final sound-check, and once the lights went down, they saluted with the horns and roared. The backdrop was shining, highlighted with blues and greens, the smoke machine kicked in, and after a brief symphonic opening, Amon Amarth strode onto the stage with the opening cut from ‘Twilight of the Thunder Gods’.
Like ‘Valhall Awaits Me’, ‘Death in Fire’, and all the other album openers from Amon Amarth, ‘Twilight…’ is a devastating mix of anthemic flair and death metal fury. With Johan Hegg towering above us at center stage, clad in black with drinking horn hanging at his side, the crowd was instantly at his whim—the moshpit raging in the center, the front rows pressing forward with arms raised, and most of the sitting audience nodding along and tapping their usually quiescent feet.
Musically, ‘Twilight of the Thunder God’ is the companion album to ‘With Oden…’, with engaging hooks, stomping rhythms, and a honed sense of atmosphere on par with any other. Visually, though, the ‘Twilight…’ package is a fresh orgy of color and fantasy, particularly when compared to the flat black, traditional presentation of ‘With Oden….’ Therefore, it’s fitting that Amon Amarth’s stage show has also become grander: fog machines, a spectrum of spotlights, and bolder presences from the band members themselves. They were never timid—far from it—but this time around they seemed more wiling to engage the audience and a little more comfortable, reveling in a town and a venue they’d conquered the last time around.
It was interesting to note, however, that the songs that received the best response from the crowd continued to be from ‘With Oden…’. This had been the case at the last show, as well, but the band hadn’t performed any ‘Twilight…’ material, and I’d assumed that the most recent songs would have gotten the widest response. Tracks like ‘Guardians of Asgaard’ seem written with violent moshing specifically in mind, but it was still ‘Asator’ that had the most bodies flying. This is understandable, though; ‘With Oden…’ is a mammoth album with any number of excellent live tracks, and ‘Cry of the Blackbirds’ and ‘Runes to My Memory’ joined the aforementioned two throughout the night.
One of Amon Amarth’s foremost qualities is the massive sound they achieve on record, and in the live setting we were not disappointed in the least. Johan’s high howls, low growls, the thunderous percussion of Fredrik, and the burly guitars of Johan, Olavi, and Ted—all were fully brought to bear on the audience. With Hegg commanding the center, the guitarists addressed the flanks, with Ted being the vocal ringleader, as usual. Meanwhile, Johan S. and Olavi rolled out the riffs on their Explorers, addressing all quarters of the audience in turn. Their set had relatively little in the way of soloing—rhythm being Amon Amarth’s forte—and neither guitarist could quite replicate the guest solo from Roope of Children of Bodom on ‘Twilight…’, but they dominated all other elements of the set.
During brief interludes between songs, Johan was comfortable and a little casual on stage, laughing with audience members, commenting on the vocal challenges of some songs, drinking salutes with the band, and asking often to see our “Viking horns”. This talk of Vikings, either in song or in reference to our proven “Viking spirit”, is a sure bet with a metal crowd, and particularly this evening’s. A number of patrons had pagan tattoos—one even had them covering most of his face while others had such words as ‘Einherjer’ across their backs—and Viking-themed shirts abounded, not all of them from Amon Amarth. One read in Futhark runes, “If you can read this, you’re a Viking.”
This camaraderie in the audience, whether it be imagined Viking brotherhood or actual Norse heritage, contributed to an atmosphere unique to an Amon Amarth show. Without discrimination, this Swedish group has been able to epitomize (and Romanticize) that Scandinavian era in a way that captures audiences’ imaginations along with their ears. Just as aspiring musicians look to Amon Amarth as a role model in consistent quality, museums could take a page from their book of ‘hands on’ history. In the meantime, I’ll gladly attend all the ‘reenactments’ that come around.
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