The perils facing ancient vikings were many – inter-clan warfare, accidentally displeasing the gods, rowing off the end of the earth, etc. But these must surely pale in comparison with the tribulations of modern day vikings Amon Amarth on their first ever tour of Australia: having Qantas lose their luggage.
“We’re not trying to look like In Flames”, quipped frontman Johan Hegg as he explained the lack of viking regalia that normally accompanies the Swedish death metallers on stage. As it’s not the kind of gear that you can pop into your local department store to replace, the band had to make do with raising beer bottles to salute the crowd rather than their more customary drinking horns. Another missing element was merchandise – no doubt much of the evening’s profits were missed as punters went home without tour t-shirts. However, nothing could quell the spirit of the wrathful Norsemen or the packed crowd in a show that set the bar for death metal gigs in 2008 very high indeed.
Opening with Valhall Awaits Me – the first song from their latest release, 2006’s highly successful With Oden On Our Side – the quintet made up of Hegg, guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg, bassist Ted Lundström and drummer Fredrik Andersson set about metaphorically ransacking the Amplifier Bar with their viking-tinted take on melodic death metal: tales of gods, the sea, crushing your enemies, and dying in glory. The band mixed material from their latest releases – Gods of War Arise, With Oden On Our Side, Runes To My Memory from Oden; The Fate of Norns and The Pursuit of Vikings from 2004’s Fate of Norns – with older favourites, such as Death in Fire and Thousand Years of Oppression from Versus the World (2002) and Masters of War from The Crusher (2001).
Demonstrating that synchronised headbanging will never go out of style, the band members at times all but disappeared beneath a windmill of blond locks. Hegg’s impressive full beard added to the effect, defying gravitational forces to swing in the opposite direction to his hair. The imposing frontman had the crowd in the palm of his massive hand – throwing the horns, punching the air, yelling and chanting on his cue.
The band tried to leave the stage, but the by then bloodthirsty crowd would have none of it, enthusiastically cheering them back for more. Left for last was The Pursuit of Vikings, Hegg telling the crowd to sing along if they know the words – and if not, to sing anyway, because “it’s death metal, no one’s going to know the difference”.
And sing along they did. Then, with the halls of Valhalla (and the Amplifier) still ringing, the battle was over – and while a rather warm summer evening in Perth may be far removed from the frozen fjords of their homeland, the Nordic warriors were victorious nonetheless. Oden be praised!
