Report

Amon Amarth Conquers Vancouver

Band Photo: Amon Amarth (?)

It was a cold and dreary winter night on December 14th, 2007 in rain-soaked Vancouver. Viking ships disguised as tour buses pulled up in front of the Croatian Cultural Centre, carrying a crew of Norsemen prepared to pillage the venue and to unleash Swedish death metal upon the crowd of angst-ridden teenagers and drunken metalheads. After a pat-down by the anal retentive security guards at the CCC, we made our way into the main hall that already smelled of a mixture of various kinds of smoke and kids who hadn’t yet realized that deodorant use comes with puberty.

Vocalist/guitarist David London opened up Gross Misconduct’s set with a brief tribute to the late Chuck Schuldiner of Death and proceeded to ambush the audience with 30 minutes of death-metal-inspired thrash. You could feel the love in the room for this local Vancouver band as lighters were raised for the melodic opening notes of the second song before London’s guttural vocals kicked in. The Death influence was obvious as the band played some extremely technical riffs that had the crowd convulsing in metal bliss.

Sweden’s Sonic Syndicate took the stage next. They sounded liked Killswitch Engage had abducted Dark Tranquillity keyboardist Martin Brändström. Vocalists Roland Johansson and Richard Sjunnesson both let out some redundant screaming before Johansson initiated some generic metalcore melodic singing. Aside from a few faux-hawked super fans in the audience, the band (except for bassist Karin Axelsson, who got more than a few whistles and cat calls) was not well-received by the metal elitists in the crowd, as indicated by the middle fingers pointed towards the band throughout their entire set. I guess someone forgot to tell Sonic Syndicate that generic metalcore is on its way out but it is still the music of choice for metal lovers who want to keep their hair short for their day job at Starbucks.

Known for incorporating Norse history and mythology lyrics into their brand of melodic death metal, Amon Amarth’s popularity has soared since their last show in Vancouver with Children of Bodom in 2005, thanks to the breakthrough albums "Fate of Norns" and "With Oden on Our Side." Unfortunately, for fans who wanted to dress the part, Viking helmets were not allowed in and a pile of them sat inside coat check. However, this did not dampen their Viking spirits nor deter them from roaring “Amon Amarth” as they eagerly awaited the band to conquer the stage. Amon Amarth opened their set with “Valhall Awaits Me” and “With Oden on Our Side,” both off of their latest release, before launching into fan favourites, “Death in Fire” and “Versus the World.” The band mixed in older songs, such as “Sound of the Eight Hooves.” Vocalist Johann Hegg dedicated “Fate of Norns” to the late Decapitated drummer, Vitek, who died in a tragic bus accident in Russia before the Wrath of the Norsemen Tour. Their studio sound translated well to the live setting as they produced near-flawless versions of their songs while showing off their synchronized windmills. Hegg was an imposing force with his deep growl and intimidating stature adding to the Viking imagery. Amon Amarth’s songs of epic battles make one want to rush into the mosh pit, swinging a huge imaginary battle-axe at imaginary enemies. One overzealous fan passed out on the floor as though he was struck by Thor’s hammer. Sarah from the band's label, Metal Blade Records, came on stage partway through the band's set to present them with their gold plaques for their DVD Wrath of the Norsement. By the time the band reached the finale “The Pursuit of Vikings,” it was more like the pursuit for coats and bags as the crowd entered the coat check mosh pit. Yes, there was a mosh pit in front of the coat check window, the low point of the entire night, as people waited over 40 minutes to retrieve their belongings and the aforementioned power-tripping rent-a-cops failed to establish order amongst the chaos created by an awesome night of Viking metal.

Here is Amon Amarth's complete set list from that night:

- Valhall Awaits Me
- With Oden on Our Side
- Death in Fire
- Versus the World
- Asator
- The Sound of Eight Hooves
- Hermod’s Ride to Hel
- Cry of the Black Birds
- The Fate of Norns
- Thousand Years of Oppression
- Down the Slopes of Death
- Bleed for the Ancient Gods
- Runes to My Memory
- Victorious March
- An Ancient Sign of Oncoming Storm
- The Pursuit of the Vikings

You can check out some photos from the show in the photo gallery.