I was quite surprised of the enormous public interest and the long waiting line before the entrance! Furthermore it astonished that hundreds of Metal fans gathered at the uncommon early time of 7.30 p.m. to prepare for the three bands to come. What would the evening bring I asked myself tensely – the musical program was really promising. The choice of bands with different kind of styles seemed to avoid the danger of monotony in advance.

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Amazingly the capacious hall was really well filled at 8 p.m. when :: TÝR :: entered the stage in a good temper. Singer Henri Joensen relished the enthusiastic reactions that are not usual for a supporting band and smiled whimsically all the time like the other band members did too. The elation on the part of the audience was absolutely legitimate, because power, melancholy, variation in moods and measure left nothing to be desired. The empathetic parts aroused the one or other goose bumps. In contrast, the faster passages worked all the more powerful. Outstanding moments of a continuous very diverting show marked the title track of the latest CD called Ragnarok and Hail To The Hammer of the debut album Eric The Red. Front man Heri and bassist Gunnar stumped on stage with chain mails which suit the musicians as well as the fierce Viking lyrics. Last mentioned posed like a world champion and delivered some nice motives to the photographers for sure. The triple vocals harmonized impressively in most cases, only in high pitches the one or other bard lay beside the vocal line charmingly. ;-))) Unfortunately the performance ended after half an hour much too early and the calls for encore did not trail away for a while. The hall illuminating was lighted quite apace and so we had no chance to get the pleasure of an additional composition.

The organizers seemed to be in a hurry obviously and as a consequence the round 1000 fans waited only for a short time for Jari & his combatants in :: WINTERSUN :: I had the chance to experience the show for a few times and I think that the guys are hyped a little bit incomprehensibly; I could not see the particularity today, exclusive Sleeping Stars with moony, wonderful melodies sticks out of the else unspectacular set list. Today the slushy sound contributed nothing positive to the musical indulgence and therefore detritions arose. The main part of the audience (most of them were not older than 20), got a different impression and celebrated a party together with the guitar wizard and his support band. The enthused fans were not even bothered by the poor drum sound, which was either too loud or too low – sometimes the man on the shooting gallery tapped far out of measure at all…

We had to wait for the main act :: AMON AMARTH :: a little while longer, around 20 minutes it lasted till the always touring Viking adorers engrossed the scene. It was once again impressing when the gentlemen Hegg, Mikkonen, Lundström, Söderberg and Andersson presented one of their intense shows. Normally the sound in the location is really well, but today the sound engineer seemed to be not awake completely, so the drums had far too less punch – that’s the reason why the concert did not turn out to be a direct hit. The Swedes gave everything they could give regarding power and intoxicating stage performance. It is simply delicious to watch the guys while banging their heads like propellers collectively. The introduction with Valhall Awaits Me succeeded in amazing manner and Runes To My Memory maintained the cool vibes on a high level. These two tracks were followed by one highlight of the concert, namely Death In Fire, including a choir of a hundred voices and a lot of stretched fists towards the sky or rather the hall’s slab. Fate Of Norns featured some dragging tunes afterwards which were good for the alternation. That’s the main point of criticism concerning AMON AMARTH: they manage to write good songs without any doubt, but many sound quite equally with few exceptions. Consequently short-time shows (like on festivals) are richer in highlights and variation, because only the absolute best tracks are played. Today only those fans were fully content who saw the band for the first time on stage. I definitely have experienced better and more ingenious performances of the likeable horde. Nevertheless this concert was a full success - the fans’ reactions showed that they support the Viking Death Metal heroes every time with devotion. My reluctance was also gone when AMON AMARTH unwrapped some old classics like Once Sent From The Golden Hall or Victorious March, I also liked the fast raging song Asator from the new CD With Oden On Our Side very much. After 90 minutes the fans disposed a good-bye with thundering applause to the Norsemen. AMON AMARTH promised to come back to the “Metal City” Linz as soon as possible
The songs:
Valhall Awaits Me, Runes To My Memory, Death In Fire, The Fate Of Norns, 1000 Years Of Oppression, Across The Rainbow Bridge, With Oden On Our Side, Asator, An Ancient Sign Of Coming Storm, Cry Of The Blackbirds, The Last With Pagan Blood, Once Sent From The Golden Hall, Gods Of War Arise, The Pursuit Of Vikings, Versus The World, Victorious March

story © Stormlord • pics © Janine