AMON AMARTH kept their release frequency of the past years and put their next release With Oden On Our Side on the market. I didn’t like the predecessor Fate Of Norns that much as it seemed somehow unspectacular and a bit too much commercially orientated to me. But I had some hopes that the new album might be able to link back to earlier times. Especially the nice track Cry Of The Blackbirds, which could be listened to as an online stream a while ago, strengthened these hopes, not only for me I guess.
After having listened to the whole CD for some times now, I have to confess that I am quite disappointed. Of course, the sound and also the distinct voice of fronter Johann are still unmistakable. Right from the start after a few riffs, it’s obvious that this is the new AMON AMARTH album. But different from earlier days, something is missing. Versus The World started off with three killer tracks, whereas With Oden On Our Side doesn’t gain a momentum until the middle of the whole album. The first really catchy songs are Gods Of War Arise and the following, above mentioned one. Ok, the classically skilled and powerful riffing is still the same, but the Swedes are seemingly not longer able to provide the usual concentration of good ideas. Almost all songs, especially in the beginning of the album, are suffering from to many repetitions or longitudes. I sometimes had the feeling, that they just tried to bring the songs to an acceptable length although having a lack of ideas how to do that. Beginning with Gods Of War Arise, things become slightly better. The track reminds of the Versus The World days and is in fact a combination of elements we yet got presented right on that CD. So the song is actually nothing new, but sadly enough still one of the best on With Oden On Our Side.
With Oden On Our Side is not a totally bad album at all; it is technically very skilled and the production is as well excellent. The main problem is the lack of outstanding tracks having the potential to be catchy tunes. Additionally, AMON AMARTH have to match with their own former works and not with the average of the genre. To bad they can’t top the average with this release.