Surtur Rising

Surtur Rising
Studio album by Amon Amarth
Publication (s)	March 25, 2011
admission	2010
Label (s)	Metal Blade Records
Format (s)	CD , LP , DVD , music download
Genre (s)	Melodic Death Metal
Title (number)	10
running time	48 min 44 s
occupation	Singing : Johan Hegg Guitar : Olavi Mikkonen Guitar: Johan Söderberg Bass : Ted Lundström Drums : Fredrik Andersson
production	Jens Bogren
Studio (s)	Fascination Street Studios , Örebro
chronology Twilight of the Thunder God (2008) Surtur Rising Deceiver of the Gods (2013)

Surtur Rising is the eighth studio album by the Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth . It was released on March 25, 2011 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via Metal Blade Records Europe, the European branch of the US record label Metal Blade Records . It was released on March 28 in the rest of Europe and on March 29 in the United States.

The headlining tour for the album took place between May 13th and 29th together with The Black Dahlia Murder and Evocation , and led through Northern and Central Europe.

History of origin

Songwriting process

The songwriting for Surtur Rising took place over a period of around eight months from spring to autumn 2010. As on the previous album Twilight of the Thunder God , the songs on Surtur Rising were composed almost exclusively by the two guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg. From the beginning, they had set itself the goal of "a harder, [...] furious [es], sad [es], melancholy and at the same monstrous [it] [es]" to write album as Twilight of the Thunder God 's opinion the band partly sounded too friendly due to the “power-metallic [n]” production (see also Power Metal ).

The way of working and approach remained the same. Mikkonen and Söderberg first developed guitar riffs , hooklines and preliminary arrangements independently of each other , which they then recorded in their home studios and then sent to each other for mutual review and improvement. The resulting song fragments became the finished pieces in the last step through the joint development of the band in the rehearsal room. For this purpose, demo recordings were made again during joint rehearsals , which the musicians then reflected on at home and, if necessary, improved on details. So all the songs on the album were worked out piece by piece based on small fragments.

Since all Amon Amarth members are now full-time musicians, the band had a lot more time to rehearse than before. According to Mikkonen, rehearsals take place around five times a week, from around 10 a.m. to 3/4 p.m., so that the songwriting process was more effective and shorter than on previous albums.

While the style of the album appears relatively uniform to the outside world, the individual parts of the songs, in Söderberg's opinion, have in part significant differences in the composition scheme. Söderberg mainly plays with opposites, so that the verse and chorus are often completely different and his songs are more death-metal- oriented. Mikkonen, on the other hand, prefers unity and continuity within a song, and finds his inspiration particularly in traditional heavy metal of the 1980s. So his songs are mostly based on a single riff, which is taken up again and again in different variations. Occasionally there is another melody or key changes take place; the basic structure is still retained. Not infrequently, however, the ideas of the two musicians are combined into just one song.

There was no precise scheme in which order text and music were put together. In some cases, the music was composed to match a text fragment by Heggs by Mikkonen or Söderberg, while other texts were only created based on the finished music.

Recordings

After all songs had been composed by September 2010, the recordings for the album began in Stockholm's Park Studios on October 1, 2010 with the recording of the drum tracks . After completing the drum recording, Amon Amarth interrupted work on the album for a live performance at the Loud Park Festival in Japan on October 16 , which was Amon Amarth's first ever appearance in Japan. The recordings were then continued in Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, with the recording of the bass and guitar tracks, and finished with the vocals. The bonus songs were recorded after another studio change in Varberg , southwest Sweden . The recordings (without mastering and further production steps) were finally completed on December 15, 2010. The final mix was taken over by Jens Bogren and lasted until mid-January 2011.

Further development and promotion

The album cover was published together with the track list as an album preview on January 18, 2011. Nine days later, on January 27, 2011, War of the Gods was released as the first song on the album on the Metal Blade Records YouTube channel . Another song from the album was pre-released with Slaves of Fear . It was released on February 14, 2011 exclusively for free streaming on the website of the American Decibel magazine. Another exclusive partner was found with the German Metal Hammer , on whose website the third and last song For Victory or Death was pre-released on March 10th .

The first two songs mentioned were also published on several samplers of various music magazines. These included the CD inserts Metal Hammer - Maximum Metal Vol. 161 , Rock Hard - Lauschangriff Vol. 009 , Terrorizer 207 - Fear Candy 91 and Zero Tolerance - Issue 040 .

Versions

Of Surtur Rising , there are several editions, some of which are quite different.

• "Normal" CD version (with 16-page booklet)
• CD & DVD Limited Edition

The DVD contains the recordings of the “Bloodshed over Bochum” concert series, at which Amon Amarth played one of her first four albums in full on four evenings between December 28 and 31, 2008. There is also a 28-page booklet.

• 2-LP Limited Edition

This version comes with a poster of the album cover and a bonus track.

• 2-LP Colored Edition

This version is identical in content to the 2-LP Limited Edition, it differs only in the "colored vinyl in red-black splatter optics" . Available exclusively from EMP .

• Limited Edition Box Set

This is also an exclusive EMP Mailorder edition. In addition to the CD and DVD, which are identical to the Limited Edition, this version also comes with a 1 × 1.5 meter flag and an approximately 14 centimeter high Surtur action figure .

• Amazon Limited Edition

In this version, the booklet is designed in LP format. In addition to the audio CD, it also includes the “Bloodshed over Bochum” concert series on DVD, as well as an A1 poster of the album cover.

For the American market there was also the option of purchasing a t-shirt when pre-ordering the album for an additional charge of 10 US dollars . The sale of the T-shirt depicting Surtur's Flaming Sword ended with the album's release date in America, March 29, 2011. It has not been available first hand since then.

Track list

The following table shows the regular title list, which is identical for all versions.

#	title	length
1	War of the Gods	4:33
2	Töck's Taunt - Loke's Treachery Part II	5:58
3	Destroyer of the Universe	3:40
4th	Slaves of Fear	4:25
5	Live Without Regrets	5:03
6th	The Last Stand of Frej	5:37
7th	For Victory or Death	4:29
8th	Wrath of the Norsemen	3:44
9	A Beast Am I	5:14
10	Doom over Dead Man	5:55

Bonus songs

In addition to the normal track list, Amon Amarth also released three cover versions of songs by well-known metal bands as bonus tracks. Although there are two bonus songs in the limited box set, there is no version with all three bonus songs. The following table therefore provides information about the published bonus songs:

#	title	length	Contained on
* 11 * 12	Balls to the Wall ( Accept Cover)	3:38	* 2-LP Limited Edition * Limited-Edition box set
11	War Machine ( Kiss Cover)	5:21	Limited edition box set
11	Aerials ( system-of-a-down cover)	3:39	iTunes download

Contents and background of the songs

• War of the Gods : The song is about the Wan war , in which the two gods of the Aesir and Wanen fight against each other and finally exchange hostages in order to secure the peace that came after the war. Nevertheless, the Vanes behead the giant Mimir and send his severed head to Odin .
• Töck's Taunt - Loke's Treachery Part II : The protagonist of the lyrics plot is the god Loki , who has taken the form of an old giantess named Töck . After Loki has made himself responsible for Balder's death , Hel does not want to let him return until all things cry for him. But Töck refuses to do so. Instead, she mocks the sir for trying to free Balder and tries to dissuade them from continuing with the rescue attempts.
• Destroyer of the Universe : Originally, Destroyer of the Universe should be the theme song. Ultimately, the band decided on the name Surtur Rising , but the song Destroyer of the Universe kept its name. The song is about Surtur , who destroys everything with his anger and his sword of fire and flames in the course of the end of the world Ragnarök . He also dies in the process.

• Slaves of Fear is thematically an exception in the creative process of the band. It describes the oppression of people by the great world religions, and how these take over the thinking for their followers, and stir up prejudice and hatred against other religious groups. In particular, religious fanatics are alluded to who try to control people through their fears.
  Singer and lyricist Johan Hegg was inspired by an argument in which his discussion partner put forward the thesis that it would be good to be guided by a God and that only the free will of everyone makes the world bad. However, Hegg is convinced of the opposite.
  According to drummer Fredrik Andersson, the main riff is a tribute to singer Ronnie James Dio , who died in 2010 , as Andersson found his inspiration for the melody in Dio's song Holy Diver .
• Live Without Regrets: The lyrical concept is based on a few verses from the Hávamál book of the Edda of Songs , which describe how to live a life without fear, says Johan Hegg. The song is about fighting for what makes everyone different, what you believe in, and living that out. Everyone finds his happiness when he does what is good for him and his fellow human beings, and also uses his life, since it is precious and everyone only has one.
  Johan Hegg describes in the song his personal views on life, but also the way the Vikings lived, as they were relatively fearless as fatalists .
• The Last Stand of Frej also provides a connection to the title song and the album title. In the text, Frej meets Surtur at Ragnarök . Both in the lyrics and in the stories in the Edda , Frej ensures that Surtur will die before he himself is killed by the fire giant.
  The name of the song is a play on words , as it refers on the one hand to Frej's last appearance in Norse mythology ("Last Stand") and on the other hand to his attribute as the god of fertility, during which he was always described and depicted with a large phallus .
• For Victory or Death is thematically based on the song Slaves of Fear . The lyrics of the song are about, in Hegg's opinion, the centuries of oppression of mankind by religions, and that finally there is a rethinking, so that religiosity is becoming increasingly less important.
  As an avowed atheist , Hegg welcomes the development that human nature and humanity are increasingly replacing superstition and religion. Söderberg and Mikkonen were inspired for this song by Iron Maiden . Musically, therefore, according to Amon Amarth, the song is a tribute to Iron Maiden.
• Wrath of the Norsemen is about a man who wakes up from unconsciousness and doesn't know where he is or what happened to him. When he looks around, however, he realizes that he is lying on a battlefield and that all the warriors around him are dead. The reason for the resulting devastation and killing of his allies was an attack by Vikings.
• A Beast Am I is about the Fenris Wolf . The plot of the lyrics consists mainly of a monologue by the Fenris Wolf in which he tells who he is, tells of his deeds and prophesies what will happen at the end of the world, the Ragnarök. Since he was imprisoned by the sir in Asgard, he longs for freedom and vengeance, which he will find in the killing of Odin .
  The actual song ends after 3 minutes and 34 seconds. After a few seconds of silence, a hidden track begins at 3:43 am . This is a melodic instrumental and serves as the intro for the following song Doom over Dead Man .
• Doom over Dead Man: The lyrics of this song are also influenced by the Hávamál , mainly through the 76th verse:

Deyr fé,
deyja frændr,
deyr sjalfr it sama,
ek veit einn,
at aldrei deyr:
dómr um dahðan hvern.

Cattle die, friends die, that's how you die . But I know one thing that never dies: what the verdict on anyone who is dead is.

According to his own statements, Hegg interpreted these stanzas in such a way that everyone must die. But what we accomplish in our lifetime will be remembered even after death. So if you are remembered by good deeds, you will be valued even after death. Such people will be missed and mourned for them, but they will still learn from the dead and carry on a part of him within themselves. For Hegg, this way of remembering represents immortality.

However, the song is about the opposite. The protagonist is a man who has hardly done any good deeds in his life. As he dies, he realizes that he wasted his life, but now it is too late to make it all right.

style

Surname

The name Surtur Rising is a tribute to the fire giant Surt from Nordic mythology . Nevertheless, it is expressly not a concept album , as singer Johan Hegg emphasizes. The theming of Surtur is not new to Amon Amarth. He was already featured in the lyrics to Burning Creation ( Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds ), Releasing Surtur's Fire ( The Crusher ) and Death in Fire ( Versus the World ). With Surt to dedicate an entire album to an enemy of the Aesir, guitarist Olavi Mikkonen justified the German Legacy magazine as follows:

“Surtur is an inspiring figure, not to say he is an evil and powerful giant, and fire is a fascinating element. There was no special occasion for us to turn to him. We have already dedicated some works to Odin and Thor, so we just thought it was time to write an album about Surtur. "

- Olavi Mikkonen

Ultimately, the decisive factor was the song Destroyer of the Universe , which was one of the first completed songs, and more coincidentally was about Surtur again.

music

Musically, Surtur Rising builds on the previous album Twilight of the Thunder God . Still, the music, which, according to Mikkonen, sounds “darker and more epic”, is in line with the central theme of the album. He also said:

“We recorded ten songs that sound typically like Amon Amarth, all of which have an epic touch. For Surtur Rising we also implemented our most brutal and melodic ideas so far. […] Some songs tend towards our early days, others are based on our more recent compositions. "

- Olavi Mikkonen

Compared to older songs, the album has a more complex songwriting, so that in many songs it is difficult to clearly differentiate between verse and chorus.

Contrary to earlier years, in which Amon Amarth described their own style as pure Death Metal , the band sees the music on Surtur Rising as regular Heavy Metal with death-metal-typical growled vocals , on the one hand, but now also sees itself as Heavy Metal- Band, with various other influences.

The singing is quite variable despite the singing technique. In Metal Hammer, for example, there is talk of “brilliant vocal arrangements” and “hymn-like choruses” and the song The Last Stand of Frej contains the lowest notes that Johan Hegg has sung so far.

As on the previous albums, the guitars are tuned down by five semitones, so that the mood is HEADf # -h. The guitar tracks were recorded exclusively via Explorer and Les Paul models from Gibson and the 6505 amplifier .

String instruments can also be heard on some of the songs. These were arranged by Martin Jacobsson and recorded by the Dark Passanger Orchestra .

Texts

Thematically, the band remains true to their concept of the last albums about Nordic mythology , but avoids singing about clichéd hero battles and concentrates more on the mythology itself.

“We have the feeling that we still have a lot to tell. Other bands often land on the battlefield lyrically, while we tend to delve into the mythology of the Vikings. We're not running out of ideas in this regard. "

- Olavi Mikkonen

Even with the last two albums, however, there was a tendency to take up other topics as well. Singer Hegg explains that he also finds his inspiration in everyday things, the only decisive factor is that they stimulate him to think so that he can incorporate these thoughts when writing the lyrics. So that the texts are clear, understandable and not too theoretical, "[are] transported into a framework [...] that corresponds to the mythical character of Amon Amarth [...]". In a figurative sense, many current events are also associated with Scandinavian mythology. When it comes to the lyrics, it is always important "that people understand what [the band wants to say] and at the same time have enough leeway so that [one] can [do] their own interpretations", Hegg told Legacy magazine.

Artwork

The artwork is by Tom Thiel, who also designed the cover for Twilight of the Thunder God and, together with Thomas Ewerhard, the cover for Versus the World . It shows the final battle of Surtur against the unarmed Freyr. In the style of the older artworks, it is mainly kept in red and yellow tones and is characterized by fires and flames.

For the elaboration, Thiel received some song texts that were completed by summer 2010 and information on how Surtur should be presented. Based on this, the cover was then worked out by him.

reception

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Surtur Rising   SE 8th 04/01/2011 (5 weeks)   DE 8th 04/11/2011 (11 weeks)   AT 12 04/08/2011 (5 weeks)   FI 16 04/08/2011 (4 weeks)   CH 20th 04/10/2011 (5 weeks)

The album sold very well and was able to reach high chart positions in many European countries and in North America. Surtur Rising sold around 15,000 copies in the first week in the United States , rising to number 34 on the Billboard Top 200 , number 6 on the Billboard Top Independent Album Charts and number 1 on the Billboard Top Hard Music Albums . The album also achieved good placements in Canada. There it rose to number 19 on Canada's Top 200 charts , number 5 on the independent charts and number 2 on the hard charts . In Germany, the album entered the charts at number 8 with 14,000 units sold. In the Metal Hammer it was voted album of the month and received the highest score with seven points. The editor Florian Krapp emphasizes the “epic solos, strong melodies [and the unbelievable mixture of] furious death and classic heavy metal”. He also comes to the following conclusion:

“Overall, Surtur Rising seems darker, sadder, but at the same time more aggressive than Twilight of the Thunder God. You can tell that the band is concentrating on delivering an even more coherent overall work. Jens Bogren's production is in no way inferior to this: the many fine melodies, which at times even seem delicate, come across just as well as the powerful drums and the punchy guitar walls. For me already the album of the year! "

- Florian Krapp

The album also caused a sensation with the rest of the Metal Hammer editorial team, was consistently praised and almost exclusively received high scores in the evaluation. Chosen by the Readership of the Metal Hammer, Amon Amarth received the Metal Hammer Award for the best album for Surtur Rising at the Wacken Open Air 2011 .

The album also received positive reviews and ratings in other print and online magazines almost without exception. The German Legacy magazine awarded 13 out of 15 possible points for the album. The Dutch webzine lordsofmetal.nl sees the album as a very successful successor to Twilight of the Thunder God and gave it almost the highest score with 95 points. Metalunderground.com awarded 4.5 points out of five and described the album as the most diverse, dynamic and best album so far in the band's history.

Other German-language online magazines also gave positive ratings in principle, but more cautiously overall. Thus, the album received at metal.de 7 of 10 in dark-festivals.de 7.5 out of 10, and at musikreviews.de 10 of 15 points.

Music video

A music video was shot for the song Destroyer of the Universe . It was released on June 27, 2011 via BlankTV and features the live performance of the song when the band performed on May 6 in Philadelphia at the Theater Of Living Arts . The director is David Brodsky, who has also made music videos for The Black Dahlia Murder , The Devin Townsend Project , Suicide Silence , Municipal Waste , Whitechapel and more.

Web links

• surturrising.com Official website for the album
• Track-by-track review of the album (English)
• Interview with Ted Lundström about "Surtur Rising" (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} section “Gear of the Dark”: Nordic Metal Gladiator - Interview with Johan Söderberg. In: Metal Hammer. Edition March 2011, Axel Springer Mediahouse, Berlin 2011, p. 112f.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Anzo Sadoni: Interview with Amon Amarth: Recently in Muspelheim . In: Metal Hammer. March 2011 edition, Axel Springer Mediahouse, Berlin 2011, pp. 22–27.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Dennis Piller: Interview / report with / about Amon Amarth: And the world is burning . In: Legacy. No. 71, 02-2011. Devil Presseverlag, Saarbrücken 2011, pp. 22–25.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Thor Wanzek: Amon Amarth studio report . In: Legacy. No. 70, 01-2011. Devil Presseverlag, Saarbrücken 2010, p. 183.
5. ↑ Publication of the tracklist (January 12, 2011) , stormbringer.at, accessed on March 4, 2011.
6. ^ Billing of the LPF 2010 , loudpark.com, accessed on January 21, 2011 (English / Japanese).
7. ↑ Beginning of the recordings for the album, announcement on the band's Myspace blog (November 16, 2010) , myspace.com, accessed on January 21, 2011 (English)
8. ↑ War of the Gods pre-published on YouTube , youtube.com, accessed February 1, 2011.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Slaves of Fear pre -published in Decibel magazine , decibelmagazine.com, accessed February 15, 2011.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Pre-publication of For Victory or Death on March 10, 2011 ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , metal-hammer.de, accessed on March 10, 2011. 
11. ↑ Detailed Amon Amarth discography , musik-sammler.de, accessed on March 24, 2011.
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Surtur Rising Pre-Order Europe ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , surturrising.com, accessed February 1, 2011. 
13. ↑ Information about the exclusive EMP 2-LP Colored Edition  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , emp.de, accessed on January 22, 2011.  
14. ↑ Information on the exclusive EMP Boxset version  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , emp.de, accessed on January 22, 2011.  
15. ↑ News about Surtur Rising in the pre-order period ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , surturrising.com, accessed February 1, 2011. 
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Amon Amarth Video interviews on War of the Gods and Slaves of Fear . ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. metal-hammer.de, accessed on February 2, 2011. 
17. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa} song-by-song interview with Johan Hegg about Surtur Rising via Metal Blade TV , youtube.com, accessed on February 18, 2011 (English)
18. ↑ Publication of the album cover + tracklist on the band's Myspace blog (January 18, 2011) , myspace.com, accessed on January 21, 2011 (English).
19. ↑ Booklet of the Limited Edition of Surtur Rising .
20. ↑ Information about the albums in the official AA downloads ( memento of the original from April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , amonamarth.de, accessed on January 21, 2011 (German / English). 
21. ↑ Surtur Rising in the Swedish Charts , swedishcharts.com, accessed September 25, 2011.
22. ↑ Surtur Rising in the German charts ( Memento of the original from November 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , musicline.de, accessed on September 25, 2011. 
23. ↑ Surtur Rising in the Austrian charts , austriancharts.at, accessed on September 25, 2011.
24. ↑ Surtur Rising in the Finnish Charts , finnishcharts.com, accessed September 25, 2011.
25. ↑ Surtur Rising in the Swiss Charts , swisscharts.com, accessed on September 25, 2011.
26. ↑ ^{a b c} Surtur Rising is album of the month 04/11 at Metal Hammer , metal-hammer.de, accessed on March 15, 2011.
27. ↑ Surtur Rising wins “Best Album” award! ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. amonamarth.com, accessed September 25, 2011. 
28. ^ Surtur Rising Review. In: Legacy. No. 71, 02-2011. Devil Presseverlag, Saarbrücken 2011, p. 108.
29. ↑ Surtur Rising Review , lordsofmetal.nl, accessed on March 24, 2011 (English).
30. ^ Surtur Rising Review , metalunderground.com, accessed March 24, 2011.
31. ^ Surtur Rising Review , metal.de, accessed April 12, 2011.
32. ↑ Surtur Rising Review , dark-festivals.de, accessed on 12 April 2011th
33. ^ Surtur Rising Review , musikreviews.de, accessed April 12, 2011.
34. ↑ News archive. ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. surturrising.com; Retrieved September 25, 2011.