I guess we all have a love-hate relationship with money. Yeah, there is the saying that money is the root of all evil, and probably if it weren't for the lust for money, Mr.Burns-in-human-form wouldn't have sued you for 250K€ that time he broke your window with a brick and got cut by a piece of glass. But on the other hand, holding some cash can apparently relieve pain, and it helps people convince other people to do things for them. Also, there are things that just work better if you throw a bunch of money at them, including some types of music. There seem to be these particular kinds of music that are, in essence, sort of okay-ish, really nothing special. They'll usually be easy to digest and catchy, sort of enjoyable, sort of unremarkable. But then you make all the instruments have an incredibly perfect sound, and the vanilla music becomes majestically incredible. Still easy to digest and catchy, but now every note seems like it is gently caressing your limbic system whilst offering it cookies, and everything just seems awesome and original and perfectly fitting.
And I have nothing against that way of making music. After all, I do like listening to things that are enjoyable. The approach may at times end up sounding like a bit of an insult to one's intelligence, but it's one of those insults that you awkwardly laugh at and pretend not to notice. Twilight of The Thunder God, though, takes this approach to its very limits. This being the only Amon Amarth album I have ever listened to, I cannot know for sure, but I take that these guys have found a winning formula and stuck to it. The 10 songs all blatantly use some variation of the classic/tired "Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Interlude-Chorus" structure that has consistently attacked music, and inspiration is rationed throughout them like if there were a global shortage of it. As for the sound itself, it's simple, no-bullshit, balls-to-the-wall, poppy Melodic Death Metal with the slightest tinge of atmosphere. To my surprise, it works. The simple and pretty standard guitar melodies are much more powerful than they are cheesy, and somehow I had no problems with the inbredly simplistic drumming or any of the sillier vocal passages (except maybe the outro on "The Hero". We got it, you're an evil man, now shut up.). And unlike most music I enjoy, I didn't need a lie down and something to stop the headache once I finished the album. In fact, I listened to it twice in a row without a hitch.
I wonder, though, if TotTG would have received the acclaim it has were it by some other band. I mean, it's an album that has no reason to exist, other than to include nicely written music magically turned awesome through the power of sound engineering. Other than the fact that it's fun and nice to listen to, it has no real redeeming features. It's easy to distinguish the songs, but none of them try to stand out in any way. The sound throughout this release does progress ever so slightly, but even that seems to fit safely within the template of "first bunch is heavier, second bunch is more introspective, last bunch is more epic and begins to be boring". I usually can't understand the people who rate albums track by track (okay, I did it ONCE, goddammit), but it seems pretty appropriate on this one.
There are so many things that you can do that don't include listening to Twilight of the Thunder God, like playing frisbee, eating a yogurt, reading a book, listening to inventive music... But then again, you can also listen to Twilight of the Thunder God. It's pretty good for what it is.
Standout tracks:
Twilight of the Thunder God
Where Is Your God?
Varyags of Miklagaard
Embrace of the Endless Ocean
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