Amon Amarth Destroy House Of Blues

By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

My rating:

April 24th 2011, House Of Blues, Hollywood CA: I had never seen such a long line for any metal show at this venue, and just by looking at it extend beyond the next block, a passer-by could tell that something special was going on tonight. 'Special' is indeed an understatement for this occasion, an evening with Amon Amarth. On this tour, the mighty Swedes decided to kill two birds with one stone, promoting the new album 'Surtur Rising' in full, and then performing a full set of classics in an 'evening with' format. There were no opening bands here. Whenever you talk about a band giving their fans the money's worth, you need to look no further than this one.

By the time the band was ready to hit the stage, there wasn't even an inch of space left inside the venue. Fans united to let out an ecstatic cheer as their heroes appeared on stage for the first time tonight, starting the evening with "War Of The Gods". Chaos broke out as soon as the song hit top gear and even as I stood in the photo pit, I could feel the thrust of the security personnel behind me trying to catch the crowd surfers. This brutally fast, quintessential Amon Amarth tune turned out to be an amazing opener. Things only got better from then on, as they played the entire album in its entirety. The album had a great flow about it, and each of the tunes had its own little nuances which made it an extremely enjoyable live experience. My favorites were "Destroyer Of The Universe", "For Victory Or Death" and "The Last Stand of Frej". One thing is for certain, I am a bigger fan of this album now that I've seen it live in entirety, and I would like to commend the band for deciding to take this step on the tour. What better way to promote your new album than to play the whole of it? The fans certainly agreed, as the atmosphere inside the House of Blues was absolutely electrifying.

A brief intermission allowed the incredibly energetic audience to gain its collective breath back. But instead of resting, they were loudly singing along with the songs being played on the PA, classics such as Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills" and Sabbath's "War Pigs". That's how metal this crowd was, and it was wonderful to see. The beginning of the 2nd set was with "Twilight Of The Thunder God", a true epic, the best Amon Amarth song in the opinion of many. They went on to present some of their most celebrated tunes, giving the fans plenty of reason to rejoice. These grateful fans were sounding amazing tonight, singing the chorus lyrics in unison and following frontman Johan Hegg's lead. The band represented most of their catalogue in the 2nd set, and it was great to see four songs each from Twilight Of The Thunder Gods and With Oden On Our Side. During this set I went upstairs to gauge the scene from there. The crowd looked and sounded absolutely insane from up there, and it was quite a sight to behold. Waves of moshpits were breaking out every other minute, with a constant flow of crowd surfers giving the amazing House of Blues security the busiest work night they would have had in a long time.

The three-song encore led by my favorite Amon Amarth song "Cry Of The Black Birds" was as powerful as the main set itself. Everyone literally went nuts as soon as the sound of crows chimed in to signal the start of this song. They closed out with "The Pursuit Of Vikings" and promptly bid goodbye to this fantastic crowd.

In terms of performance, they played with robotic precision, yet maintained terrific stage presence, keeping those windmilling heads going at full tilt for the entirety of the two and a half hours they performed. Johan Hegg impressed me so much with everything he did tonight that this might have been the best live performance I've ever seen from any vocalist. His voice was just unbelievably powerful, and the best part of it was that it remained at the same intensity for the whole show. Whenever he addressed the crowd with the words "Los Angeles" I felt as if the whole of Los Angeles was going to tumble down in a heap, such was his impact tonight.

With a performance as brutally breathtaking as this, Amon Amarth put on one of the greatest metal shows one will ever get to see. I can't see this being beaten by anyone else in the near future, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. A surreal night for everyone in attendance.

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