Viking mythology and death metal seem to be made for each other. Swedish metal band Amon Amarth released “Jomsviking,” their 10th full-length studio album, last year.
The record is a story/concept album, inspired by the mercenary pagan Vikings of the title, drawing on an 13th-century saga for inspiration. The band viewed the record as writing a musical score to a movie. So the songs work together, musically and lyrically, but they stand independent as pounding metal pieces on their own. The music chugs with double-kick galore, machine-gun sixteenth notes on biting guitars and vocals that are like the sound of a gruff blowtorch.
If Odin and Thor have a place in your personal pantheon, and metal about war, vengeance, flight and brutal freezing winds gets you pumping fists of fury in the air, and if you think that the story of the Vikings gets short shrift in European history and culture, Amon Amarth are probably your epic jam.
Amon Amarth with American extreme metalists Goatwhore at College Street Music Hall, 238 College St., New Haven, Tuesday, May 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. collegestreetmusichall.com.
