Amon Amarth @ The House of Blues, Hollywood. 4/24/11.

I hadn't seen Amon Amarth live in seven years. Back in 2003, they were opening a package tour with Goatwhore, Vader, Kreator and Nile in small clubs across the country. Today, Amon Amarth are selling out larger venues like the House of Blues by themselves! Yes, my first Amon Amarth gig in forever was "An Evening w/" Amon Amarth. No opening acts, just my favorite Swedish Vikings playing two sets back to back all by their lonesome.

First things first. Holy feces this place was packed! I knew Amon Amarth have gotten considerably more popular over the years, but I've never seen a line outside the House of Blues like this one. With no opening act to skip/arrive fashionably late for, everyone and their mom (hot girlfriends actually) was outside waiting. Once inside, the vibe within the HoB was festive, despite having waited outside in the cold for well over an hour. There was a surprising number of ladies in the crowd, and not the usual heavy metal girlfriend troll types either. Also, I overheard a lot of foreigners jabbering in their native tongues (random Scandinavians, Japanese, some yoked out British dudes, etc) aside from the healthy dose of SoCal Spanish I hear all the time.

So Amon Amarth came onstage and immediately went into "War of the Gods," the opening track off their latest album, Surtur Rising.This first set consisted of their new record in it's entirety, then they came back out and did an even longer set of hits. I like their new album fine, not as much as 2008's Twilight of the Thunder God that preceded it, but hey, no big deal. The second set they did is where things really got poppin'. The crowd went nuts during the last half of the concert, even if the band remained totally chill as before. Aside from their occasional synchronized headbanging, the dudes in Amon Amarth let their music do the talking. Heads were banging in force, girls were dancing ( WTF? where were these girls back in 03?!) and just about everyone was singing along. "With Oden On Our Side," "Guardians of Asgard" and "Thousand Years of Oppression" were my personal highlights of the evening. 

Something about listening to this pro-pagan, anti-Christian anthem on Easter Sunday made me love Amon Amarth a little more before. haha

They ended the night with "The Pursuit of Vikings," and effectively turned the House of Blues into a sweaty karaoke party. Pretty awesome show. Totally worth the seven year wait.