Amon Amarth, Orbit Culture, and Soilwork

Stemming from the demise of the grindcore band Scum, Amon Amarth formed in 1992, adopting their name from a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional setting, Middle-earth. Amon Amarth abandoned the hardcore punk sound of Scum, dropping their previous spastic tendencies and experimenting with dark dream like soundscapes driven by the traditional brooding structure of contemporaries like In Flames,Six Feet Under, and At the Gates.

Amon Amarth put out their first demo “Thor Arise” in 1993 following shortly after the release of Scum’s 1991 demo and their subsequent reformulation. “Thor Arise” was very rough and disjointed; nevertheless, it showed great potential and stimulated a strong cult following in certain metal subsects.

Just a year later the band put out their second demo “Arrival of the Fimbul Winter”. This recording saw a limited run of 1000 copies. The band signed on to Pulverised Records and released their first EP “Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds” in 1996. Their studio debut LP “Once Sent from the Golden Hall” followed 2 years later and was released through the label Metal Blade. This album was herald among critics and was essential in exposing the band to an international audience. After this release they were making stops in Canada, the US, and various festivals in addition to their standard rounds at local venues.

The band experienced several lineup changes in 1998, with Johan Soderberg replacing Anders Hansson and Martin Lopez going on to join Opeth. Once the band settled into their new formation they recorded and released their sophomore effort “The Avenger”. The group returned to the studios to create their most aggressive album to date, aptly titled “The Crusher”, which saw a release in mid 2001.The band scheduled an extensive tour in tandem with this release, but had to push back their US wing of the tour until 2002. By this time they issued their 4th album “Versus the World”. This album was considered to be the group’s most somber and emotionally dark album. It also won widespread critical praise, ranking number 413 in Rock Hard magazine’s book of “The 500 Greatest Rock Metal Albums of All Time”.

The band started a trend of releasing an album every 2 years. They succeeded their 2004 Spring tour with the release of “Fate of Norns” and in 2006 came out with their critical and commercially viable album “With Oden on Our Side”. The group returned to the studios to record “Twilight of the Thunder Gods” after the completion of their first ever Australian and New Zealand tour.

“Twilight of the Thunder Gods” featured members of Entombed, Children of Bodom, and Apocalyptica as well as an 8 page accompanying comic strip. Much of the group’ status within the metal community as well as in popular music can be attributed to this album. It rose to No. 50 on the US charts, No. 6 in Germany, No. 10 in Finland, and No.11 in their homeland.

Their next album “Surtur Rising” came out 3 years later and acted as a platform for a 4 month world tour alongside Ensiferum and Children of Bodom. The group’s 9th studio album “Deceiver of the Gods” came out in 2013 and did reasonably well on the charts in Canada and drew comparisons to the works of Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest.

Formed by Björn “Speed” Strid and Peter Wichers with the intention of emulating bands like Pantera, Meshuggah and Carcass, Soilwork formed in 1995 under the name Inferior Breed. Speed and Winchers spent most of 1996 putting together the rest of the bands line-up while working on songs together, however, the songs they were writing became progressively more melodic as time went on. In response, they decided to change the name of the band to Soilwork, just as they finished putting together the band’s first line-up. The band recorded their first demo soon afterwards, and in a chance encounter with Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott, the band gave him a copy of it.

This proved to be a great move for the band, and Amott started championing the band, leading them to be signed to Listenable Records. The band spent most of 1997 honing their live act by touring, along with writing and recording whenever they weren’t on the road. In 1998 they recorded and released their debut album “Steelbath Suicide”, a record which made a name for them across the metal world. It wasn’t until their second record, 1999’s “The Chainheart Machine”, that the band truly came into their own, however. Their sophomore effort was rapturously received, and secured the band a record contract with the legendary Nuclear Blast Records.

Ever since then the band have been one of the most vital metal bands around. Along with In Flames, they have made melodic death metal one of the most succesful styles of extreme metal in the world. They’ve toured with everyone from Killswitch Engage to Cannibal Corpse, Lamb Of God to Anthrax, and have even charted on the Billboard albums charts, with 2010’s “The Panic Broadcast” hitting the top ten of the Independent Album Charts. After twenty years and six guitarists, they remain one of the top death metal bands in the world, and for that, they come highly recommended.