continuing the recent re-press series of amon amarth complete back catalogue by metal blade with their first full length. "once sent from the golden hall" was already released in 1998. man, this is almost twenty years. the album itself is actually twenty years old because the first take was recorded in 1997 in stockholm's sunlight studios. the band wasn't satisfied with the end result and therefore looked for an improvement.
they found help in the person of peter tägtgren of hypocrisiy fame. at the time tägtgren was already a producer of renown throughout the metal world with his own abyss studios. amon amarth and tägtgren re-mixed andre-mastered album so it would meet the demands of the band. with a little delay "once sent from the golden hall" was unleashed in early 1998 via metal blade records.
the album wasn't a huge success but it put amon amarth on the map of the metal world. still the album recieved mostly positive reviews and is now considered a classic. musically i wasn't sure what i would get here. the earliest work of amon i know is "versus the world" (which i still consider their finest moment) and i somehow imagined their previous records to be musically not as well written as the stuff i knew.
that fear was washed away with the forst notes of the opening track "ride for vengeance". it's all there, the band's unique feeling for epic melodies, the groove-driven riffs and, of course, the viking lyrics. an absolutely rock solid debut with a few hits (check "friends of the suncross"). the re-press is part of the "original series"and thus is detailed replica of the initial lp version from '98 except the vinyl colour. 500 copies on orange black marble. metal blade. 1998/2017.
