With Oden on our Side
Encyclopedia
With Oden on Our Side is the sixth full-length studio album
by the Swedish death metal
band Amon Amarth
, and their first album to enter the Billboard
charts, the Top Heatseekers
and the Independent Albums
chart, peaking at number 15 and number 26 respectively.
It was recorded in May and June 2006 and was released in Europe on 22 September 2006 by Metal Blade Records
. A limited edition digipak
was also released with a second disc that includes live songs, demos, and unreleased recordings. With Oden on Our Side was also released on a limited red LP
. The songs "Runes to My Memory" and "Cry of the Black Birds" were both made into music videos.
With Oden on Our Side takes on a heavier approach compared to their previous album Fate of Norns
; according to vocalist Johan Hegg, in an interview with Dutch metal magazine Aardschok, the album would go back to their roots such as their debut, Once Sent from the Golden Hall
. When asked about the meaning of the album's title, Hegg remarked:
The album cover art features the Norse God Odin
riding on his fabled octopedel horse Sleipnir
. The background depicts the Valknut
, a symbol whose meaning is uncertain, though archeological evidence clearly shows it to be associated with Odin. Letters of the Runic alphabet
can be seen on the edges of the triangles forming the Valknut. The Runes on top spell out "With Oden on our Side", whereas the bottom right runes spell "Amon Amarth" using characters from the Elder Futhark
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the Swedish death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band Amon Amarth
Amon Amarth
Amon Amarth is a Swedish viking metal band from Tumba, Sweden founded in 1992, and takes its name from the Sindarin translation of Mount Doom, a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The band comprises vocalist Johan Hegg, guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg, bassist Ted Lundström...
, and their first album to enter the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts, the Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
and the Independent Albums
Independent Albums
The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels...
chart, peaking at number 15 and number 26 respectively.
It was recorded in May and June 2006 and was released in Europe on 22 September 2006 by Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
. A limited edition digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
was also released with a second disc that includes live songs, demos, and unreleased recordings. With Oden on Our Side was also released on a limited red LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
. The songs "Runes to My Memory" and "Cry of the Black Birds" were both made into music videos.
With Oden on Our Side takes on a heavier approach compared to their previous album Fate of Norns
Fate of Norns
Fate of Norns is the fifth full-length studio album by the Swedish death metal band Amon Amarth. It was released on September 6, 2004 through Metal Blade Records. This album continued their slower, heavier sound which started on the previous album Versus the World...
; according to vocalist Johan Hegg, in an interview with Dutch metal magazine Aardschok, the album would go back to their roots such as their debut, Once Sent from the Golden Hall
Once Sent from the Golden Hall
Once Sent from the Golden Hall is the first full-length studio album released by the death metal band Amon Amarth, released by Metal Blade Records. The album was originally limited and only 1000 copies were sold on CD and LP versions. Later the album was re-released by Metal Blade in 2005 on...
. When asked about the meaning of the album's title, Hegg remarked:
The album cover art features the Norse God Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
riding on his fabled octopedel horse Sleipnir
Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
. The background depicts the Valknut
Valknut
The Valknut is a symbol consisting of three interlocked triangles, and appears on various Germanic objects. A number of theories have been proposed for its significance....
, a symbol whose meaning is uncertain, though archeological evidence clearly shows it to be associated with Odin. Letters of the Runic alphabet
Runic alphabet
The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
can be seen on the edges of the triangles forming the Valknut. The Runes on top spell out "With Oden on our Side", whereas the bottom right runes spell "Amon Amarth" using characters from the Elder Futhark
Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Northwest Germanic and Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artifacts such as jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons and runestones...
.
Track listing
- "Valhall Awaits Me" – 4:44
- "Runes to My Memory" – 4:33
- "Asator" – 3:04
- "Hermod's Ride to Hel - Lokes Treachery Part 1" – 4:41
- "Gods of War Arise" – 6:03
- "With Oden on Our Side" – 4:35
- "Cry of the Black Birds" – 3:50
- "Under the Northern Star" – 4:17
- "Prediction of Warfare" – 6:37
Bonus disc (Limited digipak edition)
- "Where Silent Gods Stand Guard" (Live at WackenWacken Open AirWacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...
2004) – 6:11 - "Death in Fire" (Live at Wacken 2004) – 4:55
- "With Oden on Our Side" (Demo version) – 4:32
- "Hermod's Ride to Hel - Lokes Treachery Part 1" (Demo version) – 4:49
- "Once Sent from the Golden Hall" (SunlightSunlight StudioSunlight Studios is a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden.It has been a popular choice for Swedish death metal bands such as Treblinka, Tiamat, Katatonia, Entombed, and Dismember.A chronological "discography" of the studio can be found here:...
recording 1997) – 4:03 - "Return of the Gods" (Sunlight recording 1997 - previously unreleased song) – 3:34
- Track 3 and 4 recorded at Amon Amarth's rehearsal studio, January 2006.
- Track 5 and 6 recorded at Sunlight Studio, March 1997.
Band members
- Johan Hegg − Vocals
- Olavi Mikkonen − GuitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Johan Söderberg − GuitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Ted Lundström − BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Fredrik Andersson − DrumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Other
- Produced, mixed and engineered by Jens Bogren.
- Additional recording by Anders "Shadow" Ström.
- Mastered by Thomas Eberger at Cutting Room, StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.