Surtur Rising

Surtur Rising is the eighth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth. It is named after the mythical giant, Surtr. The album was released on 29 March 2011. The album debuted at number 34 on the American Billboard 200 chart as well as number 19 on the Canadian album charts.^[1]

Surtur Rising
Studio album by Amon Amarth
Released	29 March 2011 (2011-03-29)
Studio	Fascination Street Studio, Örebro, Sweden
Genre	Melodic death metal
Length	48:40
Label	Metal Blade, Sony Music
Producer	Jens Bogren
Amon Amarth chronology
Twilight of the Thunder God (2008) Surtur Rising (2011) Deceiver of the Gods (2013)

On 27 June 2011, the band released a music video, with footage taken during a live performance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and directed by David Brodsky, for the third track on the album, "Destroyer of the Universe".^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100^[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[4]
Blabbermouth.net	^[5]
Metal Hammer	^[6]
PopMatters	^[7]
Revolver	^[8]

Surtur Rising was released to universal acclaim. Germany's Metal Hammer chose the album as the album of the month in March 2011.^[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Amon Amarth

Standard CD edition^[4]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"War of the Gods"	4:33
2.	"Töck's Taunt – Loke's Treachery Part II^[9]"	5:58
3.	"Destroyer of the Universe"	3:41
4.	"Slaves of Fear"	4:25
5.	"Live Without Regrets"	5:03
6.	"The Last Stand of Frej"	5:37
7.	"For Victory or Death"	4:30
8.	"Wrath of the Norsemen"	3:44
9.	"A Beast Am I"	5:14
10.	"Doom Over Dead Man"	5:55
Total length:		48:40

iTunes edition bonus track^[10][11]

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Aerials" (System of a Down cover)	3:39

Japanese edition bonus track^[10]

No.	Title	Length
11.	"War Machine" (Kiss cover)	3:35

Deluxe CD/DVD edition bonus tracks^[12][10]

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Balls to the Wall" (Accept Cover)	5:22
12.	"War Machine" (Kiss cover)	3:35

Digipak edition

The digipack edition includes a 10-track audio CD and a bonus Live DVD.^[12]

The length of the last track, "Doom over dead Man", is listed as 7:32 on the back of the album, but skipping to the track or ripping it produces a song length of 5:55. An instrumental part 1:37 long is hidden in the pregap between tracks 9 and 10, which can only be heard by rewinding or playing straight through.^[10]

Live DVD

This DVD, included in the digipack and deluxe editions, contains over four hours of live concert footage filmed during the "Bloodshed Over Bochum" concert series in 2008 where Amon Amarth played the first four albums on four successive nights.^[12]

Once Sent from the Golden Hall

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ride for Vengeance"
2.	"The Dragon's Flight Across the Waves"
3.	"Without Fear"
4.	"Victorious March"
5.	"Friends of the Suncross"
6.	"Abandoned"
7.	"Amon Amarth"
8.	"Once Sent from the Golden Hall"

The Avenger

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Bleed for Ancient Gods"
2.	"The Last with Pagan Blood"
3.	"North Sea Storm"
4.	"Avenger"
5.	"God, His Son and Holy Whore"
6.	"Metalwrath"
7.	"Legend of a Banished Man"

The Crusher

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Bastards of a Lying Breed"
2.	"Masters of War"
3.	"The Sound of Eight Hooves"
4.	"Risen from the Sea"
5.	"As Long as the Raven Flies"
6.	"A Fury Divine"
7.	"Annihilation of Hammerfest"
8.	"The Fall Through Ginnungagap"
9.	"Releasing Surtur's Fire"

Versus the World

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Death in Fire"
2.	"For the Stabwounds in Our Backs"
3.	"Where Silent Gods Stand Guard"
4.	"Versus the World"
5.	"Across the Rainbow Bridge"
6.	"Down the Slopes of Death"
7.	"Thousand Years of Oppression"
8.	"Bloodshed"
9.	"...And Soon the World Will Cease to Be"

Vinyl picture disc editions

A 2-sided vinyl LP picture disc is also available in the North American market with the following 10 tracks,^[13] and the European market edition includes a 4-sided vinyl LP picture disc with the following 10 tracks and "Balls to the Wall" (Accept cover) bonus track, with the fourth side etched.^[14]

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

Amon Amarth

• Johan Hegg – vocals
• Olavi Mikkonen – lead guitar
• Johan Söderberg – rhythm guitar
• Ted Lundström – bass
• Fredrik Andersson – drums

Production

• Jens Bogren – producer, mixing, mastering
• Urban Näsvall – drumtech
• Martin Jacobsson – orchestral arrangements
• Dark Passenger Orchestra – orchestra
• Tom Thiel – cover artwork
• Thomas Ewerhard – design, layout
• Steve Brown – photos

Guest musicians

• Simon Solomon (Witchcraft) – guitar solo on "The last Stand of Frej" and "A Beast am I"

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[15]	12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[16]	45
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)^[17]	54
Canadian Albums (Billboard)^[18]	19
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[19]	62
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[20]	16
French Albums (SNEP)^[21]	146
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[22]	8
Irish Albums (IRMA)^[23]	76
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[24]	8
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[25]	20
UK Albums (OCC)^[26]	75
UK Independent Albums (OCC)^[27]	10
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)^[28]	6
US Billboard 200^[29]	34
US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[30]	6
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)^[31]	1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)^[32]	7
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)^[33]	10

References

1. Surtur Rising - Amon Amarth billboard.com. Retrieved on 18 April 2011.
2. "New Video: Amon Amarth: Destroyer of the Universe". Metal Call Out. 28 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
3. "Surtur Rising". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
4. Surtur Rising at AllMusic
5. Ryan Ogle, Surtur Rising 2 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Blabbermouth.net
6. Surtur Rising Review on Metal Hammer Retrieved 25 March 2011 (German)
7. Surtur Rising Review on PopMatters Retrieved on 20 April 2018
8. Surtur Rising Review on Revolver Retrieved on 20 April 2018
9. Misprinted as Töcks's Taunt on most back covers.
10. "Surtur Rising: Additional Notes". Metal-archives.com. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
11. "Surtur Rising". iTunes Preview. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
12. Fisher, Jason. Amon Amarth reveal Surtur Rising editions thegauntlet.com. 31 January 2011. Retrieved on 2011-03-08.
13. . Metal Blade. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
14. . Metal Blade. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
15. "Austriancharts.at – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising" (in German). Hung Medien.
16. "Ultratop.be – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
17. "Ultratop.be – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising" (in French). Hung Medien.
18. "Amon Amarth Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
19. "Dutchcharts.nl – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
20. "Amon Amarth: Surtur Rising" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
21. "Lescharts.com – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising". Hung Medien.
22. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
23. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Amon Amarth". Hung Medien.
24. "Swedishcharts.com – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising". Hung Medien.
25. "Swisscharts.com – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising". Hung Medien.
26. "Amon Amarth | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
27. April 2011/131/ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company.
28. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
29. "Amon Amarth Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
30. "Amon Amarth Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
31. "Amon Amarth Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard.
32. "Amon Amarth Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
33. "Amon Amarth Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard.