10 Best Viking Metal Bands Of All Time
1. Amon Amarth
Sweden's finest metal exports have been knocking listeners' socks off since 1992. Amon Amarth (the Sindarin name for Mount Doom for all you LOTR fans out there) enjoy a melodic take on death metal mixed with thrash and a hint or 2 of folk for good measure. Front man Johan Hegg is the epitome of Viking metal with his brutal, growled vocals, penchant for drinking out of a long horn at gigs and giant, blonde, bearded aesthetic.
There's also the staggering magnitude of their live shows which include everything from wild pyrotechnics and smoke-exhaling dragons to enormous Viking ships. Rising from the depths of Sweden's extreme metal scene, Amon Amarth have taken the heavy metal world by storm, often headlining with other titans of metal like Mastodon and Slayer.
When it comes to hard-hitting, headbanging masterpieces focused on the Viking Age and Norse mythology, their whole discography's worth an extensive listen. Albums such as Versus the World (2002), With Oden on Our Side (2006), Twilight of the Thunder God (2008) and Jomsviking (2016) in particular encapsulate everything Viking metal is about with gusto.