Having now firmly established themselves as the leading purveyors of ball-bustingly awesome true Viking metal (sorry Turisas), it isn’t particularly shocking to see Amon Amarth get a swish makeover for their back catalogue courtesy of Metal Blade. Debut release ‘Once Sent From The Golden Hall’ may not quite have the gloss or refined melody of more recent efforts such as future classic ‘With Oden On Our Side’ or last year’s epic ‘Twilight Of The Thunder God’, but it is still a class example of melodic death metal at its most gung ho.

This particular reissue features a German version of ‘Victorious March’ inexplicably tagged on to the end of the original album, and also includes a bonus disk of the entire record performed live last year in Bochum, Germany. The live tracks sound great even if they do underline just a tad how Johan Hegg’s vocals have evolved ever so slightly over the years, and though the bonus songs don’t quite justify the album to those who already own it, Amon newcomers will rarely find a better opportunity to dig into the past of one of Finland’s brightest exports.

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