In the wonderful world of band gimmicks, there are very few stones unturned. In recent years, we’ve even seen a Ned Flanders themed band called Okily Dokily, but I won’t be discussing them here. For now, I plan on gravitating towards bands who prefer to live in yesteryear; specifically those who add to their allure in the guises of Vikings, Barbarians and Medieval Knights.
First up, there’s Amon Amarth. To me, the oddest thing about these guys is that their name has nothing to do with Viking lore. It’s actually Elvish or Sindarin (if you want to get technical), for Mount Doom. That’s the fiery chasm Frodo has to toss the ring of power into in order to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron — for those with no knowledge of Middle-Earth. But I digress. Getting back to Amon Amarth’s obvious theme: Vikings; it’s clear that their collective stage look, from costumes to elaborate sets, is a huge influence on their fans. This is a band that’s been killing it in the name of Odin since the early ’90s and thankfully, there’s no end in sight. AA is one of the best things to ever come out of a death metal/grindcore band breaking up in metal history, in my opinion. (See this article for more info.) People often argue about whether or not to call Amon Amarth Viking metal or melodic death metal, but I find either one appropriate. Eliminate the lyrics and stage show, and you’ve got yourself an extensive category of beautiful MDM riffage.
“We play death metal. We write about Vikings so, therefore, some refer us to Viking metal, but I have no idea what that is. I can’t imagine the Vikings were into metal at all except on the swords and stuff. And musically, I guess they only played these strange lip instruments and some bongos or whatever.” – Johan Hegg
Vocalist Johan Hegg is the perfect frontman for a band like AA. His look, style and power all grace the music effortlessly, completing the perfect package. People all over the world with no interest in metal music know who Amon Amarth is, simply because of the Viking theme. Vikings are badass and AA have exploited that fact to the fullest degree. By combining the music they love with the mythology they love, they’re leading the charge in their genre to this day.
Next up: MANOWAR. Fans of this band who saw the Featured Image and title for this 
article might have been a little triggered, but rest assured — Manowar isn’t that gimmicky of a band at all. In fact, their biggest “gimmick” is something that the fans have more or less perpetuated themselves: “They’re the loudest band in history!” I can’t tell you how many younger metal fans I’ve met that only started listening to Manowar because of how “loud” they heard they are. Let’s look at some facts —
They’re from Auburn, NY, so they’re basically a local band. I know, right? They follow the trend of writing about “sword and sorcery”, but what’s not to love about that? In 1994, in Hanover, the band supposedly reached 129.5 decibels with a live performance, making them the loudest band in the world at that time. But truthfully, who knows how many times that’s been broken since then? In fact, Guinness discarded their “loudest band” category because they didn’t want to promote hearing loss. True story.
These guys say “Death to false metal” like it’s their fucking job (which it is). But for some reason, I’m willing to bet that there are more closet “Manowarriors” than open ones these days. Power metal fans are super scarce now, or at least they seem to be in WNY. What the hell is the big deal anyways? A lot of bands with harsh vocals use pretty guitar melodies, so why can’t a band with clean vocals replace those guitar melodies with vocal melodies?
People also love Manowar for the arrogance that comes with their song titles and lyrical content. In the late ’80s, they put out an album called Kings of Metal and from that day forth, they set the standard for themselves. You can’t call an album Kings of Metal and not deliver, folks. It’s not happening.
“These days, there’s a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras… so it’s nice to be one of the few bands that’s actually doing that.” – Joey DeMaio
Finally, bringing things down to a smaller stage, Dethlehem from Pittsburgh are our
pride and joy here at The Metal. The band played our first two anniversary shows, but before that, I’d already seen them rocking out at Broadway Joe’s on more than one occasion. This is an unsigned band from three hours away who are absolutely killing it when it comes to their presence. The warriors of Dethlehem gave us quite a scare recently when they announced a hiatus, but things appear to be back on track. With killer MDM songs, fantasy themes, medieval costumes, DnD style quests, hilarious videos and wonderful off stage personalities, Dethlehem is truly a band for the ages. A new album is apparently on the way and coming from someone who has already heard a snippet here and there, if you’re already a fan, you’re going to LOVE the new shit. Would Dethlehem have their following without the medieval/fantasy theme? Who the fuck knows? What I do know is that the internet is a thing. People have access to thousands… millions of bands at the press of a button now. You have to stand out. You have to improvise. You have to KILL IT. Dethlehem accomplishes all three of these goals by promoting the history and mythology they love alongside their crushing tunes.
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