I need to develop armour for a book I'm writing based around Norse mythology, where the main weapons are melee, mostly being axes although crushing armour is somewhat common.
I was originally thinking of scale armour, but it doesn't distribute weight well, so I'm looking into other types as my mc gets plate armour later in the book, but for now they're using a 'basic' more common armour.
I've considered using kikko with a tighter placement, lamellar as they were traditionally used by Vikings, partial splint mail where the stomach region uses splint mail and other styles elsewhere as well as layered plated armour. I was wondering if I could get accurate opinions on what would best suit the combat requirements.
based around Norse mythology
The "mythology" part of that gives you a lot of freedom, and you could take your cues from the art of Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics Thor) rather than from history. However, since you're asking here, I guess you have some interest in a historically-based solution.
a 'basic' more common armour.
I've considered using kikko with a tighter placement, lamellar as they were traditionally used by Vikings, partial splint mail where the stomach region uses splint mail and other styles elsewhere as well as layered plated armour.
What is wrong the main Viking choice of armour: mail? Mail was the dominant, and favoured, type of body armour, for good reason. Scale and lamellar were known, but were cheap and inferior options.
For example, in Grænlendinga þáttur, an armour called spangabrynja - probably scale, possibly lamellar - is offered as compensation for a killing, and the offer is rejected as being insultingly ungenerous:
Síðan var fram borin spangabrynja ein forn.
Símon mælti þá: "Svívirðlega er slíkt boðið fyrir slíkan mann sem Össur var" og kastaði brynjunni á völlinn á burt og gekk upp að þeim er þeir sátu í brekkunni.
Your "lamellar as they were traditionally used by Vikings" is not really wrong, but you should keep in mind that lamellar was only a small minority of the armour used - mail was far more common. Even in the east of the Viking region (i.e., Russia), where lamellar is much more common than in the Baltic/Scandinavia, mail armours greatly outnumbered lamellar.
Mail will stop edged weapons well (at least Viking-era swords and battleaxes), and offers fewer gaps than lamellar. It was the standard body armour for Vikings who wore body armour. Why shouldn't a literary Asgard follow the real-world Midgard?