Amon Amarth – Of Vikings And Norse Gods
It was about ten years back that I spoke with Amon Amarth vocalist Johan Hagg, slightly after the band's second full length, The Avenger, was released. In That interview he told me about the formation of the band, its Viking concept and theme, and what he hopes to achieve in years to come. About ten years later, and the band's seventh album, Twilight Of The Thunder God, sees the band as one of the most successful and well known European extreme metal bands out there, revered by such TV persona as Bam Margera and lovingly mocked by such animated TV shows as Dethklock with their "The Lost Vikings" song. We spoke with drummer Fredrick Andersson, a long-running part of the Swedish metal scene, formerly in such bands as A Canorous Quintet and This Ending, before joining the mighty Amon Amarth.
Hi Fredrick, congrats on the new album! From what time I had to listen to it struck me as probably your most grandiose and impressive album yet. I’d like to start with the title – Twilight Of The Thunder god, which of course relates to Thor, and the twilight of the gods, what else can you tell us about the name and the concept?
Thank you, we’re really glad people like the new album. We’re really happy and proud of it. The name says it all I think. It’s an old myth/story that has been written down and told many times. To make the story short Thor’s arch enemy is this world serpent and he fights it three times and it’s in the third and final battle he slays the serpent but also gets wounded so badly he dies himself afterwards. This even later leads to Ragnarök in Norse mythology – the end of the world.
Is the impressive cover artwork a capture of Thor fighting the Midgard Serpent (Midgardsormr)? How does that sit in with the rest of the concept?
It is, it’s showing the most crucial stage of the battle. I think it fits very well with the song and we wanted the album cover to be really chaotic and turbulent as it is in fact the beginning of Ragnarök.
Sound-wise the album sound quite similar to "With Oden On Our Side", yet even bigger and with more depth, what were you aiming for with it this time?
We wanted a bit fatter sound than "With Oden…" and I think we succeeded in that. I think also the fact that some songs are heavier makes the album sound bigger.
There are some noticeable choir parts in the album, such as the dramatic choir in "Free Will Sacrifice", how did you achieve that sound and what were you aiming to introduce into the song with them?
That was one idea from Jens, the producer. Always before when someone has had different ideas we’ve always said no. But this time we let Jens basically go with all the ideas he had.
"Guardians Of Asagard" features a guest appearance by L.G Petrov, Entombed’s vocalist, why did you choose to use him for the track, and how did you approach him about doing it?
Olavi, Johan and L.G. was at a bar one late night and after many beers they talked about it and L.G. was up for it. I think the idea has been there for even longer though. We’ve always like his style of singing/growling and thought it would fit with Johan.
A bit of a philosophical question, your lyrics have always dwelt upon Viking themes as well as wartime Camaraderie and bravery in battle, what is it that fascinates you in the subject? And also, Vikings were also known for being mass-killers, pillagers and rapists, how does that sit in with your portrait of them?
Well the common view of Vikings is not all there is. Sure, the romantic view is that they were brave warriors while they were also indeed brutal savages. But there was a depth to the Viking life as well; they had democracy and law courts etc. But in general, we think the stories just fits really well with this kind of music.
Back to the album, "Where Is Your God" is one of the angriest songs you’ve written in recent years, bringing to mind some classic 80’s Swedish death metal bands such as Dismember and Carnage, what is the song about, how did the lyrics lead to the aggressive music on it – or vice versa?
On that song we came up with the music first and felt it was a really brutal song so it called for some brutal lyrics. We didn’t really plan that the song would become that brutal, it just did.
Just a general question that perhaps you can set straight, what is the difference, if there is any, between Vikings and Varangians?
Varangians was the name of the Vikings who went down to Constantinople (which is now Istanbul) and served there as body guards for the emperor.
One of the most unique songs you’ve done is "Live For The Kill", which uses Finland’s Apocalyptica to add some impressive symphonic elements to the song. How did using them for it come up? Why in that certain track?
It was Jens’ idea to bring in strings on that song and we said sure why not we can try it out. He suggested some local cellists but we had always wanted to collaborate with Apocalyptica so we said let’s ask them.
A general question, this seems to be your most experimental album to date, how far are you willing to further experiment with your music in the future?
That’s something we can’t really answer to, without probably having to eat up those words later on. I think it’s fairly sure that we’ll never have female vocals, and I doubt we’ll ever use keyboards… That’s all I can say really.
It seems that the band has grown and become more successful in an amazing rate since you started out, to what do you attribute that fact?
I think the main reason is that we’ve always been constant. We never had a high peak and we never deviated from our music. We’ve just been kept doing what we do and constantly getting new fans while still not loosing the old ones.
Finally, you're in a US tour, and what seems like your biggest tour yet, with bands such as Slayer, Trivium and Mastodon. What are your feelings about these shows?
The US headline tour is great and touring with Slayer is of course a dream come true for us as fans!
