AMON AMARTH

by Myk

Vikings. Few words in the English language conjure more distinct images. Vikings were huge, terrifying warriors that pillaged and burned everything in their path. Viking Metal is a celebration of the Nordic heritage put to some of the most extreme music on the planet; bands like Enslaved and Thyrfing instantly come to mind. But, only one band lives up to Viking Metal in both musical terms and the more traditional term as well: Amon Amarth. This is the biggest, scariest band ever, and they’re as heavy as Ragnarok. After the release of With Oden On Our Side [Metal Blade], I got the chance to ask vocalist Johan Hegg several questions, which he took time from his touring and mead to answer. Thanks and good luck to Kelli at Metal Blade for making this happen.

Under the Volcano: Your first US release was Once Sent From the Golden Hall , but you had two prior releases to that, Burning Creation and Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds . Sorrow was released as a limited bonus CD to Versus the World ; what about Burning...?

Johan Hegg: Actually “Burning Creation” is just a song on the demo The Arrival of the Fimbul Winter , which is also on the bonus disc for Versus the World.

UTV: I’ve read that the original name of the band was Scum. Why was it changed, and how did you come to be known as Amon Amarth?

Johan Hegg: Scum was formed in 1988 by Olavi [Mikkonen, guitar] and some friends of his, but they split up in 1991. When the band reformed in 1992 me and Ted [Lundström, bass] joined, and we decided to change the band name since we also started to incorporate new lyrical topics.

UTV: What came of your relationship with Pulverised Records?

Johan Hegg: Roy contacted us with a deal for a mini CD, and we accepted. We recorded it and finally wound up getting the deal with Metal Blade Records. As far as I know Pulverised Records are out of business nowadays, and we never really did get paid anything, but it turned out to be a good cooperation since we got a great album deal out of it in the end.

UTV: Since the release of Once… all of your artwork has been done by Thomas Ewerhard, and the imagery has been of Viking warriors and fire; this even extends to the DVD release Wrath of the Norsemen . With Oden On Our Side has taken a dramatic visual turn from that path. What is the reason behind that?

Johan Hegg: We were working with a couple of different ideas, and this was the best suited for the album. We wanted something simple and powerful, and I think we got it.

UTV: Why did Niko Kaukinen [drums] leave the band and what happened to Anders Hansson [guitar], who both appeared on the Sorrow… recordings?

Johan Hegg: Niko felt he couldn’t keep up with the development of the band, and that he was holding us back, so he decided to leave the band. Anders was fired since we felt he wasn’t good enough. We’re still good friends with the guys though.

UTV: Why did drummer Martin Lopez leave the band? Was it just for Opeth, or were there problems as well?

Johan Hegg: At the time he was playing in both Amon Amarth and Opeth, and he felt he couldn’t get enough out of his technical drumming style with us, as our music required more straightforward and powerful drumming. Martin is a very cool guy, and we had a lot of fun with him in the studio and on the road, so we didn’t have any personal problems with him at all.

UTV: What led you to add second guitarist Johan Soderberg with The Avenger ?

Johan Hegg: We were looking for a guitarist after Anders was fired, but we couldn’t find one that really cut it. Then a friend of Olavi’s recommended Johan, and told us he was interested in playing with us. Olavi knew Johan a little bit from before, as they grew up in the same neighborhood. I know Olavi was a bit hesitant at first, as Johan had never played in a Metal band before, but we tried him out and he did great.

UTV: Where did Fredrik Andersson come from as a replacement?

Johan Hegg: We knew Fredrik from before as he was playing in a band called A Canorous Quintet, and we played a couple of shows with them in Stockholm. At the time Martin decided to quit, we decided to call him up to try and get him to “steal” him from them, as we knew he was a good drummer with the right skills for us. But, as it happened, A Canorous Quintet had just split up so Fredrik took the offer.

UTV: Wrath of the Norsemen is an impressive three DVD set with five complete shows presented. When most bands would release at least three different DVDs with this much material, why did you choose to do it as one release?

Johan Hegg: Easy, really. A DVD is a pretty big thing for a person to buy, and it has to be worth the money. For us it was not a huge extra cost to put these shows on the DVD as we already had the material, so we could also keep a good price on the DVD for the fans.

UTV: On The Crusher, you cover Possessed’s “The Eyes of Horror.” What are other bands of that era are you fans of?

Johan Hegg: Personally I’m a metalhead of the ‘80s. I like Slayer, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motorhead, Sepultura and stuff like that, but I doubt we’ll do any covers of them since we’re not particularly interested in doing covers. The reason we did “Eyes of Horror” was that we were asked to be on a tribute album for Possessed. However, the album took so long to release we decided to use it as a bonus track for The Crusher.

UTV: Of all the songs you could cover, why did you choose “Revenge of the Zombie”?

Johan Hegg: Metal Blade Records Europe were celebrating their tenth anniversary last year, and they decided to put on a show in Stuttgart, Germany, with Metal Blade bands playing their own songs, but also covering a song from another Metal Blade band. We were choosing between covering Slayer or Six Feet Under, but felt that the Six Feet Under song was easier to put our own signature on, so we went with that.

UTV: You recorded most of your albums with Peter Tagtgren and then switched to Berno for Versus the World , and now Jens Bogren. How do they all compare in regards to working with the band, and why did Berno only get the one album?

Johan Hegg: Actually we recorded two albums with Berno, Versus the World and Fate of Norns . The reason we decided to change is that we wanted to have a studio a bit closer to home, and Jens came highly recommended by our friends in Katatonia and Opeth. Personally, I like all three guys very much, but they are a bit different to work with. Of all three Jens is the most demanding producer, but then again this recording was the first time we worked with a producer as it is supposed to work, so that might be the reason.

UTV: How did the band become so vested in Viking Metal and what are other bands you would recommend playing that style of Death Metal?

Johan Hegg: It’s been an interest of everyone in the band for a long time, and when I started writing lyrics about it, it just felt right for us. I personally like the stuff of Unleashed, Bathory, Enslaved and Einherjer, but another band that’s also really cool--though it’s not Death Metal--is TYR.

UTV: What are the six bonus tracks on the limited US release of With Oden On Our Side ?

Johan Hegg: We put two live songs from our show at Wacken Open Air in 2004, two demo versions of songs from the new album, and two songs from the Sunlight Studios recording of Once Sent From the Golden Hall , of which one is previously unreleased.

UTV: Fredrik has a side band called The Plague; what’s the story behind them?

Johan Hegg: It used to be called The Plague, but now they’ve changed name to This Ending and actually signed a deal also on Metal Blade Records. The album comes out January 23, if I’m not much mistaken. The story behind it is that it’s the same members as the band Fredrik was in before he joined Amon Amarth, back then they were called A Canorous Quintet, but split up in 1998.

UTV: Tell me about this upcoming US tour.

Johan Hegg: We’re main support to Children of Bodom. It’s fucking cool to hit the roads with those crazy guys again. We had a blast last time, and I have a feeling this tour will be even better.

UTV: If you could tell someone the top five ideals stemming from the Viking culture, what would they be?

Johan Hegg: Honor, loyalty, courage, curiosity, and open-mindedness, if you can use that expression. Vikings had a very strong sense of honor, and were very loyal to friends and kin. Of course they were courageous and curious as they explored the world 700 years before people understood that the world is round. What I mean about open-mindedness is that they were not afraid of different cultures, and they were very adaptable. A very good example of at least four of these ideals are the Vikings who worked as the bodyguard to the Emperor of Constantinople, today’s Istanbul. They were called Vaerings, and they were held in high respect by the Emperor since they were loyal, fierce warriors and they also adapted to the culture of the land for their stay. X