Amon Amarth’s star has been rising rapidly, dominating the melodic death metal circuit without arming their music with a metalcore approach as favoured by others, successfully conquering the picky American market and performing in India. With the release of their ninth album ‘Deceiver of the Gods’, it is clear these Swedes are in the pole position, understanding what their fans want and consistently delivering. Bassist Ted Lundström discusses what makes the Amon Amarth machine work after nearly ten albums of melodic death metal victory.
The strength of Amon Amarth lies in their adherence to a formula that works for them: heavy yet atmospheric metal paired with belligerent melodies and vocalist Johan Hegg idiosyncratically growling a colourful Viking narrative. New album ‘Deceiver of the Gods’ is as loyal to the signature as any other release. “It’s basically Amon Amarth; nobody is going to be surprised with the new album. It may be a bit more thrashy since we chose a different studio for this one. It’s just the follow up from the last album.”
Some consider metal most beloved Vikings to be repeating themselves and growing stale with a deficiency in variation and exploration. Striking the balance of retaining a signature sound while keeping the music fresh and interesting enough for the listener is in the consciousness of the band: “Of course you want to do something new; you don’t want to get stuck. At the same time, you want to keep your roots. So far, it’s worked out really well for us. We always manage somehow to create a new piece that we’re all happy with.” And the audience are obviously delighted with too if the large portions of the crowd singing along to the new tracks is anything to go by.
For many, the appeal of Amon Amarth is their fixation on Viking and Norse themes. The Swedes are very aware of this and like their music will cohere to what they know best, the lyrics will follow suit: “It’s a never-ending source of inspiration. I don’t think we’ll run out of ideas for stuff like that. Our fans would not like it if we would [stop singing about that] because we have been doing it for such a long time now so if we change and start to sing about something else, that would be weird. I guess we’ll somehow stay in the Northern mythology.”
‘Deceiver if the Gods’ focuses on Norse trickster god Loki, a compliment to Amon Amarth’s previous albums studying Thor, Odin and Surtur. “We just tried to find a character that is interesting enough to actually do an album about and Loki maybe came natural with the new ‘Thor’ movies and stuff. He’s more famous now because there is not too much about him in the mythology. People know about Odin and Thor of course because they’re famous guys. Now with the movies, he’s more out there so I guess that’s one of the reasons.” Marvel’s ‘Thor’ films may indeed help elevate Amon Amarth to new audiences but the mythology explored in the comics and films are not congruent to the actual source material. Nonetheless, this fails to detract from Lundström’s enjoyment: “Actually, I saw [Thor 2] last night. It was good, it was fun. Actually, I think it was better than the first one. I love the first one too but I guess they don’t need enough time to present the characters now when the first is already out. It goes straight into the story. It was a great movie.”
The ninth studio effort does not entirely ape previous Amon Amarth efforts; this is the first time the melodic death outfit have joined forces with famed English metal producer Andy Sneap. “He’s a good producer. We loved his work with other bands. That was a no brainer for us. We were looking for something new because we already did three albums with our previous producer Jens Bogren. Andy was first on our list of what we would like to work with and we asked him if he was interested. We had a little meeting with him on our previous English tour and we had a good talk. We had the same kind of ideas how to do it so it felt good. You don’t want to work with a producer who’s not interested in it. You want to have someone who says ”This is going to be cool.” It’s important. It makes it much easier. You’re always a bit nervous when you come to new studios. You don’t know what kind of routines Andy has and how the studio is set up but we had a very nice time. From the first day, we go along really well with him.”
Another new feature of the album is the appearance of legendary Candlemass vocalist Messiah Marcolin, providing his doomy vocals on the track ‘Hel’ alongside Hegg’s barks. “We’ve been talking with him a couple of times before saying it would be cool to do something because we’re big fans of the old Candlemass albums. When we did this album, it turned out we had a song that would fit him because he has a special voice. We had the opportunity so we asked him to come over to England. He’s also an old friend of Andy’s. It was a nice couple of days when he came over and recorded. We had good times, it was fun.”
Naturally, touring with this album will be extensive as Amon Amarth seem to be constantly on the road. However, there are further plans for a music video. “We have one that’s hopefully coming out soon. It’s still in progress, ‘Father of the Wolf’. It’s been planned for a long time but a lot of stuff has to come together to make it happen. Our part is already done. They’re just putting everything together. It should be out soon.”
With tour dates frequently listing ticket availability for Amon Amarth shows as ‘sold out’, these Vikings harbour the conquering spirit of their ancestors, cultivating an enviable and loyal fanbase worldwide – particularly impressive concerning the Norse-centric nature of their lyricism. Amon Amarth t-shirts are among the most common at metal festivals worldwide and although their fame truly starting coming over the past five years, they have illustrated that persistence and not compromising is imperative for personal success.
