AMON AMARTH

Sons of the thunder god

Probably most famous Swedish act these days, namely AMON AMARTH has just released the seventh full length album called "Twilight Of The Thunder God". A feeedback for this album has been really good and frankly speaking, I'm not surprised with it. This might sound weird but I had known it before they started writing for this album. Johan Hegg & Co. would never have taken a stupid risk in order to increase their fan base. Over the years they have been working hard to reach the point where they are now. Once someone said that not taking risk in music business is risky and there's definitely some truth it that. But this little theory doesn't work at all for some selected bands. The chosen ones, such as AMON AMARTH... A few days ago I took the opportunity to ask Fredrik Andersson (the drummer) about some things regarding the past, the present and the future of the band. Here we go!

-Hello mighty warriors! Your new album „Twilight of the Thunder God” has been released a few weeks ago so now you are probably warming up your bones before the upcoming tours. Today I've checked tourdates section on your website. Apart from warm-up shows in Spain and Russia, you have already confirmed a long European tour with OBITUARY, LEGION OF THE DAMNED & KEEP OF KALLESSIN and appearances on several summer festivals. Do you have any other plans for the rest of 2009?
We’re trying to work out a tour for the rest of the US, as we had to cut last one short due to the Unholy Alliance tour we did we Slayer so we need to cover some states we missed. We’re also looking into Mexico and possibly South America. With any luck we might be able to go back to Australia also, we’ll see. We also need to to tour Scandinavia later on and a proper UK tour.

-Are you addicted to touring? This question is quite funny but this little theory makes sense since you've appeared in your career on almost uncountable number of live shows. Actually, what is so special in re- visiting the same places over and over again?
It’s neccessary for a band that gets no air-play on radio to constantly tour. That’s the only way we get to expose our music. It is of course how we also started as a band, to get a show was the first goal. And it’s still the most fun to be on stage. The best thing about going to places you’ve been to before is that you know what to expect, and you know the surrounding. If there’s anything interesting around, anything from laundrymats to music/electronic stores to nice restaurants/bars.

-Now you appear on stages mostly as a victorious headliner. Can you recall the hardest time you had as a crappy opening act?
Yeah, actually it wasn’t too long ago. The first time we supported Children of Bodom in the US we were the opening act and we did that in a van we drover ourselves. No crew at all. It was hard, and nearly no sleep for 5 weeks. But it paid off, now we can do our own headlining tours also in the States.

-In your career you've shared stages, tour-buses and hotel rooms with many bands. Who did you enjoy touring and partying with the most? Who was the biggest dick?
That’s really hard to say... We’re lucky to have gotten along really well with all bands we’ve toured with, but of course it’s always easier to tour with fellow Swedish bands. Haven’t really met any bands that have been assholes to us.

-It seems like you played with AMON AMARTH almost everywhere. Are there any exotic places you haven't been there yet and you would like to conquer them in the future, maybe next year?
Oh yeah, there are plenty places. Japan, all of Asia actually, South America, South Africa, Alaska, The baltic states, Dubai...

-By the way, AMON AMARTH is an amazing live act. After so many years of touring I think the time has come to release you first live album. How about that? Are there any plans to immortalize one of your mighty shows on CD?
Anything is possible.

-OK, let's finally start talking about your new effort „Twilight Of The Thunder God”. This is your seventh studio album and probably the best one in your discography. You must be really proud of the final result, mustn't you? How do you feel about the final product?
Yes, we’re very proud of it. We do feel that it’s the best we’ve ever produced so it feels even greater when also others seems to like it as much as we do.

-You are following your own path in music, continuously improving your music style. Of course, there's nothing like a huge gap between any of your albums and you cannot be described as the most innovating metal act. How do you feel about that? Where do you see main differences, comparing this new album to your previous efforts?
Well we found our style pretty early in our history and we feel no need for us to change, this is the music we want to do. The main differences are the fact that we let Jens contribute with som ideas he had to bring outside elements such as man quires, other instruments etc. It’s also the first time we used guest musicians.

-Through the years you have gathered a very strong and dedicated fanbase that many bands can only dream of. So, when you are working on a new AMON AMARTH album, do you ever think that you should live up to your fans' expectations in order to not let them down? Is there any kind of „pressure” in your creation process?
Not really no. We write mainly music that we like and I think we’ve come to realize that what we want is also what our most dedicated fans wants – luckily! They might not like every single song we do, but in general so far they have approved with all our records and that’s something we’re very grateful about.

-Can I pin you down to pick your favorite track off the new album?
My personal favorite is „Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags”

-Talking of your best songs, I'm wondering if you have any "crap tracks" on any of your albums that you really regret? Something making you say „holy fuck- this piece of shit should has never been released”?
Yeah, we have songs like that. Especially in these days when we’re re-visiting the first four albums...

-The album features some cool guest appearances. How did you come to a conclusion that you need L.G. Petrov, Roope Latvala and APOCALYPTICA to make this album complete?
It kind of came just naturally. LG is a friend to the band so that idea came in a bar a very late night. We’ve talked about having a guest solo for a very long time and we felt that if we’re gonna ask someone to shred on our album, it must be Roope! APOCALYPTICA is also a long time dream. Actually the initial idea came from Jens to bring in some cellos on the song „Live for the Kill” but we thought instead of asking some local guys why not ask APOCALYPTICA?

-Let me ask you also about the lyrical part of your new album. Your lyrics are still closely connected with vikings and ancient times. When you write lyrics for a new AMON AMARTH album, are they solely base on your own imagination or do you use local folklore or maybe some specialist literature, books too?
Both actually. Some songs are pure fiction, some are based on mythological events.

-Due to you close associations with vikings, myhts, national culture and so on, have you ever been blamed for supporting Nazis or Nacionalism by your art?
Yes, in the past there was some confusion around the fact that we sang about Vikings. It was also a more sensitive time and a lot of turbulense around Neo nazism and such. Looking back, having a burning suncross on our first Ep was maybe not the wisest decision...