Interviews

Like Fate of Norns, With Oden On Our Side is a more atmospheric album than your older material. Was this a conscious decision, and are you planning on continuing in this direction in the future?

I think that we on this album were actually going back a bit to the more aggressive style, but we tried to keep the melodies and harmonies that we developed on Fate of Norns, and even tried to emphasize them a little bit. So, I mean, we try to develop music with every release, and come up with new ideas and new angles to it.

Definitely, lyrically With Oden On Our Side has been a return to the brutality of Amon Amarth’s previous releases, in contrast to the more melancholic and futile material of Fate Of Norns. What was the reason behind this return to form?

I guess the main reason was probably because the musical ideas, material that we had, that really was more suited for more aggressive lyrics, I guess, so that’s probably the main reason. Everything just fell into place somehow, even the lyrics, and it just takes everything that we were feeling, and everything throughout the whole process, it’s kind of a well-suited lyrical content to the whole album.

The lyrics to Prediction Of Warfare seem like the first part of an old piece of epic poetry, like The Odyssey or the Kalevala. Could you tell us where the inspiration for the lyrics came from, and if you’re planning on continuing the story?

Actually, this is mainly an historical sort of story, not historical in the sense that it actually happened the way it described, but it is trying to describe two things that was very common with Vikings. First of all, Norwegian kings claimed land in Ireland, that’s a fact, and then they went there to strike down revolts on several occasions, because the Irish, of course, were not really happy to be under the rule of Norwegians. But it’s also something that’s very common if you read the Viking legends, the old sagas and even the mythology, interpreting dreams and stuff like that, so it’s sort of combining that kind of stuff into the whole lyrical concept, but the idea was to write something that had some historical value.

What was different in songwriting and motivation to make Fate of Norns so different from the rest of Amon Amarth’s catalogue?

It’s hard to say, actually, it was so long since we worked on that album, really. But one thing for sure, that compared to With Oden On Our Side we were not able to work as focused as we were on this one. We all had day jobs, we all had to write the material on evenings and stuff like that. We just couldn’t really focus on the writing material and it took a long time to actually complete the album. I guess we felt a bit more pressure, I’m not sure the end result turned out as great as we wanted it to, even though I think it’s a great album. It’s hard to say what exactly differs from this album, but one of the main reasons is that we worked with a producer for the first time.

Recent years have seen a huge proliferation of Viking metal, with Amon Amarth standing as one of the frontrunners. Do you have any thoughts on the state of the genre at large you would share with us?

Not in particular. I think it’s cool that other people are exploring and experiencing Viking mythology, Viking history, because it has a lot more to offer than sheer brutality, of course, it’s something very intriguing, very interesting, I think the whole Scandinavian culture, the old culture has been abused by bigger religions. In many ways, of course, Christianity, because they want to oppress everything that’s not Christian, of course. But I think it’s really cool that a lot of new bands are coming out. I’m not sure we’re forerunners, a lot of bands did this before we did. For instance, Bathory did that, Unleashed has been doing this for a long time as well. It’s nothing really new if you ask me. It’s cool we get the credit.

When you were first starting out, did you take any influence from Bathory, Unleashed or the older Viking metal bands?

Not in particular, actually. Musically, definitely not. I think that the older stuff I was writing in the beginning was before I started listening to Bathory. I started listening to them later. The idea to do a Viking concept did not come from them, I guess we got some inspiration from Bathory after a couple years, but not initially.

It sounds like you don’t tend to growl with your diaphragm – does this ever give you any voice troubles?

Actually, I do. I do use my diaphragm a lot, at least I try to. I do try to take care of my voice, especially during touring and everything. I probably should go to a vocal coach or something, to learn how to warm up the voice and stuff like that.

Do you use any effects on your vocals, for example, at the beginning of Runes To My Memory?

Nope. The only effects on there is a little bit of delay just to make sure it doesn’t sound too dry, but that’s all there is.

Amon Amarth embarked on a North American tour last year with Children of Bodom, an experience you’re going to be repeating this December. Was there anything in particular about the last tour that enticed you to do it again?

We were looking for a good tour in support of this album, and we wanted to get over there as quickly as possible. As it happened, Children of Bodom was going again in the right period of time, and we were offered the spot. We thought it would be the perfect opportunity for us to get over there quickly.

Is there anything in particular you especially liked about North America, or anywhere you’re looking forward to returning?

We like playing everywhere, North America is no exception, but it’s always nice to come back to North America, tour, see a bit of the country. Every time you go over there, you get to see new stuff, and new interesting things over there. There’s so much cool things you really experience. But that’s not the reason we go there, we go there because we want to play for the fans.

Do audiences tend to have different feels to them in different continents and countries?

Not in my opinion. I think metalheads are metalheads, no matter where in the world you come from. The differences are probably more like cultural differences in general between countries. But when it comes to metalheads, they like pretty much the same stuff and they act pretty much the same way at shows. It’s not such a big difference as a lot of people tend to claim.

Will you ever include songs about gods like Heimdall, Tyr or Loki?

Yeah. There’s a lot of stuff we haven’t done songs about. We’ll see what the future brings. Right now, I have an idea for the next album that I’ve sort of started working with, but right now I’m going to keep that a secret.

Is there any particular part of the writing or recording process that gives you problems or anything you particularly enjoy?

I mean, for me personally, it’s always nervous writing lyrics because you don’t want to repeat yourself, but you still have a certain style. It’s always tough to try to find new angles, new ideas, new topics to write about. But I try to get around those problems by using a lot of contemporary ideas, just translating them into Viking-themed lyrics, just to make them work, so to speak. It is kind of difficult, sometimes. Musically, of course, it’s tough when you don’t really have any musical ideas you feel you can work with. We’re not the type of band who puts together thirty or forty songs and then takes ten to use on the album. Every song that we write is intended to be on the album. We never overproduce anything.

When you’re writing, do you ever start out with an idea and do research on it, for example, historical events and mythology, and change the idea accordingly?

I look things up and read a lot of stuff and I have a lot of ideas, but in general I do have a good knowledge about the historical and mythological aspects of things. So I don’t necessarily need to check everything up, but every once in a while I do.

Besides the Viking themes in general, is there anything that you particularly enjoy writing about?

I don’t know, anything that I feel strongly about. It can be the things in my personal life, or things that go on in the world in general, or things concerning death. Nothing in particular. But I do try to convert it into Viking themes because that’s sort of our thing, I guess, but I have written non-Viking lyrics in the past, though. It’s not a must, but it is something I do sometimes.

The name Amon Amarth of course comes from Tolkien, but there’s not really an appreciable Tolkien influence in your lyrics is there any particular reason why you chose that name?

The main reason is that it sounded cool and it had a cool meaning to it. But it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. Because Tolkien got a lot of his inspiration and ideas from Scandinavian mythology, so it’s not really a strange concept.

That’s true, Tolkien was fascinated by the northern culture. Do you think that now that Amon Amarth has been around for awhile and has put out a fairly respectable discography that you, in turn, are influencing any of the younger Viking bands coming along today?

I have no idea, actually, but I would imagine some bands find inspiration in us. But I haven’t heard any band that actually sounds like us.

That’s true, you do tend to have a very unique sound.

Yeah, that’s sort of what we’ve been working on getting. We always wanted to find our own style and our own sound and it’s been important in our music to find our own style and our own sound, and I think it’s something that we’ve managed to do.

Is there any advice that you’d give to a young band starting out?

I don’t know, it’s very difficult to give advice, because everybody has different possibilities. It’s not easy for everybody, you have to have a bit of luck, I guess, but you have to be determined and you have to be willing to work very hard. It’s not easy as a new band to actually make it, and sometimes it will take a very long while. It doesn’t matter how much you believe in yourself – which is very important, you have to believe in what you do – but you have to convince people about it, too, and that takes a lot of hard work. But if you’re prepared to do it, and you believe in yourself and the music that you’re writing, you can go far.

Has your own writing process changed very much since the first album?

For most of the albums it’s pretty much been the same, but for this album we actually did something completely new, due to the fact we don’t really have day jobs anymore, so we were able to actually have the music as our day job, so we were in the studio during January to April, we were in the studio from nine to five every day, writing the album. That was quite different, but when it actually comes to putting the songs together, it’s still pretty much the same as it’s always been, no major changes.

As the years have gone on, have you found yourself wanting to branch out in any way from the genre, or are you still satisfied writing as you do?

We have our style, and we try to develop the music as much as we can, within the limits, of course, not straying too much from our style, because we feel it’s important that fans who hear us will know it’s Amon Amarth. Not like many bands, who change style from album to album, almost, which is not our thing. We want people to recognize them.

Has wanting to play in a particular style felt confining?

Not yet.

I’m certainly glad to hear that, as I’m sure many other fans are as well. Is there anything in particular that originally drew you to the Viking genre?

I guess it was just the basic mythology and history of Vikings that intrigued me from the very beginning when I got interested in Vikings and Viking history. It’s a fascinating story about these people from the cold north. They traveled the world, basically. They discovered North America 400 years before Columbus did, they traded with the Chinese, they traded with the Arabs, they went to Africa and everything. They’re a very intriguing people. They accomplished a lot of astonishing things.

Likewise, is there anything in particular that drew you to metal?

When I was growing up, when I was a kid in Sweden, there were pretty much two camps you could belong to. Either you were either a pop music guy or you were a metal guy, and I wanted to be a metal guy. I had a couple of friends who were listening to metal, one of my best friends’ bigger brothers were listening to bands like Sabbath, Kiss, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, stuff like that. That sort of got all of us into the same style, that’s sort of why I started listening to metal in the first place.

Ah, so you were there in the very beginning; are you particularly happy or displeased with how the culture has evolved in general?

I don’t know. I think that it’s really cool that metal has come back now. It’s beginning to grow, it’s getting more and more popular again, over the whole world. I see a definite increase in popularity here in Sweden, just in the last couple years, which is amazing. So that’s a lot of fun. I might not like some of the music that comes out, that some of the bands produce, but I don’t really care about that. They’re contributing to the scene, anyway, so that’s really cool, and we all benefit from a growing metal scene.

That’s true.

But I think it’s really cool that metal is growing again. Then again, I’m kind of old-fashioned with my music tastes. I’m stuck with my old favorite bands. But I still find it very interesting finding new bands that are really good every once in a while.

Is there anything besides metal that you like to listen to?

I mean, I listen to metal and rock music mainly, but I do also listen to a little bit of classical music sometimes, and I sort of have a weakness for some Swedish folk music. I’m not talking folk music like weird old dances and shit. We have a troubadour history here in Sweden, which is kind of amazing. A lot of singer-songwriters wrote really nice pieces, that are actually lyrically very amazing.

Yeah, for some reason people who are into metal tend to like folk and classical music as their other favorite genres.

Well, I think one of the main reasons that it is like that is that metal in general is actually obviously the musical style that is closest related to classical music because there’s so many metal musicians who are usually very, very talented, and very good musicians, and they are creating really good music with a lot of variety in it, which is also like a lot of the features of classical music, the variation of the music and the emotions in it, and I think metal is the music genre that is closest with it.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Check out the new album, and see you guys on the road.

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