Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) Interview

Sweden's Amon Amarth is one of the top death metal bands in Europe and are making legions of fans in North America as well. The band is known for their use of Viking and Norse mythology in their lyrics. The group formed in 1992 in Tumba, a suburb of Stockholm. Their U.S. debut came in 1998 with Once Sent From The Golden Hall. It was followed by 1999's The Avenger, 2001's The Crusher,and 2002's Versus The World. Amon Amarth's current lineup includes vocalist Johan Hegg, guitarists Olli Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg, bassist Ted Lundstrom and drummer Fredrik Andersson. The band's latest release, Fate Of Norns was recorded in Sweden's Berno Studios. I recently spoke with Amon Amarth's vocalist, Johan Hegg.

Chad Bowar: What are the Norns that are referred to in your album title Fate Of Norns?

Johann Hegg: The Norns are 3 characters in Scandinavian mythology, the goddesses of fate. They weave the fate of every man. The theme of the album is fate, so it made sense to use Fate of Norms for the title.

How did you develop your interest in Viking mythology?

It's something that's been with me for a very long time, since I was 9 or 10 years old. The reason we chose it as a theme of the band is because I wrote lyrics for a song about it. It felt good to have those kind of themes in the band. It became our theme for the band, the topic that we chose to write about.

Amon Amarth has taken some criticism over the years for that. How come?

It's because a lot of racists over here in Sweden use a lot of the Scandinavian mythology symbols such as the Thor's Hammer as their own symbols. It's also part of our history. We're looking to the more mythological and historical part.

How would you compare it to your previous albums?

The sound is more mature than on previous albums. I think the foundation for this sound started when we changed studios from Abyss to Berno when we got to working with Berno Paulsson. We improved the sound a lot for this album. We were able to make all the instruments work better together and still make them prominent one by one in the production as well. We were also able to keep the heaviness and brutality we need to be Amon Amarth.

You recorded this album in the same studio as the last album, but the production on this one sounds much better. What do you attribute that to?

Go To Page: 1 2 3

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic