Kim Kelly: Hails, and thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to
answer a few questions for us!

Amon Amarth has been around for a good long time now – it’s been almost
ten years since the release of “Once Sent from the Golden Hall,” and it
seems like the band has no intention of slowing down in their “old
age”. The latest album, “With Oden on Our Side,” has just been released
by Metal Blade Records, and is garnering enormous praise, even placing
in the Billboard charts. Did you expect such an overwhelmingly positive
response to the album, and which aspects of it would you attribute its
success to?


Fredrik Andersson: We did expect good reactions, simply by the fact that we felt already when we wrote the album that this was our strongest songs so far. And when the album was done we were extremely satisfied with the result, we felt it would be strange if it didn’t exceed our previous albums. 


Kim Kelly: Your last release, “Fate of Norns,” was regarded as both a breakthrough
album and a pronounced departure from the norm, with its slower tempo
and increased emphasis on melody. It was greeted with mixed reactions
by fns, but stands as one of your finest works to date. What are your
thoughts on that album compared to “With Oden on Our Side?”


Fredrik Andersson: When all the songs were written, we weren’t completely happy with the way they turned out on “Fate of Norns”. Not that we thought they were bad or anything, we like all the songs, just that the album didn’t turn out the way we had wanted and expected.


Kim Kelly: Besides “With Oden on Our Side,” which of your many album are you most
proud of, and which would you name as a personal favorite?


Fredrik Andersson: Hard to say… Probably “The crusher”.


Kim Kelly: You recently put out a beast of a DVD. “Wrath of the Norsemen” has
received rave reviews, and seemed to be quite the epic undertaking –
what made you decide to do a DVD, and are you happy with the results?


Fredrik Andersson: To release a DVD these days is more or less equal to releasing a live CD nowadays so if you want to put out something live, it almost has to be a DVD.
We’re extremely happy with how it turned out, our goal was to release something that our fans would feel was worth getting and didn’t leave anyone unsatisfied both when it comes to songs and content as well as layout etc.


Kim Kelly: “With Oden on Our Side” was recorded at Fascination Street Studios and
produced by Jens Bogren; why did you chose to record there, and what
made you decide to work with Bogren? Are you pleased with the results?


Fredrik Andersson: First of all we felt we needed to move on, a change of environment. But we also wanted to record closer to home, Fascination Street is only two hours away. When we were looking at different studios around the area, Jens’s studio seemed to be the best one for us and talking to him, he convinced us that he could do a good job. Turned out he was right.


Kim Kelly: “With Oden on Our Side” provides plenty of the epic battles, Viking
raids, and Norse mythology that we’ve come to expect from Amon Amarth –
what inspires you to continue writing your lyric around these concepts?
It’s obvious that there is a connection between your music and your
homeland’s Viking past, but what drove you to focus so strongly upon it
in your music?


Fredrik Andersson: Well we wanted to separate ourselves from the rest of the bands in the genre and we have in Johan someone who is extremely interested in the subject. He’s been reading basically every book and story you can about Vikings since he was a kid.


Kim Kelly: It’s impossible to deny that Amon Amarth is the premier “Viking metal”
band in the world, and that your name always comes up in conjunction
with folk/Viking/pagan metal acts like Moonsorrow, Turisas, Thyrfing,
Korpiklaani, Tyr, and the like, even though your music is,
stylistically, very different from theirs.  Does this bother you, or do
you feel a kinship with such bands?


Fredrik Andersson: It doesn’t bother us at all. People may label us all they want -  we don’t really care, and I personally think it’s rather unimportant. I guess it’s only useful when trying to describe the band to someone who’s never heard it. I feel no more kinship with so-called Viking metal bands than any other metal band, even if I think Tyr is really cool.


Kim Kelly: There seems to have been a worldwide explosion of folk/Viking/pagan
metal acts in recent years, with bands like Finntroll, Falkenbach, and,
naturally, Amon Amarth, receiving coverage in scores of magazines and
drawing hordes of new fans. Why do you think that people are developing
such an affinity for this decidedly eclectic and experimental genre?


Fredrik Andersson: I have no idea. Guess more people are realizing that it’s an intriguing time in history and that it fits well with the metal mentality.


Kim Kelly: Despite the “Viking metal” tag that Amon Amarth has been saddled with
since early on, the music itself is more akin to groovy melodic death
metal than folky forest hymns – it seems to take more of an inspiration
from Morbid Angel than Manegarm, and there is more of a grand epic feel
than anything else on each album. I think it’s safe to say that we
won’t be hearing any didgeridoo or glockenspiel on the next album! How
would you personally describe Amon Amarth’s sound?


Fredrik Andersson: Our roots are in death metal and classic metal, that’s where we come from and I think the music will always be about that. We’re simply not into that folkish style.


Kim Kelly: As I mentioned earlier, Amon Amarth has been around for many years now.
Looking back, what first drove you to form the band, and what musical
acts/musicians were you inspired by?


Fredrik Andersson: Well, we grew up in the 80’s, with all that comes with. The metal was everywhere and everyone was into hard rock. We wanted to be like our idols back then, Priest, Maiden, Mötley etc. Later on when the death metal underground scene exploded here in Sweden, that inspired us more and more.


Kim Kelly: What recent metal bands, or musical acts in general, have you and the
other members been listening to recently? If we took a look around your
tour bus, what CDs or records could we expect to see lying around?


Fredrik Andersson: We try to always listen to the latest stuff, check out the scene and the other bands. Of course the classics are always present too. Lately it’s been mostly Newest albums from; maiden, Nevermore, Satyricon, Tyr, Gojira to name a few.


Kim Kelly: Amon Amarth is on the eve of their American tour with Children of
Bodom, Sanctity, and Gojira. I was fortunate enough to catch you guys
the last time you hit these shores, while you were touring with
Children of Bodom and Trivium. How did you end up going out on tour
with ‘Bodom again?


Fredrik Andersson: We’re on the same booking agency and our schedules fitted. It’s hard to find a good tour over there so this was the best option at this time, especially so close to the release of the new album.


Kim Kelly: Having spent a good deal of time with the guys in Trivium on your last
American tour, it seems as though you’d have a fairly decent
understanding of them as a band and as people. What is your reaction to
their recent success, and to the accompanying scorn that the metal
community has lavishly heaped upon them?


Fredrik Andersson: No comment.


Kim Kelly: You’re facing another few months on the road with a bunch of
Scandinavian metalheads, and I’ve got to ask -  who drinks more, the
Finns or the Swedes? I’m sure the drinking bouts on tour are nothing
short of epic!


Fredrik Andersson: We’re pretty much the same I’d say, all of us Scandinavians… Only difference is that we don’t have to sit in a steaming sauna beating ourselves with twigs when we drink.


Kim Kelly: This will be your fifth time around doing an American tour, so it’s
safe to assume you know a little more about what you’re getting into.
Could you share a few of your experiences thus far, with American
audiences and touring here in general?


Fredrik Andersson: Touring in North America is quite different compared to Europe, but we’re of course grateful to get the opportunity to get to come over and play there as well as get to meet our American fans.


Kim Kelly: When do you think we can expect a full-scale invasion of the North
American continent by everyone’s favorite Vikings – in other words,
when do you think you will come back for a headlining tour?


Fredrik Andersson: Hopefully we’ll be able to do that next year sometime.


Kim Kelly: To wrap it up, I’d just like to thank you once more for your time, and
to ask if you’d like to offer up any last words of thoughts to your
fans. Best of luck on your upcoming tour – the American hordes await
you with open arms and horns held high!

Thanks very much for the questions. Hope to see all of you in December on the tour  - we’re looking forward to some serious pillaging!