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Valhalla back, y’all
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Along with bands like Norway’s Dimmu Borgir, who join Danzig at Metropolis on Saturday, Sweden’s Amon Amarth have clambered up from the subterranean confines of death metal and actually made dents in the lofty Billboard charts with their new record, Twilight of the Thunder God. Calling either of the aforementioned bands pure death metal would of course be a grave inaccuracy, but along with the galloping, epic traditional power metal that Amon Amarth are able to expertly churn out, the death-style growls of vocalist Johan Hegg are sure to stick out like a sore thumb among the band’s Billboard neighbours. Debuting at number 48 on the chart and bolstered by a new tour, Amon Amarth are hardly shocked that they’re finally getting their day in the sun. “Years ago, it was rap music that was taking over Billboard,” says guitarist Johan Söderberg, “and now the only thing MTV will play is rap music, so I would think that it will be nothing but death metal on MTV in another 10 years. Mainstream media doesn’t believe in metal music right now because they think they won’t be able to sell it, but they will eventually find out how big it is and figure out how big it could be. It will only get bigger, because people are getting fed up with that MTV bullshit.” While metal is regaining its foothold in the mainstream for the first time since the late ’80s, it never left Montreal. With our dedicated and rabid contingent of rivetheads, Montreal has always been known as the market that first breaks bands of all the splintered metal genres in North America. With numerous tour stops here over the years, Amon Amarth will admit that Montreal has also played a part in their well-earned success. “Even the first time we played Montreal, there was a big difference, as far as the audience goes, between Montreal and the rest of our North American dates. Montreal really has a special place in out heart. The U.S. has now become equally good, but we don’t forget who was there in the beginning.” Steering away from black metal’s chief lyrical staple, Satanism, one of the stranger trends within metal has been the newly recognized genre, Viking metal. Back past classic metal dabblers like Iron Maiden and Bathory, the trend could even be traced to Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song.” Lyrics seem ripped from the pages of Norse mythology and paganism, and will usually include tales of pillaging and waging war with, more often than not, a classic power metal backing. Amon Amarth were among the first on the scene, taking their name from a J.R.R. Tolkien reference. In case there are any reservations, singer Hegg, a mead horn tied to his belt, lets his bellowing ring down from a Viking masthead built into their stage. “We stay away from taboo-oriented lyrics, like what black metal did,” says Söderberg, “because we don’t really care about upsetting your grandfather. With heavy metal music, the lyrics have to be equally heavy, and most of our themes tend to be about war, which just seems to fit the music nicely.” WITH ENSIFERUM, BELPHEGOR AND |
