“Free Will Sacrifice” - Amon Amarth bassist Ted Lundström details seventh studio full length success


By Anthony Morgan

During an interview conducted by Norwegian radio show Tinitus, which airs through P3, vocalist Johan Hegg stated that the name of Amon Amarth's seventh studio full length would be Twilight of the Thunder God. Writing sessions spanned from January to April 2008, Amon Amarth working five days a week from 9-10 a.m. to 3 p.m. From May to June with Jens Bogren, the outfit recorded the album at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden. From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Amon Amarth recorded. Several musicians guested upon Twilight of the Thunder God; Entombed's L. G. Petrov donates vocals to “Guardians of Asgaard”, Children of Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala cuts a guitar solo upon the title number, and Apocalyptica surfaces upon “Live for the Kill”.

During mid July 2008, Twilight of the Thunder God was slated to be issued upon the following dates; September 19th in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, on the 22nd in the rest of Europe, and on the 30th in North America. Designed by Tom Thiel, the album's cover artwork was revealed later that July. In support of the title track, a music video was directed by Poland's Dariusz Szermanowicz on behalf of Group 13, and filmed at an old Viking site, Jomsborg, home of the Jomsvikings in Wolin, Poland. Via Amon Amarth's official MySpace page, the tune was made available for streaming during mid August. One month later during mid September, “Guardians of Asgaard” streamed through the same location. On the 16th, the online premiere of the title track's music video was hosted at that exact same page. At Club Distorsion (Pub Anchor) in Stockholm, Sweden on September 18th, Twilight of the Thunder God's release party occurred. In addition, several Swedish signing sessions took place, on; September 19th at Bengans in Stockholm at five p.m., on the 20th at CD Specialisten in Göteborg at one p.m., and on the 27th at MediaMarkt in Västerås at three p.m. In several formats, Twilight of the Thunder God was released, spanning; a jewelcase edition, a limited deluxe collector's edition three disc set, a picture disc edition limited to five hundred copies, and a limited bubblehead edition.

On October 27th at the Manchester Apollo in Manchester, England, Amon Amarth began a European tour as part of the Unholy Alliance III tour package, pairing the group alongside Slayer, Trivium and Mastodon. One such date took the group to Cardiff's CIA on November 2nd, and so an email was sent so that an interview could be arranged. Scheduled to begin at four-thirty p.m. UK time, the interviewee in question was bassist Ted Lundström. Locating Amon Amarth's tour manager Chris Parschau, the man took me to the group's dressing room. Sitting at a table with a beer kindly provided by Lundström, Lucem Fero began to conduct the interview. Lundström discussed a broad range of topics, such as; Twilight of the Thunder God, songwriting sessions for the album, recording at Fascination Street Studios with Jens Bogren, why the album is more melodic, its lyrical themes, its guest appearances, the title cut's music video, the album's artwork, and the influence Slayer has had upon Amon Amarth. Easy going, Lundström is calm, and respectful. Amon Amarth hasn't been an overnight success, but has gradually built its audience base over a period of time. With the issue of Twilight of the Thunder God, this is seemingly reaping dividends.

 

  • First of all, how are you?
  • Very well.
  • Thus far, how has the Unholy Alliance III tour package progressed?
  • Thus far, the tour itself has been very good, though it's very early into the package. Unholy Alliance III is a great package though.
  • Is Slayer an influence upon Amon Amarth?
  • We're all huge Slayer fanatics, and have been for a long time. For us, to tour alongside the group is an honour. I don't know how much of that can be heard within Amon Amarth's material, however.
  • Of Slayer's tracks and albums, do you have a favourite?
  • My favourite Slayer track is “Black Magic” (from Show No Mercy), likely. I'm an old fanatic, though Seasons in the Abyss (1990) is likely Slayer's greatest album. I like Seasons in the Abyss a lot.
  • Could you provide an introduction to Twilight of the Thunder God?
  • It's difficult to describe Twilight of the Thunder God. The album is an Amon Amarth full length, and more or less sounds like what Amon Amarth always sounds like (laughs). For this specific album, we tried to favour extra melody, and extra heaviness, of course. In penning each subsequent album, we attempt to venture even further. Twilight of the Thunder God features several guest appearances from different artists, and that makes the album slightly different than its predecessor (2006's With Oden On Our Side). We focused upon achieving as much melody and catchiness as we could, but wished to maintain that heaviness. The album features some quick tracks as well.
  • In support of Twilight of the Thunder God, when did songwriting sessions begin?
  • Many ideas were spawned during Amon Amarth's last touring season, though we came together at the beginning of 2008. In January, we really focused upon writing tracks, and arranging each respective idea we had. January was when songwriting sessions really began, and subsequently, we recorded Twilight of the Thunder God in 2008's summer.
  • In support of Twilight of the Thunder God, how did recording sessions develop? Was it a smooth process?
  • I don't know if I could say smooth. This was the second time that Jens Bogren handled production, and the second time we recorded at Fascination Street Studios. Of course, the recording process was much easier this time. Jens is a genuine slave driver though, and really pushes you. He wants the recordings to be perfect, so sometimes, we had to cut tracks over and over again until he was satisfied. Sometimes we felt that we had cut a really good take, and he would agree, but would ask us to cut another take. Jens is that kind of individual, but the eventual results are perfect. We're really happy; if you don't have a guy like that, you might cut sloppy takes, and think that the take was good enough.
  • Did you get annoyed at all? If he asked you to perform a certain part another time, did you feel like responding "Fuck off, that was good enough"?
  • No, Jens is a good individual. It wasn't like that. Jens knows how far he can push us, I guess. Our goal was to make the perfect album - if he said we needed to cut one more take, then we cut one more take. It isn't too difficult.
  • Will you work with Jens Bogren again?
  • That's a good question. We just began the touring season, though we'll see what happens. We like Jens, so it isn't out of the question by any means.
  • In recording your parts in support of Twilight of the Thunder God, what did you aim for?
  • I just wanted my parts to be as great as they could be. You have your parts, and you need to make them known. Therefore, you need to focus on making the greatest contribution you can.
  • From a musical standpoint though, what did you aim for?
  • Since I'm a bassist, my part is to add the bottom end, the heavy part. My parts might not be as technical as the guitar parts. I like to stay with the drums, and make a solid bass foundation for everything else, thus so the melodies can play. At the same time however, the bass performs its own melody during some parts. That's to make it even wider, and more melodic. From track to track, it's different.
  • You said that Twilight of the Thunder God is more melodic, so was there a reason for this?
  • When we started recording, so we decided to venture the whole step, and see what happens. We didn't really stop, and feel that the material might be too cheesy, or too much Pop. If the material is really, really melodic, and over the top almost, then it doesn't matter. We made the rest of the parts so heavy, in some respects. You don't really think that much. You create a riff you personally like, you work on that riff, and then that riff subsequently materializes upon the album.
  • Is Twilight of the Thunder God Amon Amarth's strongest album?
  • Yeah, of course. We're really happy with Twilight of the Thunder God. We had many new, cool ideas which we extremely felt we perfected in the studio, and during the writing process. I really liked our last album With Oden On Our Side, and felt that it was going to be difficult to surpass that record. I felt we needed to write a strong album, and thus far, Twilight of the Thunder God is the greatest album we've written.
  • What lyrical themes does Twilight of the Thunder God explore?
  • We didn't really have any lyrical thread, though many people ask us if a story lies behind Twilight of the Thunder God. Our vocalist Johan Hegg writes most of the group's lyrics. The album's lyrical content stems from different ideas Johan had; some are mythological, whilst some emanate from everyday life. He took problems, or ideas we had, and channelled them into Viking type lyrics. Of course, the lyrics feature much battle and blood. That's what we feel fits the music, and you have to write lyrics which fit.
  • Could you provide specific examples?
  • I'm not really sure. During the writing process, we named one track “The Battle Song”. We wanted to craft a battle atmosphere with almost marching drums, and music of that nature. It's just small nuances. It might not be extremely clear the first time you hear the album, but I think you'll hear what we tried to achieve after a couple of listens.
  • First of all, how did L. G. Petrov (Entombed vocalist) come to guest upon “Guardians of Asgaard”?
  • He's a friend of ours. We live in the same town, and meet a lot at the pub and so on. The track discusses two brothers, so we wanted to have another vocalist featured in the track, and L. G.'s name was the first that particularly came to mind. L. G. is a great singer, and we extremely like Entombed. Therefore, we asked him to participate.
  • L. G. is a good laugh, I think.
  • Yeah, L. G. is an extremely cool guy. He's amazing.
  • Equally, how did Roope Latvala (Children of Bodom) come to guest upon the title cut?
  • Well, it was more or less the same situation. Roope is an extremely technical guitarist, and we wanted the title cut to boast a cool guitar part. We'd toured alongside Children of Bodom on several occasions, and know them really well. Roope was our first choice. We asked Roope to participate, and we know he likes Amon Amarth's music somewhat. He was happy to participate, and we're really happy that he could participate.
  • Had Amon Amarth also toured alongside Apocalyptica, who guested upon “Live For the Kill”?
  • We've never toured with Apocalyptica, so that was more of a long shot. We wanted “Live For the Kill” to have some strings, so we decided to ask that group if they could participate. We sent them an email. Apocalyptica had just returned from a US tour, and had some free days before they embarked upon a European trek. They thought it was a good idea, I guess. We sent them the track, and told them about what we wanted them to record. We explained where the part was, and said they were free to explore however they wished. The eventual results were really really good, and extremely helped the track.
  • Upon future Amon Amarth albums, will further guest musicians feature? Or doesn't Amon Amarth particularly like to utilize guest musicians?
  • I don't know. It depends upon whatever ideas we have. We don't have any plans for the future, or anything of that nature.
  • Could you shed light on the storyline written for the title cut's music video?
  • Yeah. We decided to film a video in support of the title cut, given the fact that it was our favourite track. Lyrically speaking, it's extremely difficult to film a good video without spending millions of dollars since it's a mythological story, and with many parts that would be difficult to film. We opted in favour of a Viking battle during the end of the world. It's extremely stormy, and everyone fights one another, with evil and good sides attacking and fighting. Much fire is used, which was an attempt to craft a somewhat chaotic feeling. Creating Ragnarok was the basic idea behind the music video.
  • What was it like filming the title cut's music video in Jomsborg, Poland?
  • Well, it was great fun. We went to a huge Viking village - they had rebuilt an old Viking village that used to be in place roughly a thousand years ago. Each year, they have a massive meeting where Vikings meet from all over the world, whether it be from the United States, Australia, the whole of Europe, or Russia. Over the course of one week, they fight, drink, eat and just have fun. We went to the village that same week, so that we could borrow our friends, and have them participate in the music video. It was great fun, even though the weather was a bit fucked up (laughs). The weather made the video very good, but it was very cold and rainy for a couple of days.
  • What does the title cut's lyrical content concern?
  • It's a mythological story regarding Thor, the thunder God, defending the world against the Serpent. The two have a fight in the middle of the ocean, and this results in Thor becoming killed. Thor kills the Serpent initially, but is sprayed by the snake's venom and subsequently dies as well. That's the start of the end of the world. It isn't a particularly difficult story, though it's an extremely powerful story. It's cool, and is part of a bigger story. We choose to take this part, however, since it's very powerful.
  • In support of Twilight of the Thunder God, will further music videos be filmed?
  • Yeah. Hopefully, we'll record another music video once touring has concluded. We haven't really decided when or where a new video will be filmed, but one will certainly be filmed.
  • Does Amon Amarth have a specific track in mind?
  • No. We're still thinking about where to go, and which track to film a video for.
  • Of Twilight of the Thunder God's tracks, is there one you'd particularly like to film a music video for?
  • I don't know. There are several tracks which could be transformed into cool music videos, though it depends on what type of music video you wish to film. Personally, I know of three to four tracks which I'd like music videos to be filmed in support of. We'll see in a couple of months, I guess.
  • In support of Twilight of the Thunder God, when does Amon Amarth hope to tour until?
  • We're more or less booked up until the end of 2009. In between, however, we'll have some breaks. We're going to conduct many tours at the moment; we'll tour across Europe, tour in North America once again, and perform at festivals during the whole of the summer. We're booked up until late 2009, pretty much.
  • So a music video will be filmed in between touring?
  • Yeah. We'll film a music video while we have a short break, and that'll likely be during early 2009, or late 2008.
  • What can you reveal regarding Twilight of the Thunder God's cover artwork?
  • The artwork is based on the title track. We opted to contact this gentleman who's designed much artwork for us in the past. He's a really great artist, and designs paintings for fantasy books and so on. We gave him the idea we had for the cover artwork, and he subsequently did several sketches until we were really happy with the result. It really captured the feeling of the track, I guess.
  • Do you know the name of the artist who designed Twilight of the Thunder God's cover artwork?
  • Actually, these two gentleman work together upon designs, though the name of the man who creates each and every painting is Tom Thiel. Tom is a German artist, and works with another gentleman called Thomas Ewerhard. Together, they perform really great work.
  • Of Twilight of the Thunder God's tracks, do you have a favourite?
  • I have a couple of favourites, though the title track is likely still my favourite. Several others are close favourites - for example, like “Guardians of Asgaard” is one of my favourite tracks due to its grooviness. It can be deemed a great love song, more or less.
  • Of Twilight of the Thunder God's tracks, which are particularly received well in a live setting?
  • When we embarked upon our October North American tour, “Twilight of the Thunder God” was very appreciated, as well as “Guardians of Asgaard”. Thus far, the tracks we've performed have all worked pretty well, though we haven't performed all of the album's tracks live yet. We're working on that still, attempting to perform different tracks, and monitor the reaction. We also try to read the internet forums and so on to gauge which tracks fans wish to hear live, though at the beginning of 2009, we might have a clue as to which tracks we'll perform live.
  • Of Twilight of the Thunder God's tracks, how many will be performed tonight?
  • That's a good question. Of Twilight of the Thunder God's tracks, we'll be performing only two. We have a brief set, that's why, though we performed a lot more tracks during our October US tour since we headlined.
  • Is tonight's set list more of a greatest hits type affair?
  • Yeah. Since we have a brief set, we opted to perform the best of the best really. Hopefully, we'll gain a lot of new fans. As we're performing at big arenas, we try to showcase the best of the best to gain a lot of new fans. When we then return, we'll perform material lifted from all of Amon Amarth's albums, and make the set slightly more varied.
  • In late December 2008, Amon Amarth will perform four consecutive gigs in Germany, and will perform the entirety of one album per night.
  • Yeah. We'll perform material from our first four albums (1998's Once Sent from the Golden Hall, 1999's The Avenger, 2001's The Crusher, and 2002's Versus the World). It'll be a special affair, where we perform all of one album each night. It'll be a big event, with much cool things. Many people from all over the world will attend. We have many fans, really crazy people that would do anything to attend those shows - these fans come from Australia, the US and everywhere else. Those shows will be a great, big party, I think; that'll span for four days, and then we're going to conclude those four performances on New Years Eve through a massive New Years Eve party.
  • How did this come to fruition?
  • It's an idea which surfaced a lot in discussions with the record label, and management. I think it's a cool, good thing to do.
  • Will any of the shows be recorded?
  • Yeah, we'll likely record those performances - it'd be stupid not to. In the future, something cool will likely be released from those performances.
  • Would such material surface via a live CD, or live DVD?
  • Hopefully, the material will. The eventual release will be something nice.
  • In the years to come, where would you like to take Amon Amarth?
  • I would like to continue to grow. We still have many areas we could perform in, areas where we've never been, or have never really toured, like South America and Japan. We'd really love to tour, and travel to new places. You want to grow as a group. It's really fun to play before a bigger audience - the bigger the audience, the more fun it is for you to perform as an artist. We'll just attempt to gain more fans, grow, and create even greater albums.
  • Do you feel that this is currently the case for Amon Amarth then? That as Amon Amarth releases each album, the group is gaining more and more fans?
  • Yeah. We haven't had a very steep curve, but have always grown with each album. Our last several albums have really helped us gain a good reputation. Nowadays, we can embark upon our own headlining tour, which is great. That's what you aim for. We've done many support tours and smaller tours throughout the years, so it feels great to be able to embark upon real tours nowadays.
  • Do you have a message for the fans of Amon Amarth?
  • Yeah - cheers (laughs). Buy Twilight of the Thunder God. I hope you enjoy the album.