Swedish viking metal act Amon Amarth have been around for about 15 years. Having started out in the underground scene, they’ve become one of the world’s best bands. That gain in popularity has seen them tour extensively and play a lot of festivals; now, in 2008, Australia is going to see them for the first time.

Many black metal bands in the world make use of Viking imagery or mythology; but few bands are actually steeped in these legends to the extent that Amon Amarth is – which is part of what makes the band unique. In fact, one of the strongest influences on the band has been the Edda, amongst other sagas.

“There are tons of leavings to from the Viking age,” the band said recently. “Both in written and different art so there’s a lot to take from.”

When asked whether there is much rivalry between them and Norwegian bands, who also lay a large claim to Viking imagery in the use of their themes, identity and music, the band said that there isn’t any.

“We both share the same cultural history,” they told FasterLouder. “Norway and Sweden even used to be one nation not too long ago. I would say there’s an equal respect between Swedes and Norwegians.”

With Oden On Our Side has been incredibly well-received, and the
awesome connection between the lyrics and the music has been deeply felt by critics and fans worldwide. The band members’ dedication to what they do is reflected in the fact that they are now lucky enough to consider Amon Amarth their full-time job. This ability to work consistently, solidly, and steadily, has been one of the contributing factors to the enormous success of their latest release With Oden on Our Side. In fact, the period of recording for this release was the most intense that the band had ever engaged in.

“We’ve been fortunate to make Amon Amarth our living and not just a hobby – something that was also neccessary for us to be able to keep up. But we basically made it a 9 to 5 thing, and we spent two whole months rehearsing every day like that.”

Similarly, the way the band writes their material is a collaborative, team effort, which is very important to them. Being able to work together solidly writing and rehearsing means that they can piece everything together as a team.

When I mentioned to the band that the way the album came out, and the critical response to the release almost makes it seem as though the recording was blessed, they told me that they, too, felt this way.

“Well that’s the thing,” they enthused. “Almost everything we do is an reflection of our lives: what we go through and so on. Many of the lyrics are pure metamorphs of things that heppened to us. And after we had released Fate of Norns we felt that things were going our way. We did a couple of shows and tours where we had an awesome support from our fans. Also, when we started writing on With Oden… the first ideas felt really strong. We felt that we had the gods on our side, something which in the end became the title of the album.”

This notion is reflected in the album artwork. If you haven’t seen it, the artwork was inspired by the image of Oden riding on Sleipnir into Valhalla, an image that exists on the Tangvide image stone. Perhaps surprisingly, the original idea was actually something completely different.

“It didn’t turn out the way we had imagined,” they said. “It was actually five guys (us) with Oden on our side. But when that didn’t work out we had to come up with plan B; and then we thought of this picture of Oden. In the end we feel it came out even better, and it fitted the album well with its strong symbolism.”

Working with Jens Borgren as the producer on the album was also really good for Amon Amarth. Borgren proved to be inspirational.

“It was very good for us. He really pushed us to perform our absolute best,’ they reflected. ‘Even if we were very motivated when we entered the studio, he managed to keep that motivation up.”

News of the upcoming 2008 Amon Amarth tour, which kicks off in Adelaide on January 4, has positively rocked the country. So much so, in fact, that even this early (at the time of writing, it’s November 29), both Sydney and Melbourne shows are nearly sold out: something that even the promoters of the tour, Just Say Rock Productions, didn’t expect.

Given the excitement of the fans, and given that the moderator for Amon Amarth’s MySpace page and their official forum is an Aussie (and one of their oldest fans!), I asked them why it had taken so long for them to grace our shores.

“The very simple fact is that no promoter or booking agency got in contact with us to do shows down under. We’ve gotten offers by fans, like personal invitations, but not by any professional organisation.”

The band don’t have any particular expectations for the tour – simply that they hope that it’ll be great, and that enough fans turn out so the promoters don’t lose any money on it. This last point is due to the fact that if they promoters don’t lose money, they will be more willing to bring the guys over in the future.

So what can we expect from Amon Amarth live?

“Well, for obvious reasons we can’t really bring any production, so it’s gonna be a pretty simple show. Just us five guys playing. But we’ve been told that we put on a pretty good and energetic live show. We’re really looking forward finally getting over there to meet the Australian fans!”

Amon Amarth 2008 Australian tour:

Friday January 4 – Fowler’s Live, Adelaide (all ages)
Tickets from Venuetix

Saturday January 5 – Amplifier Bar, Perth (18+)
Tickets from Moshtix

Sunday January 6 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney (all ages)
Tickets from Ticketek

Tuesday January 8 – Billboard the Venue, Melbourne (18+)
Tickets from Ticketek and www.justsayrock.com.au

Wednesday January 9 – Venue TBC, Melbourne (under 18s)
Tickets from Ticketek and www.justsayrock.com.au

Saturday January 12 – The Arena, Brisbane (18+)
Tickets from Oztix

Amon Amarth’s latest release With Oden on Our Side is out now on MetalBlade Records/Stomp.