New Metal Interview by Loudtv.net and Johann Stepien, with Olavi from AMON AMARTH before their Paris show, the chat can be viewed below.
Amon Amarth
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Bassy Stacy of Bay Area Rocks conducted an interview with drummer Fredrik Andersson of Swedish death metallers AMON AMARTH when the band played at the Grand Ballroom at the Regency Center in San Francisco, California on April 22, 2011. You can now watch the chat below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
Metal Kaoz recently conducted an interview with drummer Fredrik Andersson of Swedish death metallers AMON AMARTH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Metal Kaoz: How do you think AMON AMARTH is musically restricted?
Fredrik: Yeah, there is a certain plan of how AMON AMARTH should sound and what to do and what not. We generally try to follow this plan but this time we tried different things in the new album and it felt less limited in the songwriting process.
Metal Kaoz: Who has set this plan for AMON AMARTH?
Fredrik: It is something that was decided from the beginning of the band, actually, so it was the original lineup’s idea.
Metal Kaoz: Have you ever felt restricted in your drum work by having to follow this plan?
Fredrik: Keep in mind that I found this plan and that I am the new guy even though I have been in the band for almost 13 years. (laughs) When I got in the band, the guys told exactly how I was to play. Even though they liked the style of Martin Lopez [previous drummer] they thought that it did not match the band’s sound and they wanted straightforward drumming. So, they wanted from me to play hard and no fiddling about it. Obviously, this is kind of limited for a drummer and sometimes it feels like you are just the beat for the guitars to follow and not really expressing your musicality. And this is the hardest struggle for me especially during the last years that I feel I need to do more. But, on the other hand, this is the way to do it in AMON AMARTH.
Metal Kaoz: You have added some cover songs in the special editions of the album and I am sure you are getting a lot of questions about them. The most obvious is about the SYSTEM OF A DOWN cover. Why did you decide to do that? Was it just a marketing move to draw attention?
Fredrik: No, it had nothing to do with that since we did not think it would attract that attention. The cover songs were meant to be just on the special editions (fan package and digital versions). We did not think that the fans would be so angry… (laughs)
Metal Kaoz: Angry? Do you get this type of feedback?
Fredrik: Yeah, we are getting a lot of anger for some fans. In fact I’ve heard people would stop listening to AMON AMARTH because of that cover song. Of course, I am not gonna judge anyone on this but the reason we did that was because people were calling us narrow-minded and that we are doing only one thing. So, we did this song to challenge ourselves and shock everyone by doing something that was not expected from AMON AMARTH.
Metal Kaoz: Did you have any other songs in mind to choose from?
Fredrik: Not really. The ACCEPT selection was kind of easy since everyone is familiar to that. The first thought was to do “God Of Thunder” by KISS since the title was close to AMON AMARTH‘s songtitles but while listening to the original we did not feel it was that funny to cover so we went with “War Machine”. When we were in Japan for the Loud Park festival we went in a karaoke bar and we were singing the SYSTEM OF A DOWN song (laughs). So, when we returned we thought it would be a good idea to try that. But, we were totally shocked by the reaction we got with “Aerials”. After all, we have been accused for being single minded and then the moment we did something different there were people reacting like that. You cannot please all the fans whatever you do; there will always be some who will not like what you do.
Read the entire interview from Metal Kaoz. Source: Blabbermouth.net
Fan-filmed video footage of Swedish death metallers AMON AMARTH performing the song “Guardians Of Asgaard” at the Swiss edition of Metalfest on May 29 in Pratteln — with a special guest appearance by vocalist L.G. Petrov of fellow Swedes ENTOMBED — can be viewed below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
Metal Blade has issued the following update:
Swedish Metal Kings AMON AMARTH have just finished their extremely successful first European tour (with support from THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) and are about to return to North America in August for their second headline tour in support off Surtur Rising, the biggest album in the rich bands history!
No rest for the wicked, AMON AMARTH just confirmed a six-week headlining tour through Europe for the fall! The tour kicks off October, 12th in Stuttgart, Germany and ends 45 days later on November, 26th in Prague, Czech Republic.
Direct support will be none less than label mates AS I LAY DYING who released their highly successful album The Powerless Rise in 2010!
AMON AMARTH
+ AS I LAY DYING
12/10/11 – DE – Stuttgart – LKA
13/10/11 – FR – Strasbourg – La Laiterie
14/10/11 – DE – Passau – Metal Invasion Festival
15/10/11 – DE – Berlin – Huxleys
16/10/11 – DE – Leipzig – Hellraiser
18/10/11 – DE – Bremen – Aladin
19/10/11 – LU – Luxembourg – Sportzentrum Differdange
20/10/11 – DE – Neu-Isenburg – Hugenottenhalle
21/10/11 – DE – Oberhausen – Turbinenhalle
22/10/11 – NL – Hengelo – Metropol
23/10/11 – UK – London – HVM Forum
25/10/11 – FR – Rennes – L´Etage
26/10/11 – NL – Eindhoven – Effenaar
27/10/11 – FR – Lille – Aeronet
28/10/11 – FR – St. Etienne – Le Fil
30/10/11 – ES – Bilbao – Rock Star *
01/11/11 – PT – Lisboa – Incrivel Almadense *
02/11/11 – PT – Porto – Hard Club *
03/11/11 – ES – Santiago de Compostela – Capitol *
04/11/11 – ES – Madrid – Heineken *
05/11/11 – ES – Barcelona – Razzmatazz 2 *
07/11/11 – CH – Zürich – Komplex 457
08/11/11 – IT – Treviso – New Age
09/11/11 – IT – Bologna – Estragon
11/11/11 – CH – Lausanne – Les Docks
12/11/11 – DE – Kaufbeuren – All-Kart Halle
13/11/11 – AT – Graz – Orpheum
15/11/11 – SI – Ljubljana – Cvetlicarna Media Park Club
16/11/11 – HR – Zagreb – Bogaloo
18/11/11 – BG – Sofia – Yubilena Hall
19/11/11 – RO – Bucharest – Arenele Romane
21/11/11 – HU – Budapest – Club 202
23/11/11 – AT – Linz – Posthof
24/11/11 – AT – Wien – Gasometer
26/11/11 – CZ – Prague – Masters Of Rock
* shows without AS I LAY DYING
Released on March 25/28 via Metal Blade Records, Surtur Rising is AMON AMARTH’s eighth studio offering in a winding discography that’s helped shape the very face of epic, Viking-inspired death metal. Named in tribute to Surtur, leader of the fire giants of Muspelheim (“flame land”) and the oldest being in the nine worlds of Norse mythology, the record was recorded, mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren and bears the striking cover art by Tom Thiel.
Blank TV recently conducted an interview with guitarist Olavi Mikkonen of Swedish death metallers AMON AMARTH. You can now watch the chat below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
