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The Allfather Awakens: JOHAN HEGG Unleashes AMON AMARTH’s New Sonic Warfare · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm Johan Hegg from Amon Amarth, Swedish metal band.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, mate. Thanks for joining us today.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: My pleasure. So, Eivon, I'm asked to release your new album,
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: The Allfather Awakens, on October 2nd. So, how are you feeling?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It feels good. It feels good to finally have it out.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: We've been working on it for a couple of years now. So,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: it's great to finally... you know, just finally be able
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to get the fans' reaction to it, so.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so can you tell us a bit more about
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the album from a musical point of view and what
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: you were going for?
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: No. I mean, I think if you want to talk
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to a musical point, it would always be better to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: talk to Olave and Johan, because they write the music,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, I think when it comes to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: new albums, we always have the idea to top ourselves
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and do something, do things better and improve on everything.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: And that's what we did now as well. I think
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the main focus here, though, was to write the album
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: and record the album in sections. So we did.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: We did one writing and recording session in 2025. And
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: then we did the last writing. After that, we wrote
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: some more material and recorded again in March in 2026.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So we recorded the rest of the album, basically. So
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: we divided it up in two sections. And the reason
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: is that we wanted to make sure that we gave
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: every song as much attention that we felt it needed
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: to be as good as we possibly could make it.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Both in the writing process, but also in the recording process. So, yeah,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: that was like the whole approach. But also working with
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Jakob Hansen, obviously, we wanted to see if we could
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: try to change the overall sound, the production. And I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: think we managed to do that pretty well.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So, yeah. Yeah, cool. And today you've released the songs
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Eight Legs of Thunder, We Ride the Waves, Jell-O Horn,
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  Speaker 2: and Up Hat. So are they a good sonic representation
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  Speaker 2: of what we expect from the whole album?
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I have to think about that, actually, because these songs are,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: by definition, I mean, especially Uphoff is something very, it's
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  Speaker 1: a very standout song. So obviously that's, That's just one song.
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  Speaker 1: It's very different from the rest of the album. I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: think the rest of the album compared to the other songs,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I would say it's not exactly similar in my opinion.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: The album is quite diverse musically. But obviously we have
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the style of writing that we have. So it's a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: tricky question to answer actually.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Sorry about that. And you mentioned that Orpat was a
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  Speaker 2: little bit different, but it's actually your first acoustic song
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: that you guys have put out. So firstly, why decide
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  Speaker 2: to do that after so long? And secondly, did you
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  Speaker 2: actually enjoy the process?
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Well, Um, which part should I answer first? Well, uh, the,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the reason I, well, the thing about is that it's,
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  Speaker 1: it's an idea that lobby has had for well over
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  Speaker 1: 10 years and, uh, but nothing ever really came of it.
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  Speaker 1: And normally when he has an idea that he doesn't
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  Speaker 1: believe in, or that doesn't really become anything. he will
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: scrap it and that's it. But this idea kept coming
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  Speaker 1: back to him. And when we had one of the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: writing sessions, he presented the idea to us and we
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: all loved it. We thought it was amazing. So we said, yeah,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: we really should do this because it will bring an
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  Speaker 1: extra dimension to the album and to our songwriting, I
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  Speaker 1: think was, at least for me, that was the feeling
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I had. So I think everybody was on board right
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: away with that song because we loved it, so yeah.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, do you think you'll be throwing it into the
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  Speaker 2: live set?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, it's one of the singles, so it
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: would be weird if that wasn't part of the live set,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: would it?
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  Speaker 2: How do you think that'll go down? Because your crowds,
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  Speaker 2: they're all energetic and upbeat, so throwing something like that
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of it, how do you reckon it's
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: going to look? It'll look pretty funny from up on stage.
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  Speaker 1: It's all about how you present it, I think. For me,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: I think people are going to love it. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's different. And we decided to release
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  Speaker 1: it as the first song of the album, even like... Well,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: we ruled the waves. We released that last year, but
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: that doesn't really count. But for this album... reveal thing.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: We used Upav as the first song and we did
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  Speaker 1: that for the reason that we knew people would react
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  Speaker 1: to it and they did. Most people loved it but
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: not everyone which we kind of expected. But I think
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: when it comes to a live show, when we play
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  Speaker 1: that song live, it's all about how how you present it.
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  Speaker 1: I think people are going to love what we do
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  Speaker 1: with that. So we have, we have some ideas.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Got some plans. Yeah. I think there's once again, the
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: lyrical like mainstay of this album, but the press notes
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  Speaker 2: state it's a collection of individual stories rather than concept albums.
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  Speaker 2: So how did you select the specific themes of conflict
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  Speaker 2: for this actual album?
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's, I had to, quite a few ideas lined
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  Speaker 1: up already when we wrote The Great Heathen Army, but
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  Speaker 1: I never really wrote any lyrics about it already. So
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: when we released, when we started talking about the next album,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I already had these lyrical ideas. I said, like, for
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  Speaker 1: the next album, I want to explore Odin as a character.
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  Speaker 1: And I have some cool ideas. And, yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that's the whole thing. But my thought was to present
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  Speaker 1: Odin as a more complex character than normally, like, He's
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  Speaker 1: often just portrayed as this powerful warrior god who's the
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  Speaker 1: king of all the other gods, blah, blah, blah. But
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to show a different side of him, which
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  Speaker 1: is more human. And I think it became even more,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I don't know, it it developed even more because I
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: do this podcast called Exploring the Viking Age, where I interview,
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  Speaker 1: you know, different, you know, archaeologists, historians, but also actors
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  Speaker 1: and musicians and stuff like that. But it's like certain
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  Speaker 1: dignitaries in the field of the Viking Age, basically. And
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  Speaker 1: I talk to maybe the most prominent archaeologist and historian
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  Speaker 1: in the world, Neil Price. And he said something very different,
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  Speaker 1: very interesting, that I took with me into completing the
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: lyrics and writing some of the songs. He said, for
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  Speaker 1: a society like the Viking Age society, which was very violent,
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  Speaker 1: It's interesting that their chief god, the main god, is
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  Speaker 1: really a god of the mind. And he's right. I
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  Speaker 1: never really thought of it in those words, in those ways,
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  Speaker 1: but I understood exactly what he means. Because if you
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  Speaker 1: look at Odin as a character, what he... seeks more
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: than anything it's wisdom and knowledge and he he's often
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  Speaker 1: very anxious he battles with depression and anxieties and So
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  Speaker 1: in many ways, yes, he's, he's very wise. He's very,
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  Speaker 1: he knows a lot and he's very powerful, but he
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  Speaker 1: also has these flaws that, that like, that are very
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  Speaker 1: like human. So it's, it's a, it's an, he's a
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  Speaker 1: very interesting character in that sense. Yeah.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Now, you touched on this a little bit earlier, mate,
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  Speaker 2: but the album was split into two sessions, months apart
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  Speaker 2: at Jacob Hansen's studio in Denmark. So did the time
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  Speaker 2: away between the spring of 2025 and March 2026, did
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  Speaker 2: they alter the direction of the second part of the
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: album at all? Or was it easy to pick up
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: where you left off?
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, musically, I don't know. I think what
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: it really gave us was... Because we had a lot
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  Speaker 1: of ideas. But it gave us time to really focus
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  Speaker 1: on making the songs as good as we possibly could.
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  Speaker 1: So both writing them and recording them. I think that
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that was the main... the main idea behind it, as
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I said earlier. And I think we succeeded with that.
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  Speaker 1: Plus also some, we had some ideas that I guess
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  Speaker 1: had to mature a little bit before we could finish them, songs.
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  Speaker 1: So it was good to get some of the earlier
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  Speaker 1: stuff that we already had more or less ready, just
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: get that recorded and then go back to write new stuff,
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  Speaker 1: new ideas, and to develop the ideas that we had
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  Speaker 1: that were kind of just seeds of ideas in the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: to develop them and make them as good as we
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  Speaker 1: possibly could. At least that's my view on it.
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  Speaker 2: You actually started writing the album while you were out
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  Speaker 2: on the road. So how was that different from your
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  Speaker 2: normal process and how do you think it actually affected
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  Speaker 2: the songs?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we used to write in the rehearsal room
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: all the time. Up until, I think up until Deceiver
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  Speaker 1: of the Gods, actually. And then we started writing at
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: home instead and making demos and sending them to each other,
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  Speaker 1: which has its benefits, especially for me as writing lyrics,
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  Speaker 1: because often when I get lyrical ideas for a part,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the guys are already moving on to the next part.
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  Speaker 1: It's difficult for me to work on lyrics in the
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  Speaker 1: rehearsal room that way. So if I have a demo
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  Speaker 1: that I can put on repeat, I can really get
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: into certain aspects of the song and get the lyrics
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  Speaker 1: down the way I want them without having to ask
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  Speaker 1: the guys to move back and hang on because you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: don't want to I don't want to stifle their creative
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  Speaker 1: process either. So what we've done is that we write
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: at home, and then we rent a cabin somewhere in
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  Speaker 1: the woods or up in the mountains, and we bring
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the demos, and we hammer out the details together for
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: a week, and then we record it. And we sort
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  Speaker 1: of did the same thing on this– for this album
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  Speaker 1: as well. But the difference was, since we on the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: tours now had a warm-up room with drums and amplifiers
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and stuff, the guys could go in there during show
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: days and just fiddle about on the guitars and try
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: out stuff for the songs, much like in a rehearsal place.
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  Speaker 1: And I know especially Olavi has missed that a lot
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  Speaker 1: because he always feels like he doesn't really know if
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: an idea works until he hears it that way. And
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  Speaker 1: I can understand that. So for him, that was great.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's a good way to work in
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  Speaker 1: the future as well when we have the possibility to
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  Speaker 1: do that. But yeah, it's... It's hard for me to
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  Speaker 1: say exactly how much it has influenced the album or
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  Speaker 1: the outcome of the album. I think it's a question
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  Speaker 1: more for Johan Söderberg and for Olavi. Because for me,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: it didn't do a lot of difference, actually, to be honest.
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  Speaker 2: Back on. Your upcoming UK and European tour features a
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: brand new stage production inspired by Odin's Golden Hall. So
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: tell us about that. How is that going to work?
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  Speaker 2: Have you got it? or you don't want to tell
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: us until we see it?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: We can't tell you until you see it, obviously. I mean,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: we probably already said too much. Yeah, but we want
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: to put on a big show. It's going to be
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  Speaker 1: the biggest European tour we've ever done. We're playing the
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: biggest venues we've done. So we want to make this into...
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  Speaker 1: a massive show so we're we're building a new stage
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: um and uh we're also doing an extended set for
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: this tour so it's yeah it's gonna it's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: a lot of fun it's gonna be challenging as well
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  Speaker 1: because we've never done anything on this scale before um
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  Speaker 1: so yeah it's it's gonna take a lot of work
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and effort from our side as well to make it
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to make it come alive in the right way. But
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  Speaker 1: I think, I think any fan who comes to the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: show to watch this, they're not going to be disappointed. Nice.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Speaking of live shows, Bray, you haven't been out this
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: way since 2023. So any plans to rectify that in
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the near future?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: No. No.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: You've been very forthcoming, mate. Thanks a lot. Watch this face, eh?
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Sorry?
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Watch this face.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: No worries. Before we go, mate, can you remember the
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: first time you heard one of your songs played on
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the radio? What song was it and where were you?
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Uh... it's difficult because I can't say I can't say
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: exactly which one came first but I remember the first
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: time I heard a song on the radio like in
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the car just listening to music and it comes on
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: and I don't remember exactly what year this was probably
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: like 2013 or 14 or something like that. And I
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: was in the United States and, uh, I was on
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: vacation and I rented a, uh, at a rental car
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: with this, um, uh, the satellite radio. And, uh, I was,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I was listening to, um, uh, serious XFM or whatever
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: they're called. Uh, and, uh, they have a show called
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: liquid metal and the, uh, I forget which song came on.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: It could have been twilight, but anyways, the song came
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  Speaker 1: on as we're driving, uh, uh, I don't even know
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  Speaker 1: where we're going. The song came on in the radio.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: It was kind of funny. But I think actually before that,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: but I don't know exactly what song, but I listened to,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: there was this metal show in Sweden that played one
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of our songs on one of their shows. I think
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: it may have been when we released with Odin on
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: our side, but I'm not sure. So I don't really
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: have a lot of recollection about that one.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: That's all right, my friend. Well, thanks very much for
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: your time, bro. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: The All-Fire that Awakens is out October 2nd, and she's
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: an absolute cracker, brother, so best of luck with it,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: and we'll see you out the outside.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you.