You have been on the go since 1994. Your last album Deceiver of the Gods went top 10 in a lot of countries, including Germany. Is it gratifying to have commercial success at this stage of your career? I think it is great that we can continue to grow with each album that we release. Obviously, we are very happy that we are in this position. With every release, we try to get better with both recording and songwriting even to the point of stage performances.
Who was the Deceiver of the Gods? It refers to the Norse god Loki, who winds up betraying the Gods at the end of time. I have always liked Loki. He always struck me as the most human of all the gods. He has all these fantastic traits of cunning and skill. He is very diplomatic, but he can also be very petty, vengeful and deceiving.
What is about so many Scandinavian bands that you are inspired by Norse mythology? It wasn't big when I was growing up, but it caught my interest. We didn't read almost anything about Vikings or Norse culture and that's what made it very strange to me. It felt it to be very interesting and very appealing. It was something that I wanted to learn more about. As I got older and started the band, it became natural to write lyrics about Norse mythology and history. It just went on from there.
Why do so many metal bands across Europe use their own national mythologies for inspiration? I think heavy metalheads in that way are kind of nerdy. When you read Scandinavian mythology, there is a lot of stuff there that is very fitting for metal music, such as characters and events. That's what it is very intriguing for me. A lot of fans feel the same way. There is something mysterious and intriguing in the whole things. They don't really know what is all about, but it sounds fascinating.
You look like a Viking out of central casting and you've now got a part in a film playing a Viking. [Hegg is in Northmen - a Viking Saga] which will be released in October. What was that like? Originally, I had just a cameo, but it wound up being bigger than that. It was fun and a great experience. I'd do more in a heartbeat. The music would be obviously always in the first room for me. If I feel the script or project is something that looks interesting, I will definitely do it. You are probably the most commercially successful death metal band in the world. Do you think you can take the genre to new audiences? We always try to write the best album that we can. I would lie if I said that we didn't look at the charts when we released this album. The reason we look at charts is because we started winding up in charts.
But, we wouldn’t write an album just to get a number one. We wouldn’t compromise the music thing. That’s not the reason we are interested. We are interested simply because we are in the charts.
Sweden seem to produce more top-class heavy music bands than any comparable country in size such as Opeth, In Flames, Watain, Sabaton and yourselves. Why do you think this is the case? Swedes – contrary to what a lot of what Swedes themselves say – have a very rich musical history both in folk music and also when it comes to adopting foreign music influences. We have always been welcoming to new bands. I think that those two are key elements. But, more important than that, in the 1980s, when I grew up, it was very easy for a group of kids to start a band. You could join a youth club which was run by the city you lived in or by the union and you could borrow equipment to start your own band. You didn't have to buy stuff.
The social network is very strong in Scandinavia. Our taxes are very high, but we getting something for our taxes and that includes support for kids to have something to do.
Do you think the success of heavy metal in Scandinavia is down to the fact that it regarded as almost like a mainstream genre?
In Finland, it has always been like that, but in Sweden not so much except for the last 10 years. In Sweden there are at least two radio stations that are more or less nationwide and they play metal or hard rock music. Maybe not our style of music, but the In Flames kind of stuff.
How do you assess the current state of heavy metal? It is thriving. It is stronger than it has been for a lot of years on a worldwide scale. Playing shows in the US, you can see more and more kids are coming to the shows. They are bigger and better shows. The commercial side of it killed the scene in the early 1990s – I hope that the kind of downfall will not happen this time around.
I don’t think the commercialism is there anymore, certainly not in metal. I hope that it can say true to what it should be which is a form of physical and revolutionary expression. That’s my little philosophical thought for the day.
Are you familiar with any Irish metal bands? Primordial are one of my all-time favourite bands. Their music is just phenomenal. They are epic and Alan (Averill aka Nemtheanga) is one of the best singers ever. He's also a good friend, I might add.
It is a shame they are not bigger in Ireland. I live in a city west of Stockholm and I convinced a guy here that he should get in touch with Primordial and get them here to play. He asked me to play some stuff by them and he was completely blown away, so he wound up booking them.
Otherwise, when you think about Ireland and heavy metal, you think about Thin Lizzy.
What is next for yourselves as you enter your third decade together in music? When we are done touring for this album, we might take some time off before working on a new one. It's hard these days. It is not like we're Metallica where you can wait five years until the next album. We need to strike while the iron is hot.
Deceiver of the Gods is on Metal Blade Records. Amon Amarth play the Academy, Dublin, on August 13th. Support is from Darkest Era. See mcd.ie for more
