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Swedish invasion! Amon Amarth brings its countrymen along for its Berserker Tour

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Wallgren (far right) and Amon Amarth storm the House of Blues on October 23.
Photo: Jonathan Weiner / Courtesy

Swedish Viking metal band Amon Amarth dreamed up a plan to celebrate the release of its latest album, and saw the idea come together effortlessly. The musicians wanted their first North American headlining trek behind the 11th full-length Berserker, released in May, to feature all fellow Swedish bands in support. Amon Amarth drummer Jocke Wallgren said the first three bands Amon Amarth asked—Arch Enemy, At the Gates and Grand Magus—jumped at the opportunity.

“We told them we wanted to do a Swedish invasion tour, so to speak,” Wallgren says during a phone interview with the Weekly in the days leading up to an October 23 stop at House of Blues. “When we had that suggestion, everyone was like, ‘F*ck yeah, we’re going to do that.’”

Sweden has certainly produced some of metal’s beloved bands. What differentiates Swedish metal to you? I would say the sound and production mostly. We’re known for the Gothenburg sound with the melodies, and to me that represents Swedish and Scandinavian music.

Were you trying to capture that classic Gothenburg sound on Berserker? I’m not sure we had that specifically in mind this time. We just wanted to do an album that wasn’t too polished, too processed. Everything you hear on this album is actually played. There are very few edits, there are no tricks and that’s a pride we take in this album. We wanted to do a rawer sound with this one.

This is your first record with the band since joining in 2016. Did anything surprise you about the process? All the other bands I’ve ever recorded with previously did drums first and then guitars and then bass and then vocals. But this one was a bit different, because we flew everyone to LA … and did one song at a time. That’s not what I was used to.

Did you like doing it that way? Not really, no, because I was finished practicing all the songs at home and ready to record. But then it had been five weeks since I played some of the songs, so for me, it was not very optimal.

Are you happy with the finished product? Of course. I could practice in between my turns so it turned out very well, to be honest.

You were a fan of the band for many years before joining. What initially drew you to Amon Amarth’s music? My first record was [2006’s] With Oden on Our Side, and then I saw them live a bunch of times in Stockholm, at Wacken [festival] and at different festivals all over Europe. I always liked the drumming parts, but really it was the energy, feelings of the melodies and how everything came together. That’s what got me hooked.

Some of your bandmates have been outspoken about wanting to be one of the biggest bands in metal and a festival headliner once the current crop of stars retire. Ambition can sometimes be frowned upon in extreme metal circles, so have you experienced any blowback from that? I don’t think that’s the real ambition. It’s more if it happens, it happens, and we’ll be happy to take that spot. We just want to get bigger and bigger and do better and better productions and play for more and more people.

AMON AMARTH with Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Grand Magus. October 23, 6 p.m., $38-$50. House of Blues, 702-632-7600.

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Case Keefer

Case Keefer has spent more than a decade covering his passions at Greenspun Media Group. He's written about and supervised ...

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