Sweden's Amon Amarth recently wrapped up work on their new, as yet untitled album at Sphere Studios in North Hollywood, California with producer Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Steel Panther, Stone Sour). Vocalist Johan Hegg spoke with J. Bennett of Revolver about his band's new music, expected this spring via Metal Blade, an excerpt follows:

Lyrically, it's about Vikings - as usual. Your last record had a specific storyline. Does this one?

"With the last record, Jomsviking, I wrote a complete fucking movie script and we turned it into an album. This time around, I didn't have any of those ideas but we also didn't want to do a concept thing, either. Jomsviking turned out so well, so if you then start working on another concept album and try to top that, it would almost be impossible — unless you have a really great story lined up that you can do that with. But I didn't, so it didn't make sense. I was a bit lazy on this one — I waited for the music to be done so I could see where it would take me."

You didn't have any ideas beforehand?

"The only lyrical idea I had before the music was done was 'Berserker At Stamford Bridge'. A friend of mine told me about the story and said I should write lyrics about it, which I thought was a great idea because it's such an awesome story. Basically, it's at the end of the Viking Era. The Vikings are in England, and they've been very successful in beating the English because what the Vikings did better than the English is that they moved fast and they moved during the night. But at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the English used the Vikings' tactics against them, so they caught the Vikings by surprise. The Vikings were too far away from their supply ships, so they had to retreat. The Vikings were about 3000 men, and the English were 15,000. So they retreated over Stamford Bridge, but in order to halt the English army, they sent one guy with an ax out on the bridge."

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In live news, catch Amon Amarth in concert at the following shows:

May
2 - Ak-Chin Pavilion - Phoenix, AZ
3 - Isleta Amphitheater - Albuquerque, NM
5 - Don Haskins Center - El Paso, TX
7 - Bert Ogden Arena - Edinburg, TX
8 - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory - Dallas, TX
10 - MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa, FL
11 - Coral Sky Amphitheatre = West Palm Beach, FL
13 - Big Sandy Arena - Huntington, WV
14 - Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD
16 - Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center - Noblesville, IN
17 - Providence Medical Center Amphitheater - Bonner Springs, KS
19 - DTE Energy Music Theatre - Clarkston, MI
20 - Covelli Centre - Youngstown, OH
22 - Canadian Tire Centre - Ottawa, ON
24 - BB&T Pavilion - Philadelphia, PA
25 - Xfinity Center - Boston, MA