Viking metal titans Amon Amarth have announced details of their new album. The Great Heathen Army is due to land amongst us weakling mortals on August 5, and is the follow-up to 2019's Berserker.
News of the release is accompanied by a new single and video, Get In The Ring, which isn't a cover of the Guns N' Roses song of the same name, but is instead an epic tale of violence and brutality with a suitably fierce video starring All Elite Wrestling athlete Erick Redbeard, known for his time with WWE as Erick Rowan. The song was written as an entrance song for Redbeard.
"The lyrics are obviously written to fit both Viking and wrestling themes," says Amon Amarth guitarist Olavi Mikkonen, "and you can also see Erick as the lead character in the new video for the song. We shot the video in Wroclaw, Poland with our friends Grupa 13, and they helped us create this dark and epic Mad Max-meets-Viking underground super brutal fight club for the video clip."
The Great Heathen Army is Amon Amarth's 12th studio album, and was recorded with Andy Sneap, who worked with the band on 2013's Deceiver of the Gods and 2016's Jomsviking.
"Overall The Great Heathen Army is one of the heavier albums we’ve made," says frontman Johann Hegg. "There are some dark and heavy songs that are really powerful and in-your-face, but we obviously have some trademark melodic Amon Amarth songs on there as well, and a few surprises too. It’s a really well-balanced album. It sounds great. Andy Sneap is awesome. It was great to be able to work with him again."
“We’ve been away making new music and we’re back with new darker, more death-metal sounding album," adds Mikkonen. If Berserker was our “heavy metal” album, then The Great Heathen Army is our “death metal” album. But with that said, it’s still very much contemporary Amon Amarth, but perhaps style-wise we have gone back to our roots a little bit."
The album is available to pre-order now. Amon Amarth and Machine Head combine their considerable forces for a co-headline tour of Europe in September and October, when pair will be joined by The Halo Effect, the Swedish band featuring former members of melodeath pioneers In Flames. Full dates below.
The Great Heathen Army tracklist
1. Get In The Ring
2. The Great Heathen Army
3. Heidrun
4. Oden Owns You All
5. Find A Way Or Make One
6. Dawn Of Norsemen
7. Saxons And Vikings
8. Skagul Rides With Me
9. The Serpent's Trail
Vikings and Lionhearts Tour Dates 2022
Seo 08: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Sep 09: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
Sep 10: London SSE Arena, Wembley, UK
Sep 12: Manchester AO Arena, UK
Sep 13: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland
Sep 16: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Sep 17: Vienna Stadthalle, Austria
Sep 18: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
Sep 20: Tallinn Saku Arena, Estonia
Sep 21: Helsinki, Finland, Ice Hall
Sep 23: Oslo Spektrum, Norway
Sep 24: Stockholm Hovet, Sweden
Sep 26: Copenhagen Forum Black Box, Denmark
Sep 27: Hamburg Barclays Arena, Germany
Sep 28: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Sep 30: Oberhausen König Pilsener Aren, Germany
Oct 01: Berlin Velodrome, Germany
Oct 02: Amsterdam Afas Live, The Netherlands
Oct 04: Milan Lorenzini District, Italy
Oct 06: Barcelona Sant Jordi, Spain
Oct 07: Madrid Vistalegre, Spain
Oct 08: La Coruna Coliseum, Spain
Oct 09: Lisbon Campo Pequeno, Portugal
Oct 12: Paris Zenith, France
Oct 14: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Oct 15: Leipzig Arena, Germany
Oct 16: Prague Tipsport Arena, Czech Republic
Oct 18: Budapest Barba Negra, Hungary
Oct 20: Esch Sur Alzette Rockhal, Luxembourg
Oct 21: Brussels Forest National, Belgium
Oct 22: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
