Metal fans won’t want to miss Amon Amarth at Steelhouse Omaha on Friday, May 3rd! This Swedish melodic death metal band, who gets its name from the Mountain of Doom in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, formed in 1992 and has had fans head banging ever since. Made up of members Olavi Mikkonen (lead guitar), Johan Hegg (vocals), Ted Lundström (bass guitar), Johan Söderberg (rhythm guitar), and Jocke Wallgren (drums), Amon Amarth has put out 12 studio albums, including “Twilight of the Thunder God,” “Jomsviking,” and “Berserker.” Their latest album, “The Great Heathen Army,” includes the immensely popular single, “Heidrun.”
At the helm is lead singer Johan Hegg, who hails from Örebro, Sweden, just west of Stockholm. Hegg, 51, provides the powerhouse vocals for Amon Amarth. “It’s always so much fun doing the shows and interacting with people. Even if you’re doing the same set virtually every night, the energy is always different,” Hegg said. “That’s what I like most about being in a band—the fans.”
The band takes influence from legendary bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, but has their own unique twist to the genre. “We are quite melodic compared to what you would categorize as a normal death metal band; it’s a very Swedish style,” Hegg explained.
Amon Amarth is known for their Viking themes and lore throughout their lyrics and album covers. “I’ve been a history buff all my life,” said Hegg. “The Viking Age became a big interest when I was in my teens, and it always fascinated me when I started reading mythology and the old Viking sagas from Iceland,” he explained. “It’s just such a fascinating part of our history. It’s not just Scandinavia, but they actually did travel the world and they even traveled to North America in open ships. It’s hard to fathom how they did that for why they did that, it’s just crazy.”
“Crazy” is one word for Vikings’ historical exploits, and it also fits with Hegg’s vocal talent and the exercises needed to keep his vocal chords on point. “All in all, it takes about two or three and a half hours to warm up,” Hegg said of his pre-show rituals. “It actually starts with a yoga routine that I do. That kind of warms up the body and opens up the chest and the back for breathing. Once that’s done I use something called a resonance tube. The way that works is basically you have a container of water and a glass tube that looks a bit like a straw. You blow bubbles into the water but you hum at the same time so it really kind of creates a massage for the vocal chords. And then the last thing I do is just some humming exercises, and then just before stage, I put my earbuds in with one of our songs, and it’s usually a song I know really well so I don’t have to think too much and have a nice muscle memory for it.”
Hegg will go through his usual warm up routine on May 3rd, 2024 in Omaha for the Metal Crushes All Tour with special guests Cannibal Corpse, plus Obituary and Frozen Soul.
For more information and to get tickets, visit amonamarth.com.
