Jonas Albrektsson

King Of Asgard

Soon the not AMON AMARTH Viking Death Metal band will we releasing their new album. KING OF ASGARD, absolutely incredible band who are picked on for having had the same idea as AMON AMARTH will release their album "Karg" with Metal Blade Records. Bassist Jonas Albrektsson gave up some of his own free time to sit down and talk to Aaron Price about the band, the album, the proper way to pronounce karg, and covering BATHORY.
By Aaron Price
July 30, 2014
Interview - Jonas Albrektsson (King Of Asgard) interview
The new album Karg seems to have a lot of bass heavy sections in it, for example Remnants of the Past, is there any reason why this started with this album?

The idea of having different sections like this in different songs gives us more dynamics with the way the songs flow, I may not have truly realized it but yeah I guess it is like that.

What are the concepts behind the songs on this album?

Viking history that's all, we just wanted to talk about the history because its all around us here. The whole point of this was to just really talk about the remnants of our past [laughs].

You have also released another album back in May with another band, how did you find time to write and record with two different bands?

It was hectic that's for sure, I brought my all with the our other album and it really helped with writing with King of Asgard, because King of Asgard is my primary band its where I put the most of my effort and with my other band I do what I can but im not sort of an owner of the band, I'm just with them.

From what I can find, you guys have never toured with Amon Amarth, any reason for that?

We were never asked [laughs], seriously I don't know, it would be cool that's for sure. Maybe one day soon but so far we haven't yet.

Is there a reason you decided to make "Total Destruction" a bonus track for this album?

I'm not sure actually, the guys thought it would be good to put on the vinyl copy of the album, it'll come out online eventually im sure. The song is actually a Bathory cover so its sort of our style with a different band.

As for Karg, where does the title come from?

No where actually, Karg is a Swedish word for Barren. I guess we chose to use it because this album is sort of barren or something like that [laughs].

Being that this is the third King of Asgard album, plus the fact you all came from previous bands do you feel you have all mastered the recording process?

Definitely, we all go in and get down to work. Of course we do mess around with each other a bit but we are never wasted when we go into the studio, we have a beer or two while we are recording and maybe a couple more once we are done but we are always there for work not to screw around.

How is King of Asgard a different experience to you from your past bands?

King of Asgard is sort of my band, it belongs to each of us. Where as other bands I joined I did as I was asked and that was it, with King of Asgard I get a say on things and get to make big decisions.

The entire album is absolutely killer, is there any plans to release another song before the release date?

I'm not entirely sure to be honest, chances are we might release one more but on the other hand we may not so maybe everyone will have to wait for the album to come out.

What kind of reception have you gotten from the first song released, "The Runes of Hel"?

We have heard a lot of good things on facebook and YouTube and all the other social media sites that im not bothering to keep up with. Of course you'll get the nay sayers the people who say it sounds to much like Amon Amarth. I disagree we are doing our thing and they are doing their thing, we are both Death Metal about Vikings but that doesn't mean we sound the same! [laughs]

What songs from Karg are you looking forward to getting to play live?

Live I would say Remnants of the Past and Highland Rebellion will be awesome to play live, but so will everything else on the album so I guess we will just have to see what everyone else things as well.

Do you guys have any touring plans yet?

We do not yet, we all have our full time jobs as well as families and children to take care of. We do want to tour for the new album, but at the moment there are no plans.

When it comes to picking support, how do you decide?

We don't [laughs] we are asked about bands by our manager we pick from the list and see what happens from there.

Unfortunately this is the last one for today, what is life on the road like with King of Asgard?

We are Swedish we like to drink, we go play our songs then whoever wants to stick around comes to party a bit with us, day after day night after night. Being at home is a huge change of pace [laughs]

Thank you very much Jonas, its real appreciated that you made time to talk to me. Congratulations on a great album and I hope to be able to catch you on tour some time soon!

Yeah of course, thank you for supporting the band! Hope to see you when we hit the road and have a drink!

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