On March 25th, Swedish metal kings Amon Amarth will release their 10th studio album, Jomsviking, via Sony Music (International) and Metal Blade Records (North America). Jomsviking - the band's first concept record in their storied career - tells a tragic tale of love and revenge, backed by the Swedes' trademark anthemic metal. The record was produced and mixed by Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Testament, Accept) and also features special guest session drummer Tobias Gustafsson (Vomitory).
The epic original story is set in the world of the Jomsvikings, the pagan order of mercenary Vikings from the 10th & 11th Centuries. Frontman Johan Hegg explains, "The Jomsvikings were a shadowy and legendary sect of Viking mercenaries, as shrouded in myth now as they were when they fought across Europe and the Middle East. Ruthless and deadly warriors who fought for the highest bidder, their code was simple: Show no fear. Never retreat. Defend your brothers, and when called upon, avenge their deaths. I felt we were finally ready to use their story as the jumping off point for an Amon Amarth album. The Jomsvikings and their world is the background for the story of a young man that is in love with a girl but unfortunately she's being married off. He accidentally kills a man when this happens and he has to flee - but he swears to have revenge and win her back. He can't let go of the past. He feels that he's been wronged and his life has been destroyed. The way the story evolves is not a happy story."
German rock legend Doro Pesch adds guest vocals to the song "A Dream That Cannot Be". Hegg comments on the collaboration, saying, "It was a great pleasure to work with Doro. She's a very nice person and did a great job! She was actually the only one we could picture singing this song."
By far their most ambitious project to date, Jomsviking is available for pre-order in various formats at https://smarturl.it/AmonAmarthOS. Fans can view the video for the album's first single, "First Kill" at https://www.amonamarth.com/. Produced by Grupa 13 (https://www.grupa13.com/) and directed by Darek Szermanowicz (Behemoth), "First Kill" was filmed in Gohrweide (Germany) and Warsaw (Poland) and features a cinematic depiction of the brutal lyrics, along with stunning live footage of the band performing with their full dragon head and pyro stage-set.
"Jomsviking"Track Listing:1. First Kill
2. Wanderer
3. On A Sea Of Blood
4. One Against All
5. Raise Your Horns
6. The Way Of Vikings
7. At Dawn's First Light
8. One Thousand Burning Arrows
9. Vengeance Is My Name
10. A Dream That Cannot Be (featuring Doro Pesch)
11. Back On Northern Shores
Shortly before Jomsviking's release, Amon Amarth will embark on a special European mini tour of intimate venues where the band will debut some of the album's material for the first time. Tickets for these tiny shows are extremely limited and will sell FAST.
One of the dates will be held in London, at the Underworld, on March 22 - which was the venue for the band's very first UK show, back in 2006, when tickets were priced £8.50. The show sold out and has since led to a number of sold out tours, seeing the band play bigger and bigger venues on each subsequent visit. For the March 22, 2016 show, only 300 tickets in total will be put on sale (priced £15 + fees), but the first 50 fans to buy tickets for it can snap them up for £8.50 in commemoration.
Grab London tickets at: https://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/amon-amarth-tickets from 4pm on Wednesday, January 27th. There is also an O2 pre-sale from 4pm Monday, January 25th, and a Live Nation pre-sale from 10am Tuesday, 26th January.
The Special Dates are:
March 22 London, England - Underworld
March 23Paris, France - Divan Du Monde
March 24 Tilburg, Netherlands - Hall Of Fame
March 25 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
