Josh Barnett in Amon Amarth’s latest music video, “Mjölner, Hammer of Thor”
Swedish death metal band Amon Amarth’s latest video, for the song “Mjölner, Hammer of Thor” brings to a close the trilogy that began with “Raven’s Flight” and continued with “Crack the Sky.”
The clip was directed by Roboshobo and features former UFC champion Josh Barnett as ‘The Berseker’ and former fighter, Shanie Rusth as ‘Shield Maide’n. Also featured are WWE wrestlers Erick Rowan as ‘Thor’ and Viktor as ‘Demon Henchman’, and actress Tess Kielhammer as ‘Demon Boss’.
Amon Amarth is:
Johan Hegg: Vocals
Olavi Mikkonen: Guitar
Ted Lundström: Bass
Johan Söderberg: Guitar
Jocke Wallgren: Drums
The band, formed in 1992, takes its name from the Sindarin name of Mount Doom, a volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien′s Middle-earth. Their lyrics mostly deal with Viking mythology and history, and so they have been linked with viking metal, although the band themselves prefer to be referred to as melodic death metal.
The band’s 11th studio album, the aptly-named Berserker, is guaranteed to have all discerning metal fans punching the air with joy. Comprising 12 monstrous Viking metal anthems that bulge with irresistible melodic hooks, bursts of thrilling savagery and moments of spine-tingling dynamic drama, it’s the results of the huge surge of creativity and a collective desire to keep moving forward with no compromise.
“The previous album was a concept album but we didn’t want to get into a situation where every album has to be a concept record, so this is different,” states Amon Amarth vocalist Johan Hegg. “We wanted to step away from that and look at being a little bit more diverse, with the lyrics and everything else. I got ideas from lots of different things, from history stuff and mythological sources. Sometimes you just get something in your head and there doesn’t have to be a bigger meaning behind it – sometimes it’s just a great metal lyric that fits with a great metal song. And these are fucking great metal songs!”
