Viking-metal mainstays Amon Amarth have entered their unplugged stage. Today (July 8th), and for the first time ever, the Swedish quintet delivered a rustic and entirely acoustically-strummed anthem that they call “Upphaf.”
The song chimes into focus with acoustic strums and propulsive, elemental percussion. Above all that, frontman Johan Hegg unearths a craggy, legend-casting croak about “old tales of men I recall from long ago,” including “giants of yore who gave me bread in the days gone by.”
A press release further explains that “Upphaf” acts as “an oral history whispered under the shadow of the Allfather, proving [Amon Amarth’s] interest in Oden cuts just as deep by firelight as it does on epic global stages.”
You can check out the aesthetically softer but no less epic addition to Amon Amarth’s Norse myth-borne songbook via the music video up above, which finds the band intoning their tale around a campfire.
Amon Amarth’s “Upphaf” follows last year’s bombastic, battle-driven and decidedly more electrified “We Rule the Waves” single. Proper details have not yet been shed behind Amon Amarth’s full-length follow-up to 2022’s The Great Heathen Army, but a studio album is in the works.
In the meantime, Amon Amarth have a number of upcoming shows on the horizon across Europe. You’ll find the full details on their live schedule here.