Fimbul Winter’s Ex-Amon Amarth Members Name Their Favorite Amon Amarth Songs
A new band named Fimbul Winter is here to deliver fresh songs that hearken back to the earlier sound of Amon Amarth, much like the Halo Effect is doing for those longing for what many consider to be the peak albeit bygone era of In Flames. Also similar to the Halo Effect, Fimbul Winter have cemented their legitimacy and ensured they’re not merely a bunch of wannabes by featuring some of the most important musicians that Amon Amarth has counted in its ranks over the past three-plus decades.
They include founding members Anders Biazzi and Niko Kaukinen, who play guitar and drums, respectively, for Fimbul Winter; and another ex-Amon Amarth member, Fimbul Winter’s lead guitarist Fredrik Andersson (who recently shared with us a poignant memory of recently deceased At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg). Rounding out Fimbul Winter’s lineup is vocalist Clint Williams of Munitions note. The Bad Penny caught up with the majority of Fimbul Winter’s lineup last month, ahead of the band recently releasing its five-song debut EP, What Once Was.
Read all about that portion of our conversation here. What we’re bringing you today is something you don’t see … well, every day. We asked the members of Fimbul Winter to name their favorite Amon Amarth songs and explain why – and, much to our surprise, they participated in the exercise like champs. Here’s what the musicians had to say:
I think you have to mention “Twilight of the Thunder to God.” It is an anthem of a death-metal song.
[Drummer] Niko [Kaukinen]: “One song that I like, and that I played on, is ‘The Mighty Doors of the Speargod’s Hall’ [which originally appeared on Amon Amarth’s debut EP, Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds, but was repackaged with a limited-edition version of 2002’s Versus the World]. It’s a bit different than the other songs on the EP, so I think that’s one of the reasons I like it. It’s quite a basic song – not too much tempo changes and so on – so that’s one of the reasons I picked it.”
[Lead guitarist] Fredrik [Andersson]: “It’s hard for me to pick a song that I didn’t play on, so I guess maybe ‘Runes to My Memory’ [from 2006’s With Oden on Our Side].
“It’s a bit of a slower song. It’s more mid-paced with lots of double kicks, but it marks With Oden on Our Side as a new fresh start. We had released Fate of Norns before, and that was my least favorite album that we recorded. I was in a very dark place in the band at the time, so when we started working on With Oden on Our Side, it was a fresh start. We were motivated and had a lot of fun with that album and song.”
[Guitarist] Anders [Biazzi]: ” ‘Locust Treachery’ [‘Hermod’s Ride to Hel (Loke’s Treachery, Pt. 1)’ and ‘Töck’s Taunt (Loke’s Treachery, Pt. II)’] I’m particularly fond of, especially since I co-wrote it. That was the first and only time that I got more than one riff in a song, and I got the whole beginning of the song and up until, like, three minutes or something like that. I think that turned out to be a great song, even if I had a different ending in the beginning.”
“And We have to say ‘The Arrival of the Fimbulwinter,’ the title track of the Amon Amarth demo, which basically, without that song, we wouldn’t exist today. So that’s an important song for us.”
Snag a copy of Fimbul Winter’s just-released What Once Was EP on their Bandcamp page, and keep up with them on Facebook and Instagram.
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