Swedish “viking metal” juggernauts Amon Amarth have returned with a new music video entitled “Crack the Sky,” which will be off their upcoming 11th studio album Berserker. This new music video and single is the second one released in anticipation for Berserker’s upcoming May 3rd release date in a couple of weeks.

“Crack the Sky,” is the second music video in a trilogy that began with “Raven’s Flight,” which was released toward the end of last month. Like the previous two music videos, this track features ex-UFC fighter Josh Barnett as “the Berserker,” and Erick Rowan of the WWE as the Norse god Thor.

Like the previous track, this new song follows alongside “Raven’s Flight,” continuing the band’s trend of Nordic references in its lyrics. In addition the track opens up with heavy guitar and bass riffs and blistering instrumentals,  maintaining the groups hard hitting sound.

While the band recorded many early demos for Berserker in their native Sweden, they took up the official recording and mastering sessions up in Los Angeles, California. Prominent metal music producer Jay Ruston who has worked with the likes of Anthrax and Stone sour in the past produced this upcoming project at the Los Angeles studio.

“For me, this is Amon Amarth 2.0,” vocalist Johan Hegg declared in a press release. “I think what we’ve done here is give ourselves the space to explore other parts of our musicality and who we are as a band. If you’re content with where you’re at, what’s the point of continuing? We always want to come up with new ideas and find new ways of doing things and to create bigger and better shows and really try to improve every aspect of what the band is. We want to try to keep growing and to do this for as long as we have the possibility to do so, because this is the best fucking job in the world.”

Jomsviking, the band’s last release was made in 2016, and was noted for taking some references from various 1980s metal scenes and from their own musical style with emphasis on heavy riffs and Nordic references. Hegg explains this album as one that can have each song stand on its own, but which also work cohesively as an album.

“Actually, when we started the project of doing the concept album, Jomsviking, one of the main things we said from the very start was that we need to write these songs so that we can take them out of context and that they can stand on their own anyway, both musically and lyrically,” Hegg explained in an interview with Blabbermouth. “I think we succeeded really well with that. All of the songs are little stories in themselves that work, but if you connect them, you get the bigger story. So, that was actually one of the things we thought about when we wrote the album. I think we did pretty well doing so. It doesn’t feel weird to take a song out and play it by itself.”

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz