Johan Hegg — born in Sweden in 1973 — has been Amon Amarth's singer since 1992, and is the voice of one of the few metal bands to build an entire body of work on a single subject without repeating itself. Amon Amarth writes exclusively about Norse mythology and the Viking age — battles, gods, ships, death in combat, Valhalla. It is not generic fantasy: the lyrics draw on sources of the Scandinavian tradition, with specific names, episodes and cosmology. Hegg studied the subject out of his own interest before making it the band's material. His voice is a mid-range guttural growl, articulated enough for the words to be understood — an important decision when the text is narrative and tells a story with characters. His physical presence is part of the group's identity: long beard, imposing bearing, a drinking horn onstage. Amon Amarth treats this seriously without falling into the ridiculous, a balance few bands of historical subject matter manage to sustain. He has been in the band since its founding, and he writes practically all the lyrics.
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