Amon Amarth "The Great Heathen Army" Drum Setup (Jocke Wallgren, 2022) | MetalForge
Jocke Wallgren recorded The Great Heathen Army (2022) on a Tama Starclassic Performer B/B kit with a Tama Bell Brass or Starphonic Snare snare.
Complete breakdown of Jocke Wallgren's drum performance on Amon Amarth's Grammis-nominated The Great Heathen Army (2022). Tama Starclassic Performer B/B, Mei...
Frequently Asked Questions
What drum kit did Jocke Wallgren use on The Great Heathen Army?
Jocke Wallgren recorded The Great Heathen Army (2022) on the same Tama Starclassic Performer B/B kit he has used since Deceiver of the Gods (2013) — double 22" x 18" bass drums, 10" and 12" rack toms, and 16" and 18" floor toms in a birch/bubinga hybrid shell construction. The configuration is unchanged from Berserker, but Wallgren's playing on this record favors tighter, more controlled double-bass work over extended blast-beat sections. See [jocke-wallgren-drum-setup](/articles/jocke-wallgren-drum-setup) for his full gear history.
Was The Great Heathen Army nominated for a Grammy?
The Great Heathen Army was nominated for a 2023 Grammis Award — Sweden's own award show, widely described as the country's equivalent of the Grammy Awards — in the Hard Rock/Metal Of The Year category. It is not a nomination in the US Grammy Awards' Best Metal Performance category, but it is a significant mainstream recognition for a melodic death metal record and underscores the album's critical standing as Amon Amarth's most recent studio release.
What cymbals does Jocke Wallgren play on The Great Heathen Army?
Wallgren returned to Meinl's standard Byzance Traditional series for The Great Heathen Army — 14" Traditional hi-hats, 16" and 18" medium crashes, a 20" Traditional ride, and an 18" China — moving back from the drier Byzance Vintage voicing he used on Berserker. The Traditional line's dark, warm character suits the album's more composed, melodic songwriting, particularly the tighter, more controlled gallop feel on tracks like "Get in the Ring."
How does Jocke Wallgren's playing on The Great Heathen Army differ from Berserker?
Where Berserker's title track pushed into extended blast-beat extremity, The Great Heathen Army pulls back toward a tighter, more surgical double-bass-and-groove hybrid — Kerrang! described the album as a step back toward Amon Amarth's melodic death metal origins, and that shift shows directly in Wallgren's playing. Double-kick bursts are more precisely locked to the guitar riff rather than sustained as independent blast passages, and the gallop feel on singles like "Get in the Ring" is tighter and more controlled than on the prior record.