Sometimes, the Internet is a very bad thing. It offers temptations, sometimes temptations that I find irresistible. And I’m not talking about porn. I’m talking about . . . what you’ll find in this post.

The backstory: Amon Amarth was one of the bands on that 70,000 TONS OF METAL cruise that we started making fun of more than a year ago. In fact, in the first of several posts about the cruise, as it was being announced and promoted, we said this on February 2, 2010, imagining what we would be asking a year later as the cruise ship limped back to port:

Is there anything left of the ship?

“70,000 Tons of Metal” — but what was the total tonnage of weed smuggled on board?

How many people went over the side, never to be seen again?

How many people were hospitalized along the way?

How many passengers are still in jail on Cozumel?

How many tourists signed up for this, thinking it was just a normal Caribbean cruise?

Did Amon Amarth eat any of those tourists?

Was the bilge big enough to hold all the projectile vomiting?

Did anyone actually go up on deck into the sunlight?

Have photos surfaced on the interwebs?

Well, the cruise is now over, and as far as we know, Amon Amarth didn’t eat any wayward tourists. But Johan Hegg did do a karaoke performance of the best song on System Of A Down‘s Toxicity album, “Aerials”. And yes, his performance did surface on YouTube, and it was, and is, a wondrous thing.

So wondrous, in fact, that Amon Amarth is including a cover of the song as an iTunes-exclusive bonus track on the forthcoming Surtur Rising album. Wanna hear it? Stay with us after the jump, then . . . Continue reading »