Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Review by Matteo Bussotti
It’s great to have a band with so much experience like Avatarium put out an album after only 8 months of activity, it means that their creative potential is at their best. You could ask “Why you said “so much experience” if they only formed 8 months ago?”, well, my friends, Avatarium members aren’t newbies of the musical scene, they’re all well formed musicians, and you can feel it in the album. This isn’t a work made by some teenagers in their garage, this is some serious Doom. All the songs give a sense of danger, as if you have something terrible waiting for you behind every corner…as Doom music should be. This is not an album to listen light-heartedly, it won’t bring you happiness…but I guess that if you’re looking for happy music listening to Doom…I think you might be in the very wrong place. I’m not saying, of course, that Doom is a depressive genre, but it’s more on the powerful, energetic, dark side, and these are the feelings this album conveys.
“Tides of Telepathy”, for example, with its marching drum roll really makes you feel uncomfortable (in a positive way, as I said before), before exploding in the more upbeat parts. Also, the guitars have some really sweet melodies, always original and in place, they’re the perfect support for Jennie-Ann‘s vocals. “Lady in the Lamp”, Avatarium‘s last song, starts really slow and calm, as if you’re in front of a fireplace and someone’s telling you a tale. Halfway through, a siren kicks in and the song steps up a bit. It almost feels out of place, even though it’s beautifully intimate. Later, the siren comes back again and the song explodes in an epic, mind-blowing finale. Pure awesomeness. In a second moment, you think again of the siren and then you realize it wasn’t a siren. It was a guitar note, which led into the solo. Wonderful, simply wonderful. I’m not a big fan of Doom, I have to admit, but this album is just great. It may never become your favorite album of all time, of course, but you’ll always remember it as a great album, and, who knows? Maybe you’ll listen to it after some time again, pushed by the good memory you have of it. You just have to listen to it just once. Do it now.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Moonhorse
- Pandoras Egg
- Avatarium
- Boneflower
- Bird of Prey
- Tides of Telepathy
- Lady in the Lamp
Line Up
- Jennie-Ann Smith – Vocals
- Marcus Jidell – Guitars
- Carl Westholm – Keyboards
- Leif Edling – Bass
- Lars Skold – Drums
Links