AVATARIUM – “Hurricanes And Halos“
The Swedish band AVATARIUM reached in a short time, what a lot of other bands never get: their own, unique sound – outstanding and distinctively in its tone and emotions. It’s not very surprising if you look who’s behind it: SOEN-guitarist Marcus Jidell as well as CANDLEMASS-boss Leif Edling. The sound was produced by the metal veterans David Castillo – who already worked with KATATONIA and OPETH – and mastered by Jens Bogren (SOILWORK, SEPULTURA). These names are almost a warranty for quality.
And AVATARIUM’s third album “Hurricanes And Halos” is a high-quality album.
Melancholy meets energy, vintage sound meets modern technology and soul meets hard rock. The opener ‘Into The Fire – Into The Storm’ is a straightforward and rocking start into AVATARIUM’s journey. It has a real 60’s feeling to it. The following two songs, ‘The Starless Sleep’ and ‘Road To Jerusalem’ go a similar way, somehow heavy, somehow chilling, always catchy. But then the big turnaround: ‘Medusa Child’. In its nine minutes, it gets more and more atmospheric, the technique of the guitar play and doomy atmosphere prevail, the tempo of the first three songs is withdrawn.
The beginning of the second part of “Hurricanes And Halos”: If the first ones are the hurricanes, the following are the halos.
‘The Sky At The Bottom Of The Sea’ is the exception, it’s as straight as the first ones. But songs like ‘A Kiss (From The End Of The World)’ and the outro ‘Hurricanes and Halos’ focus the instrumental parts and are able to create a very special sound feeling.
The separation of the album is in my ears, not the best. It switches a bit too extremely and confuses the listener. The former album “The Girl With The Raven Mask” has a more developed songwriting, it’s more coherent. But if you are willing to be surprised, listen to “Hurricanes And Halos”! The music is able to feed your imagination and the bad-ass sound shows new, fantastic landscapes in front of your inner eye.
To all the nostalgics, dreamers and melancholics out there: Get spellbound by AVATARIUM‘s unique vintage sound!
AVATARIUM – “Hurricanes And Halos“ Tracklist:
- Into The Fire – Into The Storm
- The Starless Sleep
- Road To Jerusalem
- Medusa Child
- The Sky At The Bottom Of The Sea
- When Breath Turns To Air
- A Kiss (From The End Of The World)
- Hurricanes And Halos
AVATARIUM + special guests THE SLAYERKING – ‘HURRICANES AND HALOS TOUR 2017′
15.09. D Langen – Stadthalle
16.09. D Essen – Turock
17.09. D Nuremberg – Hirsch
18.09. D Berlin – Musik und Frieden (Black Room)
19.09. D Hanover – Musikzentrum
20.09. D Erfurt – From Hell
21.09. D Siegburg – Kubana
22.09. NL Oss – Groene Engel
23.09. B Vosselaar – Biebob
24.09. NL Zaandam – Podium De Flux
25.09. F Paris – Glazart
26.09. D Stuttgart – Universum
27.09. I Milan – Legend Club
28.09. D Munich – Backstage
29.09. A Vienna – Viper Room
30.09. H Budapest – Dürer Kert
Catch them on tour! We’ll be at the show in Hanover, where will you be? Tell us in the comments!