Avatarium- Death, Where is Your Sting
Avatarium- Death, Where is Your Sting
AFM Records
Release Date: 21/10/2022
Running Time: 45:00
Review by Rory Bentley
8.5/10
Hello friends, please indulge me as I mount my soap box and have a big old moan that Avatarium aren’t way bigger than they are. This is a band I’ve been with from day one, when Candlemass main man Leif Edling created the project, melding his classic Doom riffing and aesthetic with the smoky, jazzy vocals of the inimitable Jennie-Ann Smith and her husband Marcus Jidell’s masterful fretboard wizardry. That incarnation produced two world class Doom albums that contained the occasional nod to Psychedelic Pop, a territory that the band have continued to expand upon following Edling’s amicable departure with their previous two records, the flawed but admirably experimental “Hurricanes and Halos” and the excellent “The Fire I Long For”. “Death Where is Your Sting” is the fifth full length from this criminally underrated band and guess what? It’s fucking great. Duh.
Eschewing past albums’ proclivity for smashing you in the mush with a riff that could put King Kong on the deck, ‘A Love Like Ours’ begins with mournful, Gothic strings and sinister piano lines as Jennie-Ann Smith croons hauntingly to create an ominous, suspenseful atmosphere. The threat of those titanic guitars is ever present, stalking and weaving in sparse stabs but it never quite explodes, allowing the increasingly unhinged strings to take centre stage and shred their way to the final chorus, which ramps up the distortion and intensity significantly. An absolutely stunning way to kick things off.
The band tread more familiar territory on the magnificent ‘Stockholm’, which adopts the alternating transition between lumbering, distorted blasts and folky acoustic sections, an approach popularised in fan favourite ‘Moonhorse’ from the band’s debut. Far from being a re-tread of past glories though, this is an elegant exercise in restraint with Smith’s layered, wordless choral vocals acting as the main hook, pulling the listener into an ethereal landscape that melds Doom and Folk impressively, without either element overpowering the other. A tasteful slide guitar solo caps things off with a measured grace only hinted at in the band’s earlier work.
The album’s title track continues with a theme first explored in the debut album’s Occult Rock banger ‘Boneflower’- the band’s ability to write spooky Pop ragers! ‘Death, Where Is Your Sting?’ contains perhaps the band’s catchiest and most anthemic chorus to date, as Smith sells every line with theatricality and a Pop sensibility that deftly avoids tipping into parody. The idea that we will all make death’s calendar one day is delivered with such glee that the morbid subject matter becomes a life-affirming celebration. It may well be the best song they have ever written.
From throwing shapes and tearing it up with The Grim Reaper, things take on a more solemn tone in ‘Psalm for the Living’, a beautiful hymn-like ballad that showcases Smith’s stunning vocal prowess as she puts in her most fragile, raw performance to date. The delicate backdrop and aching beauty, devoid of anything resembling Metal, show a level of growth that, with all due respect to Mr Edling, the band didn’t seem capable of in their original incarnation. Acolytes of the order of Doom need not despair, however – Avatarium got you covered with the next cut.
‘God Is Silent’ lets Marcus Jidell off the leash and makes me pull a face that would guarantee a podium place at a gurning contest. The riffs slam, the bass is driving, and the lurching guitars gradually ramp up their presence until a filthy middle-eight chug gives way to a tar black wah-drenched solo played like the guitar owes Marcus money. Throw in a classically evil chorus and it’s another setlist staple to guarantee a sore neck the next morning. Jidell flexes his leadwork elsewhere on the outro section of the gothic ‘Mother Can You Hear Me Now?’, where my man goes full David Gilmour, wailing on the minor pentatonic scale with a soulfulness and mastery that the Pink Floyd axe legend would be proud of.
My one minor criticism of the record is more down to sequencing than actual content. For me, I would have swapped the two closing tracks around, as despite being incredibly engaging and showing the band’s versatility, instrumental closer ‘Transcendent’ would be better placed as a lead-in to the track that precedes it. Nocturne offers perhaps the most succinct solidification of all the seemingly disparate elements of the album. It has a classic Sabbath feel, chugging metal guitars and a euphoric, psychedelic chorus melody as well as a theatrical Prog-like solo that leans more towards John Petrucci than Tony Iommi. It brings to mind “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’s” glorious closer ‘Spiral Architect’ which I always felt struck an intriguing balance between flower power and firepower.
Overall album number five sees the band continue to grow while still retaining all the core elements that made me love them in the first place. Although they don’t quite fit in with the resurgent Occult Rock movement that has seen artists like Dool, Lucifer and Green Lung gain plaudits over recent years; there is an argument that Avatarium have all of the appealing elements of these bands while having a more distinctive sound that doesn’t sacrifice the Metal crunch in favour of retro-worship. Please give this one a go as it’s another excellent addition to an increasingly impressive body of work that deserves way more love than it gets.
‘Death, Where Is Your Sting’ Official Audio
TRACKLISTING:
01. A Love Like Ours
02. Death, Where Is Your Sting
03. Stockholm
04. Psalm for the Living
05. God Is Silent
06. Mother Can You Hear Me Now
07. Nocturne
08. Transcendent
LINE-UP:
Jennie-Ann Smith (Vocals)
Marcus Jidell (Guitars)
Andreas Habo Johansson (Drums & Percussion)
Mats Rydström (Bass)
Daniel Karlsson (Keyboards)
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
