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16 апр 2025
AVATAR's Upcoming Tenth Album Will Be 'Very Multifaceted' With 'More Progressive' And 'Melodic' Parts Than Ever Before
AVATAR's next LP is tentatively due later in 2025 through the band's own label Black Waltz Records, which is distributed by Thirty Tigers.
In a new interview with Vrotherhood, AVATAR vocalist Johannes Eckerström stated about the songwriting process for the band's upcoming effort (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "For me, I set a starting date around August 2023. I was thinking next album a lot. Also because of touring and life in general, there's not this huge long period of just disappearing and writing. So I kind of personally rely on having a bit more manic periods. So it was something towards the end of that summer, then a bit around December, January, that year. Then we did a lot of touring again, and a little things can happen on tour, some really important things even in the songwriting, but not a huge volume of stuff. The big volume of stuff means that you get to sit at home and work in peace and fail in peace, and succeed in peace. So, I guess the practical part of it is start early to really get the ball going and the juices flowing again in terms of writing. And it's a bit different for the other guys. I think [guitarist] Tim [Öhrström] — well, he started a bit after me, and [guitarist] Jonas [Jarlsby] really got most of his stuff together much later. But, well, at the end of the day, we all climb different paths up the mountain, but we still reach the same mountaintop."
Regarding the lyrical themes covered on the new AVATAR album, Johannes said: "I'm still kind of unpacking exactly what this album is — or not unpacking what this album is, but unpacking how to talk about what this album is. But there are certainly… Where should I even begin? Well, it seemed like dreams influenced this album way more than they have in the past, and some kind of letting something subconscious out. And with that come, to a certain degree, some kind of take on surrealism. And with the subconscious way of doing things, I feel I worry less and less over time that I have to understand a song immediately while writing it, or that I have a clear goal in my head of what it's supposed to be. Where I now have been trusting beauty, just the aesthetic of [it]… If the words, in the context of the music and everything I wanna write there, if it feels beautiful, it is probably right. So that plays in, in a way, and I think an ability to play with that and still have songs that I feel make sense and come together as a solid song that is worth recording and putting out there and have someone, 'Hey, look what I did. Share this with me now,' that is not just mumbo-jumbo nonsense, super self-indulgent. You still want all of these things, whatever process is going on together with creating the music, it still also needs to be something that communicates and articulates something. Even in cases, if it just articulates, 'I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day,' it needs to say something about something. And I think it does. But definitely daring to just let the voices in the head speak for themselves, in a way."
Johannes continued: "Some songs are way more clearly story-driven, like little ghost stories or whatever. And some songs are reflective, introspective in a way that I don't think I would've had the ability to do earlier in my life. 'Cause that's the other thing — always, always, always look for a way to feel like a beginner, find something to be excited about as a songwriter, as a creative person. 'Cause this will be our tenth album. And I don't need any justification to make music for myself. But if I'm gonna bother you with it, I feel like there has to be something about it that we didn't quite do before. If we are one of the few who are gonna get to do what we do to the level where we can feed ourselves and our families with it, where we get to travel the world, we get to do all these things, then I think that comes with a certain respect towards the people that you are trying to pull in. And also a respect for the art form, a simple respect for heavy metal and what that means to us. And letting the things, therefore, change and evolve as we change and evolve as people.
"There's something to be said about the early stages of a band's career," he added. "There's a naivety and enthusiasm and energy… A lot of bands peak early — not all of them, but a lot of bands — and I think that is mainly because those who are not able to allow their music to evolve as they evolve as people, then there's the law diminishing returns or whatever with it. But if you're honest with where you are in life and what excites you or what feels important while you write the current thing instead of thinking what used to be important, then you have a chance to do something great over and over again. So, yeah, there's a way of dealing with age, death, change on this album that goes deeper. And I also think this is an album that has way more of caring about people. In a way, there's some more romantic parts or intimate parts and not necessarily only spousal, that kind of love song-ish. There's absolutely stuff like that there, but that stuff has been there for a long time. It's just buried in the heavy metal… So, there's a lot going on with this album, but this dreamy, surreal exploration of dark places."
As for the musical direction of the upcoming AVATAR LP, Johannes said: "Musically, it's an AVATAR album. The big changes — I feel I took some huge leaps as a singer, so things start to really connect in just how to sustain the high range in a certain way of singing, while also even more challenging in another way, just not that high heavy stuff, but also going back to [someone like JUDAS PRIEST singer] Rob Halford.
"The people who are able to have a drive and energy in your mid-range, but not just when you scream your head off, that's one thing. But to say, [for example, the PRIEST song] 'Breaking The Law' — 'There I was completely wasting, out of work and down,' there's that drive to. It's the drums and the weight of the words and all that. And to do that without screaming your head off, there are moments on the album where I finally feel I did a bit of that and feel pleased with it. And I think parts of this album is more progressive than AVATAR has been before, I believe. We didn't do [something like the classic] YES [album] 'Close To The Edge' — it's not that, but it's something. Sometimes you have to stop and count a bit, and lose yourself in that a bit. So that's cool. And there's also probably stuff that [is] the most melodic that we have done, especially vocally speaking, I would say. Because the guitars have always been mainly melodic. And then we have some of the murder riffs as well, because we like that. So it's very multifaceted in a way that is hard to make sense from a band that isn'tAVATAR. But we can do it. And also I play piano, so that was fun."
Last December, AVATAR shared a brand new, re-recorded piano version of its song "Tower".
The original version of "Tower" appeared on AVATAR's beloved and critically acclaimed fifth album, "Hail The Apocalypse", which was released in 2014.
"Dance Devil Dance" was recorded in the Swedish wilderness, far away from all the perceived glamor of the big city and modern studios. Ruston returned as producer. He first worked with AVATAR when he mixed "Hail The Apocalypse", a role he reprised on "Feathers & Flesh" before taking the wheel as producer on "Avatar Country" and "Hunter Gatherer".
"Dance Devil Dance" featured a guest appearance by Lzzy Hale of HALESTORM on the song "Violence No Matter What". The record also included the single "The Dirt I'm Buried In", which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
Johannes formed AVATAR in 2001. The band's lineup has remained virtually the same ever since, save for guitarist Tim Öhrström, who entered the fray just over a decade later. AVATAR also includes guitarist Jonas Jarlsby, bassist Henrik Sandelin and drummer John Alfredsson.
Photo credit: Jens De Vos
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