Review AVATAR ‘Dance Devil Dance’

That Gothenburg is one of the Swedish metal epicenters is well known to everyone who is seriously interested in hard riff-based music. A representative of this scene from the Swedish west coast are Avatar. Jonas Jarlsby and John Alfredsson founded the band in 2001 and in the last few years Avatar has become one of the most innovative players of modern heavy metal.

Over the years the Swedes succeeded in establishing a respectable reputation and eight albums testify to the creative output of the band. Now the new album ‘Dance Devil Dance’ hits the stores and it will do no harm to the success of the Swedes.

The music of Avatar is always heavy with crashing riff salvos. At the same time, their music is also unpredictable in a positive way, always offering new surprises and twists. You can’t easily put Avatar into one category. The guys vary their sound too much without deviating even a millimeter from their musical vision. Yet they are always reinventing themselves, which is also reflected in the new release.

Recorded in the Swedish wilderness and away from the big metropolitan cities, Avatar together with Jay Boston focused one month entirely on ‘Dance Devil Dance’. The result is a multi-faceted album where you get to hear the untamed power of nature.
For instance, there is the crashing rocker ‘Gonna Wanna Riot’ and the fierce ‘Valley of Disease’ which, for all its heaviness, has a very hook-laden chorus. However, the modern riffs are in the forefront which, together with Johannes Eckerström’s vocals, give the track a massive punch.

A bit calmer and more melodic is ‘The Dirt I’m Buried In’. This tune has the potential to introduce Avatar to a larger audience as it builds on catchy melodies without being chessy. Also worth noting is the collaboration with Lzzy Hale, who contributes vocals to ‘Violence No Matter What’. The song is bursting with power where Hale’s screams and Eckerström’s voice harmonize well. The tune is a real powerhouse which also applies to the arrow-quick ‘Hazmat Suit’.

‘Dance Devil Dance’ is a longplayer, which comes across as if it was all of one piece and at the same time variety is the main feature. This album combines the boisterousness of rock music with the power of metal. These eleven songs are extremely entertaining and diverting. ‘Dance Devil Dance’ offers great tunes and shows a band that knows what they want. Here the throbbing metal heart is in the center and you can hear that in each of the songs anew.