Avatarium – Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead Review

By Steel Druhm

As a hardcore Candlemass enthusiast,1 I was predestined to love Leif Edling’s spinoff project, Avatarium. Featuring Leif’s original doom alchemy and the truly awe-inspiring vocals of Jennie-Ann Smith, there was a lot to love about them. The debut had enough nods to Candlemass to satisfy, and The Girl With the Raven Mask began to build a unique entity, fusing ’70s psychedelic rock, prog, and jazzy cabaret coolness into the doom foundation. Each subsequent album had its own thing going on with the doom element waxing and waning according. 2022’s Death, Where is Your Sting was the first album without Leif Edling and it ended up their least “metal” outing, often feeling like an early ’70s rock release close to Jefferson Airplane. It was still an enjoyable spin, but the heaviness factor was minimal. This left me longing for the older, more forceful sound and hoping for more actual metal. Now we get Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead. Will the scales rebalance and put things right, or has the slide into retro rock intensified?

Between is a slightly heavier album than Death, Where is Your Sting, with a few rougher edges to the ’70s rock-oriented sound, but it’s far from a return to the band’s early days. However, it’s still a tremendous showcase for the massive vocal talents of Jennie-Ann Smith, and the lady could sing me a Chinese take-out menu and still hold my rapt attention. The songs run the gamut of ’70s hard rock, delta blues. jazz cabaret fare and sometimes, actual doom, but I’d be hard-pressed to claim this is a metal album. Opener “Long Black Waves” is a cool blend of ’70s rock and classic doom with Jennie-Ann leading the way with her pristine, soulful vocals supported by oceans of retro organ work and restrained but toothsome lead work. It’s an instant winner and sticks like hot tar in long hair with a sullen but sultry hypnotic attraction. “Being With the Dead” is about as close to a call back to their debut as Avatarium gets these days, and the song is legitimately doom and fairly heavy too. There’s tons of Deep Purple-centric organ abuse coursing through the song and the riffs recall Sabbath’s “Buried Alive” a bit too closely at times.

The remainder of Between shows off the band’s “softer” side. “I See You Better in the Dark” is an upbeat, Delta blues-inflected mood rocker, with Jennie-Ann impressing as always though the song needs more oomph and punch. “My Hair is on Fire (But I’ll Take Your Hand)” approaches Messa’s cozy cabaret energy and it’s good but doesn’t fully stick with me. The closing title track is a schmaltzy emo-ballad that smacks of the excesses of Jim Steinman-era Meat Loaf and it’s a bit much. Toss in an instrumental with a greater doom-focus than the surrounding cuts and you have a slightly frustrating listen if you hoped for more metal tuneage. Keeping most songs in the 3-5 minute window with fairly tight writing aids the album’s flow, and Jennie-Ann can elevate pretty much anything to likable, but this isn’t the Avatarium I fell in love with originally. I find myself desperately wishing for more crunch and power and in the end, I’m a bit bored by the band’s output for the first time.

I’ve raved about Jennie-Ann on enough reviews to feel like I’m beating a dead horse, but the woman has a one-of-a-kind voice and can fit into almost any style and sound great. With Leif gone, she’s the center of gravity for the band, and rightly so. She’s got a love it or really love it voice and it’s hard to find fault in anything she does. Marcus Jindell (ex-Royal Hunt, ex-Evergrey, ex-Soen) is a gifted riff crafter capable of creating a wide spectrum of moods, often looking to 70s rock for inspiration. He’s on his game as usual here, though he dips into the metal pond too sparingly for my tastes with only a few big doom leads surfacing. Former Candlemass keyboardist Rickard Nilsson provides a lot of 70s-centric organ noodling to flesh out the various soundscapes the band dabbles in, and he hits the Deep Purple button early and often for some Moog rocking fun.

There’s a wealth of talent and interesting music here, I guess I just want them to trend heavier when that isn’t their predilection anymore. Between is a solid slab of ’70s rock worship with a few high points, but this isn’t something I see myself returning to much, just as I rarely spin their last album. I’ll keep checking in on future releases though, because Avatarium could do something special and I’d hate to miss it.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: AFM
Websites: instagram.com/avatariumofficial | facebook.com/avatariumofficial
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

Dolphin Whisperer

Every now and then a band rolls around featuring a one-of-a-kind performer that near regardless of their choices will keep them in good graces. In the case of Swedish doom-rockers Avatarium, this kind of star rests in none other than premier vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith. Her penchant for powerful, highly enunciated, and frightfully fragile deliveries mirrors no one else in the active metal world today, allowing Avatarium to live as morphing and thoughtful riff-based support for her wiles. Mostly anyway, as Avatarium’s Candlemassive roots with doom maestro Leif Edling had raised them in a lumbering, Sabbathian tradition. But starting with Edling’s complete step away from songwriting for 2022’s Death, Where Is Your Sting and into this newest Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead, Avatarium has forged a path steeped in their own emotional rock rather than just fat, evil riffage. An omission of true metal, though, does not necessary spell out a bad time.2

Fortunately for Avatarium, the husband wife duo of guitarist (and cellist and pianist) Marcus Jidell (ex-Royal Hunt, ex-Soen) and Ms. Smith continues to provide a beyond steady songwriting flair, even if it isn’t quite of the epic and crushing variety. Choice intros like jagged crunch of “Long Black Waves” or the rolling tom thunder of “Until Forever and Again” bellow in a familiar, foreboding manner the ambience of all things smoke-filled and brooding. But rather than lean on amplified fuzz for dramatic impact, a comfortable and punchy master highlights stadium weight kicks and growling organ underpinnings to frame a grooving sway and occult atmosphere around Jidell’s bluesy licks and Smith’s Heartfelt croons. No matter the influence, Avatarium sounds huge.

Though retro has always been the flavor of Avatarium’s grand plans, Between wears more proudly than past outings a Coverdale/Hughes-era Deep Purple aura in its bones. From the bass-led swagger of “I See You Better in the Dark,” complete Smith’s blue-eyed soul, stomping verses, to the psychedelic instrumental “Notes from the Underground,” a constant burn of attitude-toned string bends and snaking neoclassical charms color Avatarium’s unique personality. And though Heart comes as an easy comparison for the power balladry of cuts like “My Hair Is on Fire” and “Lovers Give a Kingdom to Each Other,” there’s a panache to the guitar-forward nature and careful vocal escalations that reminds of 70s Scorpions before the arena took over their more psych-leaning sound. Returning keyboardist Rickard Nilsson (of Hurricanes and The Fire I Long For) provides that extra cherry on top with hissing Hammond and blipping Nord flurries that provide the low end with an oscillating swell that sizzles under Smith’s sultry lines.

The path that Avatarium follows is well-worn, right down to the conflicting mood that arises from the monstrously squishy but nonetheless sticky serenade that closes Between. Similar to the gentler mood of preceding album Death, nuance in the recording of Smith’s vocalizations tether an interest just as much as the inherent fortitude of her proudest offered crescendos. Forceful “p” pushes, slithering and tooth-whistling sibilant crackles, and tickling fricative “f” squishes (especially on titles that feature the “f” like “Until Forever and Again”) pepper the texture of every passing lyric. Smith tonally is already a joy to the ears, and the attention to detail that twists letters into moments elevates the experience of lesser passages. While it’s true that I don’t necessarily want to listen to sappy credits roll title track, I can’t help but pay attention when Smith rests so elegantly over its cloying construction.

It’s a rare talent that a band like Avatarium, who actively makes musical choices that are at odds with my listening desires, continues to make compelling collections of songs that I want to hear again and again. In this case, though, the closer might be a little too sweet in the tooth still—and signaled in an odd manner after the vibey instrumental piece. Yet as part of a greater whole, Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead possesses a classic trajectory and classy ensemble of killer tunes. The power of doom may no longer much reside in the foot-tapping thump of Avatarium’s catchy shuffle, but volume and repetition assists its enjoyment all the same.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

#2025 #30 #35 #AFMRecords #Avatarium #BetweenYouGodTheDevilAndTheDead #BlackSabbath #Candlemass #DeathWhereIsYourSting #DeepPurple #DoomMetal #HardRock #Heart #HeavyMetal #Jan25 #JeffersonAirplane #Messa #Review #Reviews #Scorpions #SwedishMetal #TheGirlWithTheRavenMask

Brothers of Metal – Fimbulvinter Review

By Holdeneye

While very, very few metal bands can please the entire Holdeneye family,1 goofy and trve Swedish power metallers Brothers of Metal have the distinct honor of being a staple soundtrack for our family road trips. Nothing brings me more pleasure than driving a winding mountain road while Mrs. Holdeneye unconsciously and sincerely sings along while Brothers of Metal frontshieldmaiden Ylva Eriksson belts out the chorus to a song like “Powersnake.” I first fell in love with the band’s 2017 debut, and when 2020 saw these skalds releasing Emblas Saga, one of my top ten(ish) albums of that year and a much-needed bolus of epic levity for surviving one of the strangest years in human history, I became a wholly devoted fanboy. Thus, upon hearing that Brothers of Metal had third album Fimbulvinter in the works, my anticipation swelled until it was on the verge of catastrophic rupture.

If you’re familiar with Brothers of Metal at all, you already know how most of Fimbulvinter sounds, but if you aren’t, the band’s core sound is a very straightforward version of modern power metal (think Sabaton and turn-of-the-millennium Manowar) with some strong folk elements thrown in. Thick, muscular guitars lay the groundwork for most of these tunes, but the true magic occurs in the firmaments above this foundation, as the band’s songwriting prowess and musical talent clash in a storm of pagan lightning. I’ve embedded the video for the album’s epic closing title track because it shows each and every member of the band at the top of their game, demonstrating the ease with which Brothers of Metal can elevate an ostensibly simple musical style into something great.

These Swedish pagans can swing back and forth so quickly between musical styles and between the outright silly and the authentically serious—sometimes within the same track—that it can induce whiplash in the listener, and while some may see that as a downside, I see this diversity as a major selling point. After warming us up with two very good, if standard, power metal tracks, Brothers of Metal strike while the iron is hot with heavy bruiser “Giantslayer,” a song that never loses its deadly edge despite some hilarious lyrical interjections. I love the juxtaposition between songs like “Rivers of Gold” and “Nanna’s Fate,” tracks that could comfortably fit on one of Eriksson’s Good Harvest23 albums, and “Berserkir,” a contender for my 2024 Heavy Moves Heavy playlist. And when Brothers of Metal casually drop a track like “Heavy Metal Viking,” country/rock bands across the US are all blown away like a shot from a gun—if you haven’t seen this video yet, please do so now.

The secret to Brothers of Metal’s success is twofold. First, they make music because they have fun making music, and the principle of trickle-down rockonomics passes that fun directly on to the consumer. The band’s genuine enjoyment of the songwriting process is infectious, and it takes a style and presentation that could easily feel gimmicky and lends it a satisfying authenticity. The second secret to their success is Ylva Eriksson. She’s simply a world-class vocalist, and over the course of three full-lengths, plus the aforementioned Good Harvest records, she’s become one of my favorites of all time. My one gripe with Fimbulvinter is that there’s just a bit too much of it. There’s certainly a great album tucked within its 57 minutes, but a couple of these songs, while still good, could have been axed to increase the album’s damage-per-second. That said, I don’t think I’ve encountered a 2024 album that has provided me this much enjoyment.

Based on the strength of their first two records, I had no doubt that Brothers of Metal would follow up with another offering that would be pleasing in Odin’s sight. Fimbulvinter won’t be every metalhead’s cup o’ mead, but at a time in history when societal anxiety seems to be reaching a fever pitch, I find music like this to be a soothing, calming balm. It’s comforting to know that when life overwhelms me, Brothers of Metal will always be there, standing together with hands in the air.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: AFM Records
Websites: facebook.com/brothersofmetalofficial | www.brothersofmetal.net
Releases Worldwide: November 1st, 2024

#2024 #35 #AFMRecords #BrothersOfMetal #Fimbulvinter #HeavyMetal #Manowar #Nov24 #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #Sabaton #SwedishMetal

Flotsam and Jetsam – I Am the Weapon Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier

I’ve always had a soft spot for Flotsam and Jetsam. I don’t know if it was because I discovered them simultaneously with Anthrax, but I associate the two more than any other thrash duo. It’s also probably because A.K. has a powerful voice similar to Joey Belladonna’s. That said, Jetsam has always retained its unique twist: one second they are ripping through a thrash lick, and another, they are swooning through a power metal ballad. It’s a style that has suited them well for years, even if there was a point when the band looked like they were falling off the edge of a cliff. After a strong start to their career, the band floundered a bit in the late ’90s and early ’00s, making fans question their success regardless of their prolific album delivery since their inception in 1984. But these Arizona bois have begun to impress me once again, dropping bombs since their stellar self-titled release in 2016. This resurgence has brought back that spontaneity of yesteryears, making it easier and easier for me to rediscover them. One can only hope this feeling continues with this year’s I Am the Weapon.

While I was happy to see longtime guitarist, Ed Carlson, return after a brief hiatus following the surprisingly decent The Cold, he didn’t do much to keep the ball rolling when he returned. During his second era with the band, they dropped their worst releases to date. Not only was 2012’s Ugly Noise an utter abomination to my eardrums, but its follow-up was the despicable re-recording of their 1988 classic, No Place for Disguise. When Steve Conley hit the lineup, things began to change. After his inclusion in Flotsam and Jetsam, I can confidently say the band has been knocking out good-to-great albums ever since. Thankfully, I Am the Weapon continues this trend, delivering some blazing thrash riffs, soaring vocals, and a fluidity that works throughout. After I completely abandoned this band, it has been a real pleasure listening to them in the last decade, and this new one is a hella good time.

On that note, the album opens with “A New Kind of Hero,” which has some of the worst lyrics I’ve heard in a long time. Thankfully, it has a kickass thrashy drive, emphasized by rumbling bass and charging drum work. Even though A.K.’s vocals are lively as always, as long as I can ignore the “Superman is gone” line, I can enjoy this massive Anthraxy kickoff to I Am the Weapon. Other stellar tracks are the back-to-back “Burned My Bridges” and “The Head of the Snake.” The first has a good amount of melody driving the blastbeats and steady riffage. It also has a nice touch of power metal character and a memorable chorus that soars into Dio-ish territories. “The Head of the Snake,” on the other hand, has a badass, pounding riff strengthened beautifully by the rough vocal approach. When the chorus hits, its melodic nature takes hold, building it up to its breaking point before your head snaps back into the groove.

Similarly aggressive but pulling out other tricks, “Cold Steel Lights” and “Running Through the Fire” push further into melodic and ballady areas of their sound. After opening with a blistering-fast guitar lick, “Cold Steel Lights” charges headlong into a marching riff and solo work before powering into a melodic chorus. On the back half, the song quiets to smooth clean guitars as A.K. swoons you with a lullaby. Then, they fire back into the chorus to close it out. “Running Through the Fire” is another that suffers from dreadful lyrics, but it’s an interesting song that does a lot in five minutes. After marching through a bass-heavy riff and strong chorus, the song flips a bitch and slows to 15 mph in the slow lane. Reverberating clean guitars and popping bass lead the song’s second half as the vocals cry for survival. It’s not my favorite song by any means, but Bill Bodily’s bass work cannot be ignored on this track.

A couple of tracks not as strong as others are “Primal” and the closer, “Black Wings.” The first is nothing special, acting as a filler between the opener and the title track. The closer is not a good song and a dumb way to end the record. With a dark, atmospheric character, it trudges along boringly, even introducing some near-spoken-word segments that fall flat on their face. To these ears, the punchy “Kings of the Underworld” would have been a great way to end the album. But what do I know? Regardless, I Am the Weapon continues the stellar rebirth of the band, pushing hard to continue bringing memorability into the band’s consistent album delivery. The master is also sharp and clean, letting that great bass and drum work rise without being obliterated by A.K.’s upfront vocals. Though these gents have been around the block, their wind-whipped, rattlesnake-infested, sun-scorched Arizona approach is fun to listen to once again. If you’ve been following Flotsam in the last decade, you’ll find plenty to enjoy on I Am the Weapon.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: AFM Records
Websites: flotstildeath.com | facebook.com/flotsamandjetsam.official
Releases Worldwide: September 13th, 2024

#2024 #30 #AFMRecords #AmericanMetal #Anthrax #Dio #FlotsamAndJetsam #IAmTheWeapon #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #ThrashMetal