New Week, time to present "Record Of The Week"
The Swedish doom metal gurus AVATARIUM have returned with their fourth dark gospel "The Fire I Long For", after a couple of laps I kneel down and stretch my arms up towards the sky and roar a joy scream and the neighbors wonder what the hell happened there, I answer AVATARIUM.
The band was founded in 2012 by Leif Edling of CANDLEMASS, AVATARIUM soon saw the arrival of Marcus Jidell (producer CANDLEMASS) and Jennie-Ann Smith who brought an air of charisma with her soulful grace. By now, the band has become an entity of its own and while Leif decided to take a step aside, but still he has contributed three songs for the new album.
Only two years after taking the fans by storm with "Hurricanes And Halos", the album ended in 11th place when 2017 was summarized. "The Fire I Long For" includes 9 spellbinding tunes. Doom laden hooks and beautiful soaring guitar solos by Marcus Jidell and seductive and magic vocals by Jennie-Ann Smith together with a rhythm section of Andreas ”Habo” Johansson on drums, Mats Rydström on bass and the organist Rickard Nilsson.
"The Fire I Long For" is another chapter of their hauntingly beautiful doom creation. With a slow renewal and slightly developing of their own sound and craftmanship on every release to create its signature, make a mark and that is something very clear on this album. Nice magical pieces from the opening bombastic tune "Voices", heavy uplifting riffing and seductive vocals that smack right into the head. The first single "Rubicon" with a heavy loop that just glues hard in your mind, that you just go whistling to, simple but so brilliant. The intimate and beautiful "Lay Me Down" is a softer and gentle side of the band. The doomish and catchy "Porcelain Skull" have a few marvelous parts like the guitar solo and the organs. Doomish and psychedelic rocker "Shake The Demon" to the melancholy and pompous PURPLE like "Great Beyond". These are followed by a beautiful and catchy title tune. "Epitaph Of Heroes", the longest tune on the album, follows the classic CANDLEMASS palette, melodic and heavy juicy riffing and excellent vocals. The album closes off with the jazzy "Stars They Move" where the piano caresses Jennie-Ann's vocals in a magical way. The album is the band’s most varied release, great creation and a big step to try something new within them selfs. It feels that the focus is at the top and the creation step has been thought true. I'm really happy with the release and across the album’s 44-minute playing time I feel the joy rush through my body and choose to play it another lap. Highly recommended.
"The Fire I Long For" was recorded at Studio DeepWell in Stockholm, the album was produced by Marcus Jidell, mixed by Grammy Award winner Niklas Flyckt and mastered by Svante Forsback (RAMMSTEIN). The album was released by Nuclear Blast on November 22nd, 2019.
The band have also announced their first two shows in support of the new album that will take place in Sweden - more touring will be announced soon:
10.01.20 S Stockholm - Nalen
11.01.20 S Göteborg - Pustervik
The album can, of course, be found on Vinyl.
Today's tune "Rubicon" is taken from the latest release "The Fire I Long For", enjoy!
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