Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Avatar (SWE) - Dance Devil Dance (2023)
Just one week after In Flames released their new album Foregone, another Swedish melodeath-gone-alt-metal band Avatar released a new album. However, instead of making almost a full return to their melodeath roots, they kept their experimental groove-ish alt-metal sound going. It's slightly better than Foregone, but here there's more pleasant weirdness, and the heavy-melodic ratio is slightly more balanced...
Avatar is not as super popular as the second movie in the film franchise Avatar, yet they can tour and support bands, as active as they could during the virus. They already heading into album #9, Dance Devil Dance! Is the music fitting for their circus-like aesthetics?
Stomping right in is the opening title track with a thunderous country-like march. Though the riffing is repetitive, the song is redeemed by the solid Judas Priest-like chorus where vocalist Johannes Eckerstrom really shines. Perhaps my favorite since the title track of Hail the Apocalypse! "Chimp Mosh Pit" is much heavier. The two guitarists battle it out with their shredding towards the end. The more frantic "Valley Of Disease" has the heavier growls of Eckerstrom. The synths spice things up before the climax.
Anyone discovering Avatar for the first time will be confused by "On the Beach", especially when the style changes in the pre-chorus. There are bands like Avatar that like to switch genres in some songs. Then the relentless "Do You Feel in Control?" takes control. "Gotta Wanna Riot" is quite jarring. The switch from Soil to Soilwork to surf music will make you be like "What the f*** is this piece of sh*t?!" The more poppy "The Dirt I’m Buried in" has better catchy groove. There's fantastic soloing in the bridge. Heaviness stomps back in with "Clouds Dipped in Chrome". Eckerstrom's crazy vocal range from screaming to singing is what makes him such a unique metal vocalist.
"Hazmat Suit" can definitely get the crowd running when performed live. It would certainly make a moshing vortex that can almost turn into a black hole. Nick Cave-like soft blues takes over in "Train", riding slow and steady in the verses before a chaotic derailing in the bridge. Powerful closing track "Violence No Matter What" features vocals from Halestorm's hard rock siren of a vocalist Lzzy Hale. With her vocals, it adds epicness to this anthem that kicks a**.
Dance Devil Dance has what Avatar like to do best, all in a mix of heavy and weird. They know what people love and they add different ideas into their cauldron. Only a few tracks are floppers, but the rest make a pretty smooth album from these hard-at-work experimental groove-ish alt-metal stars....
Favorites: "Dance Devil Dance", "Chimp Mosh Pit", "Do You Feel in Control?", "The Dirt I’m Buried in", "Hazmat Suit", "Violence No Matter What"