A little bit the development of Avatarium reminds of growing up: In the beginning, doom icon Leif Edling had full creative control over the project, but in recent years he has been withdrawing more and more - like a father slowly releasing his children into independence. For "The Fire I Long For", the fourth album, he wrote only three of the total nine tracks. The new creative centre is formed by guitarist Marcus Jidell, who also collaborates with Edling on Candlemass and The Doomsday Kingdom, and singer Jennie-Ann Smith. In a natural way, something new is constantly emerging. A good example is the ballad "Lay Me Down", where instead of hard riffs acoustic guitar and sensual vocal harmonies shape the atmosphere
NEIL YOUNG - The Indomitable
Even as a young singer, as a representative of the hippie generation, Neil Young didn't mince his words. And he has remained the most controversial, sometimes in the best sense of the word uninhibited spirit of rock music: The Canadian, who turns seventy on November 12, shows no signs of age-mild. In the following we show why it is so important that "the old man" is still there.
JEFF LYNNE'S ELO - Alte Schule
"The idea for Avatarium was actually born out of a beer mood," laughs Marcus Jidell (ex-Evergrey, ex-Royal Hunt), guitarist of the Stockholm band. "At a party Leif [Edling; Candlemass] and Mikael Åkerfeldt [Opeth] wanted to start a Doom project. But since Mikael had a lot to do with his band, it didn't work out at first. Leif then wrote some songs relatively quickly and I helped him to record the numbers - I think they were 'Moonhorse', 'Lady In The Lamp' and 'Boneflower'. Suddenly we noticed that the whole thing sounded quite promising and decided to continue in this direction. The big advantage of Avatarium is that we can really experiment here, which was only possible to a limited extent with our other bands."
AVATARIUM - Girl With The Raven Mask (4:10)
Album: The Girl With The Raven Mask (2015)
Label/Distribution: Nuclear Blast/Warner
www.avatariumofficial.se
With AVATARIUM, Doom legend Leif Edling (Candlemass, Krux) has built up a fantastic new band where tough lava riffs meet seventies Hammond sounds. But above all, the incredible Jennie-Ann Smith is enthroned, whose gripping blues voice (Janis Joplin sends her regards!) gives you goose bumps. (Review: eclipsed 10/2015)
Leif Edlings (Candlemass, Krux, Abstract Algebra) "new" baby avatar gets better and better. After the surprising EP debut "Moonhorse" (2013), the sovereign debut "Avatarium" (2013) and last year's EP "All I Want" the band now presents their previous Magnum Opus with "The Girl With The Raven Mask".
