By Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 26/05/2017
Label: Nuclear
Blast
This is another great record from
Avatarium and one which places the band firmly in the upper echelons of doom
outfits operating today. There is nothing to fault here. If you enjoyed the
band's previous work, don't hesitate. If you have never heard the band, then
this is as good a place as any to start. Great record.
“Hurricanes And Halos” CD//DD//LP track
listing:
1. Into The Fire - Into The Storm (4:14)
2. The Starless Sleep (4:47)
3. Road To Jerusalem (5:48)
4. Medusa Child (9:00)
5. The Sky At The Bottom Of The Sea (5:25)
6. When Breath Turns To Air (4:46)
7. A Kiss (From The End Of The World) (7:14)
8. Hurricanes And Halos (3:22)
The Review:
Avatarium are proving to be a rather prolific
band. The brainchild of Leif Edling (Candlemass) they have
now put out three full lengths and an EP since 2013! After the excellent “The Girl With The Raven Mask”, I
wondered where the band would go next. That particular album struck me as
somewhat Dio-esque- with all the drama and
storytelling of the miniature vocal maestro.
This
time around, Dio still looms large in the influences I
can hear; but more from his Rainbow era rather than
his solo work. Uriah Heep offer a reference point here as
well- with the rolling rhythms and Hammond organ work of “Demons and Wizards” being present and correct. The record offers up
a couple of the epic song lengths that fans will expect and Jennie Ann Smith's
vocals are as haunting as ever and are a real selling point of the band, not to
mention a highlight of the album.
There
is a lightness of touch to songs like “The
Starless Sleep”, despite the weight of riffage, while there are more
whimsical acoustic sounds in tracks like “Road
To Jerusalem”. “Medusa Child”
offers something of a centrepiece to the album at the half way point. It's a
fantastic track, full of changes, production flourishes and a darkness and
gloom that is always found in the best doom.
Elsewhere,
“Easy Living” by Heep is echoed, Led Zep at their more
morose is to be found and the downbeat grandeur of Sabbath
can be heard in “A Kiss (From The End Of
The World)” before the strange outro of a title track closes the record.
This
is another great record from Avatarium and one which
places the band firmly in the upper echelons of doom outfits operating today.
There is nothing to fault here. If you enjoyed the band's previous work, don't
hesitate. If you have never heard the band, then this is as good a place as any
to start. Great record.
“Hurricanes
& Halos”
is available now
FFO:
Candlemass, Jex Thoth, Dio, Uriah Heep
