Avatarium - Avatarium

Doom Metal

Nuclear Blast

2013

1. Moonhorse

2. Pandora's Egg

3. Avatarium

4. Boneflower

5. Bird Of Prey

6. Tides Of Telepathy

7. Lady In The Lamp

It's both great and frustrating when a band goes out on a high note like Candlemass did. You never want to see a band linger and put out a bunch of crap albums, etc, but it's tough to see a band go that's still damn good. Well, following that Leif Edling has returned with his new project Avatarium. With how hungry Candlemass left me for more doomy goodness I was pretty excited to hear what Leif could do with this band. Throw in Marcus Jidell who played guitar on the Everygrey's The Glorious Collision, Lars Skold who's done drums for Tiamat, and Carl Westholm who's done keyboards for Krux and you certainly have my full attention. the x factor here is unknown female vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith, but I did like the idea of Leif Edling's doom and gloom benefiting from some atmospheric female vocals. A nice, different approach potentially.

Avatarium is much what I expected in a lot of ways. Certainly, Leif Edling's stamp is all over the riffs. His signature style is well intact and shows itself when those slow burn riffs roll in. This is on the dreary side for even Candlemass though and features less of the more power drive, up tempo stuff. Things get very mellow at times too as the heavy riffing lets up for some very melodic, almost folksy passages. Often the music will alternate between punishing doom riffs and lighter fare, which all paints a very somber picture. This is interesting stuff that carries a really bleak feel to it. Vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith is also the perfect choice for this as she's capable of wailing out some powerful projections above the heavier riffs and also brings it back nicely for the mellower passages. Sound-wise she reminds me a lot of Lana Lane and has a very rich, beautiful voice. She fits in seamlessly to the music Edling creates here and I have zero complaints from this relative unknown on vocals. I have a feeling everyone is going to remember her name now.

Highlights are everywhere here from the trade offs in Moonhorse to the shorter and more direct, yet still dark, Boneflower which keeps things going at more of a horror laced mid-pace. This one reminds me a little of the band Castle. Tides Of Telepathy is also an extremely good one which creeps along at a funeral procession's pace, but has all kinds of Black Sabbath-esque moodyness to it that I completely dig.

The bottom line is that Avatarium is extremely good at what it seeks to do. This is dreary, gloomy stuff that has the riffs to keep it heavy and the melodies/atmosphere to make it dark sounding as all hell. This is an extremely solid doom offering that should appeal to anyone who likes their doom slow and menacing. The Candlemass reminders are there, but this focuses on the creeping, slower side and it works for all involved. This is just different enough while keeping Edling's guitar trade marks and is one hell of a debut. I really look forward to hearing more from this band.

Highlights: Moonhorse, Boneflower, Tides Of Telepathy

Rating - 4.0/5