Avatarium - "Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead"
A unique stylistic blend of Doom and Blues
Last year suffered a bit from a dearth of Doom Metal. So when I saw an opportunity to try out another new (to me) Doom band for one of my first albums of the year, I leapt at it.
Avatarium is a Swedish Doom Metal band whose genric blend has also been flagged as Progressive Rock and Occult Rock. Their total sound, though, verges on some darker subspecies of Blues Rock. Much of that stems from the vocals of Jennie-Ann Smith, who has refrained from altering her style of singing since being brought in to serve as Avatarium’s frontwoman back when ex-Candlemass bassist Leif Edling was first shopping around for talent.
The story goes that Edling originally approached Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt, and it seems that maybe Akerfeldt was onboard initially, but had to bow out due to time constraints. With the project up in the air, it was guitarist Marcus Jidell who stepped up to help ground it. Jidell, who, at the time, was the guitarist for Soen and a former member of Evergrey and Royal Hunt, had his own studio right there in Stockholm, making recording less of a concern. And when Edling and Lidell needed vocals for a demo, who else should be asked but Jidell’s own wife — Jennie-Ann Smith.
The stylistic mesh is very non-standard, but it kinda works really well. I mean, listen to the opening track of Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead (hereafter, “BYGDD”), “Long Black Waves”, and tell me that’s not incredible.
Edling is no longer with the band — he retired from touring in 2014 due to health concerns, and even stated publicly in 2017 that his doctor was against him working with more than one band at a time on songwriting. For that reason, I cannot say how involved Edling was with the writing on BYGDD, but the bass line is noticeably big and bold throughout the album, often leading more than the guitar does. If he wasn’t involved, his approaches to songwriting have been well-engrained. Avatarium’s current bassist, Mats Rydstrom, has done an excellent job stepping into those shoes, though, as the bass line often outshines Smith’s vocals.
There are a few instances where the bass backs away, though — “Lovers Give a Kingdom to Each Other”, the album’s fourth track, carries this pseudo-acoustic energy which sees Jidell’s guitar and Rickard Nilsson’s keys alternating alongside Smith’s mournful vocals. It’s light, airy, and energetic, which is odd for a Doom band, but it works so very well.
Throughout the album, I find that Smith’s vocals are both a strength and a weakness. She has a great voice, and her offbeat style works. However, I have to confess that it gets me to wishing she had a little more gravel — a touch of roughness here and there would go a long way in unifying and elevating the band’s sound. It shouldn’t be completely foreign to anybody who sings the Blues or Blues Rock, so I’m sure she has it; I just need her to go find some inspiration from Beth Hart, maybe with Hart’s incredible Led Zeppelin tribute album, in particular.1
The album’s biggest weakness, though, is its closing track (which is also the title track). I just can’t get into it. There’s nothing truly compelling about it, despite that the conceptual foundation is strong and should be interesting.
Ultimately, there are several moments on the album that feel, basically, like a whiff. The closing track is just the biggest one. The band doesn’t lean into the things Doom does best, and they don’t lean into Bluesy, Poppy elements that work inherently well with Smith’s vocals. BYGDD really just feels like it’s trying too hard to occupy the middle ground and strike a balance. It’s good for what it is — and there are some moments where ‘what is is’ is pretty frickin’ awesome! — but it isn’t great Doom or great Blues Rock. As a unit, it lacks a little luster.
Rating: Yellow