Album Review: Avatar - Dance Devil Dance
Reviewed by Liam True
Avatar have been one of the hottest bands in metal since the release of Avatar Country all the way back in 2018. With main stage festival slots, touring with bands such as Iron Maiden, Sabaton and Slipknot, they’re everywhere. And now where here in 2023 with their first album in three years, Dance Devil Dance. How have they fared in the past three years with all of the non-touring and then non-stop touring? Pretty damn well.
With their usual melodic death metal like riffs and catchy chorus’ they have you hooked from opening title track Dance Devil Dance. Starting out with a riff, not to dissimilar to hard rock band Wolfmother, from guitarists Jonas Jarlsby & Tim Ohrstrom, vocalist Johannes Eckerstrom’s vocals really flare on this song. His signature growls rip through the instrumentals as his higher vocals pierce your ears drums on the catchy chorus. Chimp Mosh Pit is a heavier affair with more of a direct guitar tone and the drums of John Alfredsson really cut deep on this track. It makes the song punchier, especially since it’s one of the more forgetful tracks, not terrible by any means but there’s nothing really memorable about it.
Valley Of Disease suffers slightly from the same issue. Starting and continuing heavy beat and Eckerstrom’s powerful screams sounding great and the band themselves on point, there’s a bit of a lack of cohesion. Although on the chorus they do sound a bit more thrashy, almost like Anthrax from Worship Music which is a nice treat and shows how they can fluctuate between genres without a care. On The Beach is where you start to hear a bit of a change in the styles which they’re showing on Dance Devil Dance. Known for their more melodic death metal stylings Avatar branch out into near-punk territory. The bass riffs on the song are punk like with Henrik Sandelin’s bass tone really reaching through the guitars to pull you in as he channels his inner Rancid bass style. It doesn’t even stop there with their as Hazmat Suit is a more punkier affair and sounds a bit out of place, but then again you are listening to Avatar. A band known to push their boundaries and not stay in their own lane of musical genres.
Do You Feel In Control is dark and heavy with a relentless guitar tone and Eckerstrom’s vocals hitting lows that are unheard of for him and his vocals sound like he’s the promoter of a fun fair on the side of the road luring you in which add a nice touch. Gotta Wanna Riot is sleaze rock incarnate. The guitar riffs, the drum work, the vocals are just a throwback to the 80’s where the sunset strip ruled the world. You can almost taste the Jack Daniels through the track and is a wonderful and very unexpected change of pace for the record. But then again, it iss Avatar.
The Dirt I’m Buried In is a somber track compared to what we’ve heard but the whole song is phenomenal. You can picture this song being played in an arena with the crowd lighting the band up with their lighters/phone lights as the band pour their soul out with an excellent guitar solo. It's just a perfect track. Train then takes you completely left field. Starting out with blast beats, you’re then transported back to a train in the 50’s with the soft jazz/blusey echo of Avatar through the radio in your cabin. Being a fan of jazz myself this was a most welcome turn of genres. Although Avatar being Avatar, slam back into their metal noise for the chorus before softly enticing you with more jazz. Bizarre and beautiful in equal measure.
Ending track and lead single Violence No Matter What is just the perfect album closer. The vocals of Lzzy Hale pair perfectly with Eckerstrom’s as the band perform with love in their heart for this song. Heavy, slow and low is the direction and it’s perfect.
From start to finish the album has its hiccups of course, but you’re guaranteed to leave the ending of the album pleased and content. I’m not even a huge Avatar fan but this album has pulled me into the realm of the band and I feel the need to just binge everything they’ve ever pressed to a disk.
