Tag Archives: Avatar

ICE NINE KILLS, IN THIS MOMENT & AVATAR Bring The Kiss Of Death Pt 2 Tour to Iowa.

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Ice Nine Kills and In This Moment have teamed up once again for a tour, dubbed the ‘Kiss Of Death Tour Part 2.’ They made a stop at the beautiful Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee, Iowa, with support from Avatar and TX2.

Due to travel, I missed TX2’s performance, but I hope to catch them at another show. I did manage to see Avatar, who I believe are one of the best live bands out there. A man in a black mask carried a box to the stairs leading up to the drums. After removing the lid, a red balloon popped out, followed by vocalist Johannes Eckerstrom. The court jester took his spot center stage, and when drummer John Alfredsson hit the first beat, the balloon popped, and the onslaught began as the band launched into “Dance Devil Dance.” Guitarists Johas Jarisby and Tim Ohrstrom, along with bassist Henrik Sandelin, spun their hair in unison while laying down a wall of sound. Avatar, riding the waves of their 2023 release ‘Dance Devil Dance,’ played “The Dirt I’m Buried In” and “Valley of Disease,” along with the title track from the newest release. This band packs such a punch both sonically and visually that you can’t take your eyes off the stage. They have the perfect frontman who played to the crowd perfectly. He has infectious personality but also commands attention his incredible voice and catalog of songs they have to play is a deep one. The only downside was the set was too short. Despite the limited time, they captivated the crowd with “Smells Like a Freakshow” and the closer “Hail the Apocalypse.” It was a short but fantastic set in front of a crowd that included many first-time viewers.

AVATAR

Unfortunately there are no pictures in the gallery as In This Moment does not allow photographers to cover their show. They took to an extremely smoke-filled stage with vocalist Maria Brink perched high on her altar, where she spent much of the show. They opened with “The Purge” and then moved into “The In-Between.” The show was highly choreographed, with Brink changing costumes throughout the set and usually flanked by two dancers. The visual imagery was central to the performance, but the sound was also impressive. However, the heavy smoke made it difficult to see Brink and the band members at times, leaving the crowd to view their shadows through the smoke. Highlights for me included “Blood” and “Big Bad Wolf,” where the energy on stage really picked up and flowed into the crowd. The set ended with “Whore.” I would love to see them reach further back in their catalog and pull out some of those gems as there are so many that have not been played live in years. I understand that the material they are playing fits in perfectly with the theatrical theme and it does work beautfully. With Brink so far away for most of the set , it doesn’t allow for much interaction with the crowd but despite this, the many In This Moment fans in the crowd made their presence known throughout the set.

Ice Nine Kills closed the night, and having seen them before, I knew we were in for a horror show masquerading as a musical killing spree. They opened with the blistering “Rainy Day,” and the show was off. Vocalist Spencer Charnas led the band’s horror-themed set, inviting the crowd into their world. “Meat & Greet” was next, with Hannibal Lector wheeled onto the stage. By the end of the song, Lector had escaped, lost the mask, and killed the security guard. Welcome to an Ice Nine Kills show. Charnas constantly changed props throughout the night, with each song having its own story and executions of characters on stage. Amidst the madness, the band sounded musically tight. Guitarists Ricky Armellino and Miles Dimitri Baker shredded when needed, while bassist Joe Occhiuti and drummer Patrick Galante provided the backbone to the sound. The band’s vocal performance stood out, with Charnas sounding fantastic and the other members contributing vocally, added extra layers to the songs. The band ripped through numbers including their new single “Walking On Sunshine,” “The American Nightmare,” “IT is the End,” and closed with “Welcome to Horrorwood.” I always enjoy the chaos this band creates on stage and appreciate how they play the material and engage the crowd. They are a band not to be missed when they come to your town.

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AVATAR, VEIL OF MAYA & ORBIT CULTURE Bring The Circus To Minnesota [Review & Photo Gallery]

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The Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota welcomed in one of the heaviest hitting tours making their way across North America. Avatar was set to bring back “Avatar Country” back to the city that have continued to embrace them in bigger numbers with every stop. Veil Of Maya and Orbit Culture rounded a bill that delivered a fantastic night of music. 

The night was started by a sonic crushing quartet from Sweden called Orbit Culture. They formed in 2013 and are led by vocalist/guitarist Niklas Karlsson. His intensity matched the aggressiveness of the music which made for a great set. The rest of the line-up featured lead guitarist Richard Hansson, bassist Fredrik Lennartsson and Christopher Wallerstedt on drums. They have released three albums but it was 2020’s ‘Nija’ that caught my attention along with 2021’s EP ‘Shaman.’ I have quickly jumped on the bandwagon and they are a force to be reckoned with. They played a short set consisting of eight songs capped by a new track, “Alienated,” that will be on the oncoming new album. Other tunes that hit hard were “Strangler,” “Vultures of North,” and the closer “Saw.” It was my first time catching this band and I’m really looking forward to the new album. 

The band sandwiched between the two Swedish outfits was Chicago, Illinois own Veil of Maya. They just released studio album number seven called ‘[m]other.’ The bands energy and focal point was vocalist Lucas Magyar. From the opening cut “Viscera” he was working the crowd and getting everybody involved into the show. The rest of band featured guitarist Marc Okubo, bassist Danny Hauser and drummer Sam Applebaum and they laid down some incredible progressive and technical stuff. They ripped through a twelve-song set that included some of the new material like “Godhead,” “Red Fur” and “Synthwave Vegan.” Other songs included “Whistleblower,” “Doublespeak,” “Lisbeth” and the impressive “Mikasa” which closed the show. 

For my money, nobody delivers a concert like Sweden’s Avatar. The show they put on goes way beyond five guys just playing songs, this is a carefully constructed  and calculated event that combines theatrical trappings that play in perfect unison with the musicians and the sonic attack of the songs. Starting with the band standing in their own pods, thankfully they didn’t enclose them thus avoiding a possible Spinal Tap moment, towers of sparks shot up beside them as they launched into “Dance Devil Dance.” You could feel the energy from the stage but the energy coming back at the stage from the fans was even stronger as a steady stream of crowd surfers began. The players in this band fit so well together and they took the songs to another level live while also interacting with the each other and the crowd. Guitarists Jonas Jarlsby and Tim Ohrstrom provided some unbelievable playing, especially when they dueled each other, and the rhythm section of Henrik Sandelin and drummer John Alfredsson provided the platform for which all the dressing of the music was built upon. The court jester that led the three-ring circus was the infectious lead singer Johannes Eckerstrom. There just isn’t anyone better and more entertaining to watch than he is and it’s very difficult to take your eyes off him. He commands the stage with his crazy antics and facial expressions but it should not be lost on anybody how well he actually pulls off his vocals. He’s spot on and does not take a note off and sounded amazing the whole night which included the song “Tower” where it was just him and a piano. 

The new album released this year called ‘Dance Devil Dance’ is a crusher, blessed with an undeniable groove, it’s as catchy as it is heavy. Five of the eighteen songs played came off the new record and every one of them were incredible, in particular “The Dirt I’m Buried In” really hit in a spectacular way. During the song “Puppet Show” Johannes popped up in the balcony of the theatre with his trombone, but before he played it, he made a balloon animal, only at an Avatar show does that happen and actually makes sense. All the songs you would want were played like “Colossus,” “Let It Burn,” “Bloody Angel,” “Smells Like a Freakshow” and the king made an appearance for “A Statue of the King.” The set closed with “Hail the Apocalypse.” 

I love bands that bring that extra flavor to the stage, that visual that keeps you in the venue until the lights go up. Even with the custumes, staging and props, they never sacrifice the integrity of how the songs should be played live.  Sonically the songs sounded incredible and when you have that in unison with such a high-level stage show with all five guys sharing in the production and the responsibility of giving every person in the venue a night to remember, you have something magical, and that is what Avatar is. 

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AVATAR Turns Minneapolis Into Avatar Country [Review & Photo Gallery]

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If it looks like a freak show, sounds like a freak show, and certainly smells like a freak show, you have entered Avatar Country. Avatar planted their flag in the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota at the First Avenue Nightclub to the delight of Avatar’s many citizens that came to see the King. The band hailing is making a run through North America for the first time as a headliner. The bands popularity has been on a constant up rise through hard work and playing anywhere a stage can be found. Their live shows are one of the best things going in rock music and Sweden’s best-kept secret is slowly being unleashed onto the rest of the world. The band 68, Dance With The Dead, and Devin Townsend provided support. Having these four outfits on the same stage was truly unique as each offered completely different elements. Continue reading →

SONIC TEMPLE Friday Review & Photo Gallery!

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Ghost

Mapfre Stadium in Columbus Ohio has been home to Rock on the Range for the last 11 years. But after last year’s festival, Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) split ways with their former partner AEG and were unable to keep the rights to the name Rock On The Range thus the festival being renamed: Sonic Temple Arts and Music Festival. Could it create the same moments and memories that made Rock On The Range legendary for over 10 years?

I arrived at Mapfre Stadium about 2 hours before doors open. There was already a huge line of people waiting to get in and you could feel the excitement from everyone.

The Jacks

The Jacks were the first band on the schedule and they opened up the Echo Stage with a good easy going set. Their EP hasn’t been released yet so the crowd got to hear some upcoming songs off of it including “Walk Away” and “Looking For Love.” It’s going to be a long day of live music. They were the perfect band to start the day.

Shvpes

Shvpes was next up on the Echo Stage they were first band of the weekend featuring members that have famous fathers. Griffin Dickinson, the band’s lead singer, is the son of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson. That alone brought out a decent crowd. They were a little faster tempo than I was expecting and that seemed to energize the crowd as we had our first mosh pit and crowd surfers of the weekend. Most of their set included songs off of their 2018 album ‘Greater Than’ including “Undertones” and “Afterlife.”

Badflower

Badflower had the honor of opening this year’s Main Stage and they didn’t disappoint. They didn’t play to a huge crowd, however, as most of them were still lined up trying to get in the gates. It was also probably the calmest the main stage crowd was all weekend. Most of their set included songs from their debut album including “x ANA x,” “Ghost,” and “Heroin,” in which lead singer Josh Katz stated was the #1 rock song in America in the upcoming chart. “I’m going to get in trouble for saying that” he stated before starting the song.

Wage War

For all the metalheads in attendance, we got our first metal band of the day over at the Echo Stage. Wage War come out to thunderous cheers and multiple devil horn salutes in the air. The crowd instantly broke out into 3 circle pits and the band was loving the energy from the crowd. Their set included their new single “Low” and songs from their other 2 albums including “Alive” and “Stitch.”

Avatar

Next up on the Main Stage is the band that may have put on the best performance of the day on that stage. The Swedish rockers, Avatar, came out with high energy and had members of the band sitting on a throne above the drum set as they performed “A Statue of the King.” The crowd was going crazy as they performed their hits “Hail the Apocalypse” and “Smells Like a Freakshow.” To add to the insanity of the performance, a guy in a chicken suit was crowd surfing nonstop. An Avatar stage show is really cool to witness and is a must see if you can catch them on the festival circuit.

Zeal & Ardor

The Echo Stage was now the place to be to see the most unique band of the weekend. Zeal & Ardor, a relatively new band that mixes black metal with southern blues and gospel, absolutely destroyed the 2nd stage and put on what I think was the best performance of the entire weekend. The crowd was completely enthralled with the band as they sang along to all of the evil lyrics to songs such as “Blood In The River,” “Devil is Fine,” and “Don’t You Dare.” It was nonstop awesomeness for their 30 minute set and the only time the singer spoke to the crowd was to say “We don’t talk a lot. I hope that’s ok.” When you kick as much ass as they do, it absolutely is.

Beartooth

Imagine getting to play the Main Stage of a festival in front of your hometown fans. That’s exactly what Beartooth got to do. And the crowd was loving it as much as they did. Lead singer Caleb Shomo kept urging the crowd; “More crowdsurfing. More mosh pits.” The crowd responded with an onslaught of people getting tossed toward the stage as the band played songs such as “Disease” and “In Between.”

Parkway Drive

The heaviest band to play the Main Stage so far was up next. Parkway Drive had the crowd raging during the hottest part of the day with the sun beaming down on the stadium floor. That didn’t seem to bother the crowd as they seemed to enjoy the set that consisted mostly of songs from the bands most recent album ‘Reverence.’

Tom Morello

I left Parkway Drive’s performance early to head over to the Wave Stage to see Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello play a solo set. This was one of the most interesting sets of the weekend. Morello started out by playing in the crowd during the first song. During the 2nd song, he went on stage and played with a DJ and a video board that displayed various political messages including anti-police messages such as “Be white or get shot.” During all of this, I kept saying to myself “did I really miss Black Label Society for this?” But as soon as I said that, we got what may be the best highlight of the weekend. To honor the 2 year anniversary of Chris Cornell’s death, Morello brought out System of a Down’s Serj Tankian to play a cover of Audioslave’s “Like a Stone.” The performance was incredibly emotional. The performance ended with Morello bringing people up from the crowd on the stage to sing songs from the Rage Against the Machine catalog.

Halestorm

Now it was time for the first of the Main Stage headliners. Halestorm started their set with a drum solo. At first I thought that was odd but it gave the crowd a chance to get over from the side stages and get settled in. Their set contained all of their hits and a selection of songs from their new album ‘Vicious.’ A couple of set highlights included Lzzy bringing up a girl from the crowd and giving her a custom Epiphone Explorer. Very cool moment. Halestorm also dedicated their hit song “Get Off” to their 10 year anniversary of playing Rock On The Range over on the Jager Stage when no one knew who they were.

Meshuggah

The headliner for the Echo Stage was none other than extreme metal band Meshuggah. This was my first time seeing the Swedish metallers and I was expecting big things. I had kept hearing that a Meshuggah pit was a religious experience. But I didn’t experience that. The band was good and they played a wide range of songs from their catalog but I didn’t feel they gave the crowd much energy and they stood in spot on stage for most of the set. Others in the crowd seemed to be having a blast as I smelled the most marijuana that I did all weekend. Maybe that’s what I needed to really enjoy the set.

Ghost

The sun was setting. The cool breeze has started blowing through. It was time for the ritual to begin. Ghost provokes a very decisive reaction from fans: you either love them or you hate them. I fall under the former and I loved their set. All of the best songs from their albums were played including “Absolution,” “Cirice,” “Dance Macabre,” and “Square Hammer.” For the first time ever at this festival (and probably only time), a full on saxophone solo broke out during their instrumental tune “Miasma.” Heavy metal doesn’t have to be heavy to be great. Ghost is the perfect example of that.

As soon as Ghost left the stage, the rains began to pour down. The rains didn’t last long and had stopped by the time System Of A Down hit the stage. It has been 16 years since I’ve seen them live and since they don’t play many shows, I was beyond excited to see them again. As soon as they started playing, I could tell something was out of sync. After 3 songs, Daron Malakian announced to the crowd that they had to reboot the sound system. He led the crowd in a “fuck the system” chant that ended up being a theme of the set. After a 10 minute delay, the band came back out and continued the set. System Of A Down is known for not being that great of a live band and for me personally that was the case here as well. Even after the audio fix, the band just didn’t seem in sync. I’m not sure if it is the fact that they don’t get along very well or the fact that it had been 8 months since they played together, but the performance just wasn’t that great. The crowd still had a great time and we got to hear 27 songs including an even mix from all of their albums. But it was a disappointing end to a great day of live music.

 

Sonic Temple Spotlight: AVATAR

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Each week we’re bringing you several different spotlight segments from the Summer’s biggest rock festivals including Epicenter Festival, Chicago Open Air, and, of course, Sonic Temple!  This week, we’re showcasing Göthenburg, Sweden’s Avatar – a melodic metal act with demented circus theatrics, making for one hell of a show! Continue reading →

AVATAR Announces Headline Tour Dates For North America!

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The Swedish metal outfit, Avatar, have announced a return to North America for the “Avatar Country World Tour 2019”. The tour will begin in Buffalo, NY on May 16 and conclude in Las Vegas, NV on June 15.

Avatar released the concept album, ‘Avatar Country,’ in 2018 and has toured relentlessly to support it. Vocalist Johannes Eckerstrom stated that ‘Avatar Country’ is nearing the end of the road and this tour will be the last chance to see them in their Royal Glory in tribute to the king. Continue reading →

TRIVIUM, AVATAR, LIGHT THE TORCH In Nashville, Tennessee [Review + Photo Gallery]

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Trivium

Wrapping up “The Sin and the Sentence” touring cycle that began in late October 2017 and saw them trek all through the US, Canada and Europe for more than 100 dates, the road warriors in Trivium are back for another leg of North American dates that will see them hit 25 more cities through November 3rd. Joining in on the fun for this leg are the supergroup-esque fellas in Light the Torch and the ever entertaining band out of Gothenburg, Sweden, Avatar.

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Carolina Rebellion 2018: Friday [Review & Photo Gallery]

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Underoath

 

After a whole year of waiting Carolina Rebellion 2018 has finally arrived. As the gates opened fans sprinted to stages all across the festival grounds in hopes to hang on to the rail at the stage their favorite band would be performing on. As we eagerly awaited tickets to go on sale, then for the lineup, and finally for the set times and keeping our fingers crossed our favorites bands don’t play at the same time. Another big thing most of us wait for is our first carton of Island Noodles of the festival season. We certainly wish we could cover every band that played this year but it just isn’t logistically possible with interviews, and other media related happenings. Friday was a day filled with great bands and if you wasn’t there you certainly missed an epic Carolina Rebellion. The day 1 lineup was pretty stacked with up and comers like Counterfeit and Dubé, then also those veteran acts like Sevendust and Stone Temple Pilots. Then you had some acts that are amazing we aren’t use to seeing in the festival circuit like Andrew W.K., and Power Trip. Then closing out the night you have Shinedown followed by the legends Alice In Chains. Friday wasn’t my favorite lineup of the festival but it certainly had a lot of talent hit the stages and some very impressive performances. Continue reading →

AVATAR Brings The Freak Show To Atlanta, Georgia! [Photo Gallery]

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Avatar

Avatar has long been one of those bands that dominate in their live shows and leave fans jaws on the floor not only by their sound but their amazingly entertaining stage presence. On this particular night Avatar headlined the Buckhead Theatre with opening acts Hellzapoppin Side Show and The Brains from Montreal Canada. You could say that Hellzapoppin easily fit in with Avatar’s whole theme, they aren’t a musical act but it brought something different to the show that you don’t see very often.  Continue reading →

AVATAR Announces Huge NA & EU Tour And Release First Song Of Upcoming Album ‘Avatar Country’!

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Huge news! Not only did Avatar announce their 2018 NA + EU tour they also revealed their album name, song titles and even released 1 track of it. Get right in!

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