AVATAR Wants To 'Save Heavy Metal' With Upcoming Album
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Vocalist Johannes Eckerström of Swedish metallers AVATAR has confirmed to TotalRock that the band's next album has already been recorded and mixed for an early 2023 release. Regarding what fans can expect to hear on the LP, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The short version is we will make you see the devil, and we will make you dance. You've heard every band say it's their best album yet. This is our best album yet.
"My best thing to liken it to is [JUDAS PRIEST's] 'British Steel' in the sense of that… JUDAS PRIEST were always great, and before 'British Steel' you had 'Killing Machine', you had 'Sad Wings Of Destiny' and all this, but they were a great heavy metal band, a great rock and roll band, a great prog band at times and kind of eclectic. And then with 'British Steel' I find they really got laser focused, cut off the fat. And we're focused on what we feel right now metal needs — this very pompous but yet…
"Honestly, I feel like we have to save heavy metal," he continued. "Because either people are lost in the past… They did it better than we will ever do what they do. Don't do that. What's next? What's next for us? And do that without disappearing up your own asses completely.
"When people end up doing metal that is best enjoyed while sitting down and shutting up, you miss the point," Johannes added. "Metal is the music that you move to — in the pit, banging your head, dancing around, whatever, lifting weights, drinking too much, getting pregnant, impregnating someone, doing things. It's music to move with. You have drums in the band; why would you have drums if you don't move?
"We look a lot to the masters — that is wisdom from MOTÖRHEAD, from JUDAS PRIEST, from a lot of things — but then just… yeah, that, but not that. They did that. We're now and what's next with that. Where can we try to help bring it? And that is this album."
Last year, AVATAR announced its signing to Thirty Tigers and the launch of its own Black Waltz Records imprint. In addition, Eckerström and his bandmates unleashed four new songs which, according to the group, represent a taste of things to come.
AVATAR's ninth studio album was once again produced by Jay Ruston, who previously mixed 2014's "Hail The Apocalypse" and produced 2018's "Avatar Country" and 2020's "Hunter Gatherer".
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
(Photo by Natalia "Snakeheart" Patrashova (c) HeadBanger.ru)
