Swedish metal band Avatar returned to the Commodore Ballroom, bringing their own throne to claim this time.
In the middle of their North American leg of the “Avatar Country” world tour, they made sure fans got a 4 course rock buffet.
Openers ’68 set the decibel meters early. Strolling nonchalantly onto the stage in simple black suit and tie, they wasted no time in shredding the strings and pounding the skins. They already had a ton of fans in the audience and one could see why; their energy is infectious and the riffs are noisy. Vocalist/guitarist Josh Scogin threw himself all over the place (including standing on the drum kit) when he wasn’t screaming into the mic. I need to hear their studio tracks, as it was difficult to extract the lyrics. He had some quips in between songs…”Our merch booth is…over there somewhere…we have some shirts that might fit you…or not.” … “If you know the words to this next song…I’m. Shocked.”
Fun, intentionally unpolished punk and noise, but I feel they could up their musicianship live.
Taking a hard right turn into rhythmic 4 on the floor EDM metal was Dance with the Dead. The crowd was bopping immediately to the mainly instrumental tunes. This is what happens when DJ’s love metal guitar so much that they riff along to pre-recorded rhythm tracks. The remix of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” was unique and inventive, with a different take on the composition and key.
Hometown favourite Devin Townsend took us on another turn. Armed with an acoustic and some looped tracks, his casual Hawaiian shirt dress belied the range of melodic screaming that was to come. Lots of banter was interspersed; musing about home town shows, expectations and relationships. He used his massive vocal range to effect, taking the appreciative crowd on an emotional rollercoaster.
And playing a recording of “Baby Shark”. “It’s a baby shark circle pit” he laughed.
Avatar came out to fanfare and a wordy introduction, in line with the theme of Avatar Country, their latest release. Guitarist Kungen was resplendent in a velvet robe, gold chains and a crown. After the first song, he was escorted by frontman Johannes down to a large, gilded throne.
It seems with every tour, Avatar grows it’s fanbase exponentially. Their show won’t be restrained to smaller venues for long; the combination of melodic metal, dramatic personas and sonic performances are polished and ready for the next level.
One of the song highlights was “Let it Burn”, with a great twanging opening riff to the Marilyn Manson-esque growl of the lyrics.
Johannes thanked the openers and commented “We should be opening up for Devin, not the other way around.”
They also referenced another influence, Judas Priest in the call-and-answer intro to “Smells Like a Freakshow” emulating the live performance of “Breaking the Law”.
It was pretty clear that the singing was a little rough for Johannes Eckstrom throughout the night. Turns out he has been battling a nasty cold for some time. It is amazing he sang as well under those conditions.
Ending the set with “Torn Apart” the loud chants of “AVATAR!” brought the band out quickly for two more songs. This rounded out an over 4 hour show, full of sing alongs, moshing and crowd surfing that kept security busy. Probably the best deal in live music this year.
I don’t think anyone is stealing Avatar’s crown anytime soon.
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written by Scotty Evil