Das Interview mit Gitarrist Marcus von Avatarium zum neuen Album Hurricanes And Halos (English Version)

Artist: Avatarium

Orgin: Stockholm, Schweden

Genre: Doom Rock

Label: Nuclear Blast

Link: https://www.facebook.com/avatariumofficial/

Bandmember:

Vocals – Jennie-Ann Smith
Guitare – Marcus Jidell
Bass – Mats Rydström
Drums – Lars Sköld
Keyboard – Rickard Nilsson

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Hello Marcus,

I am glad that you found the time to talk with us about your upcoming album Hurricanes And Halos, which will be published on 26 May via Nuclear Blast.

First of all I am most interested to know how you proceed in the songwriting. Have you adopted the concept of the two former productions, or have you changed the procedures from the recording of the songs until the complete album?

Avatarium / Marcus:

We have these keywords for our music, ‚dark, heavy and poetic‘ and we always try to write music around these three words, but never have an exact concept. But we wantto have certain dynamics on an album and this time we thought ‚Let’s start with this Deep Purple‚ish vibe on the first song‘ and then we switch into something Blue Oyster Cult-ish for ‚The Starless Sleep‘, while ‚Road to Jerusalem‘ is an acoustic track and very different again. That’s how we think – we wonder how it FEELS to listen to the album. And then we bring in all the ideas and we think every album needs to be its own little animal so to speak. We explore emotions and ourselves and that’s what makes it interesting. If we ever make an album that sounds exactly like the last one, then we should probably just stop writing music 😉

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Founded „only“ in 2012 you can look back on five most probably very exciting as well as very racy years. How big was the influence of your experiences, may they be from the shows or from the studio, on the production phase of Hurricanes And Halos?

Avatarium / Marcus:

We’ve been very fortunate to do so much in such few years, with every song and every show you get better and evolve. For me, it has been amazing and I’m a totally different musician now than I was back then in 2012 and I guess it’s the same for the others in the band. And we’re very fortunate to be able to work so much and release albums on a quite regular base now.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Each piece of art has a message for the listener. What do you think will be the feeling of the listener, may it be a die-hard fan or a new one, after having listened to the album? Can you please explain a little bit in a short track-by-track your point of view for the songs?

Avatarium / Marcus:

I think there will be a lot of different emotions, when you listen to it, it’s almost like a ride, a journey. On each corner you see something new. Hopefully you feel all kinds of different emotions, as already said before with the opening track, The Starless Sleep, Road to Jerusalem, etc…

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

The album shows some slight metal influences and grows to a hell of a ride through the wild seventies, leading right into the year 2017. Currently it is quite fashionable to deal with these „retro patterns“, but you show the ability to mix these old atmospheres with modern vibes. What’s your point of view for this?

Avatarium / Marcus:

Music is tradition – someone played something, someone else heard it and then made his own interpretation of it, it has always been like this from the very beginning on and that’s wonderful. So being influenced by 60/70s music is very natural, but I generally listen to a lot of older music – but if you want to be serious about it, you need to bring something up yourself, you can’t just copy it. You need to add your own feeling to that. So hopefully this is why we don’t just sound like an old retro band, but like a band that sounds both like the past and the future together.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

In my review I have set up the comparison, that Jennie-Ann Smith at the microphone together with you playing the instruments may be considered as the female counterpart of Ghost. I already heard that you esteem this band and are not aversed to this comparison. Are you in contact with your fellow countrymen and could you imagine to collaborate or even do a tour with them?

Avatarium / Marcus:

Personally I am not in contact with them, but some of us… might be. Ghost is a great band and they did amazing stuff, especially the last album. The future will tell if we do stuff together, but of course it would be awesome if we would get the chance to tour with them, as it’s a really fantastic band!

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

The cover of the album The Girl With The Raven Mask was relative artless, but Hurricanes And Halos is quite the opposite, and you  may describe it without hesitation as an eye-catcher. Did you design it, or was it done by an external artist?

Avatarium / Marcus:

Erik Rovanpera, who also designed the artwork for our first record, did it again. It’s very colourful this time and shows the more dynamic and ‚lighter‘ side of the album, and was inspired by the track ‚Medusa Child‘.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

If I am not wrong you will be playing on 1st July 2017 during the Tuska Open Air the only show after the release. Is there already planned something else for the Finnish fans, and will there be a tour through Europe in fall?

Avatarium / Marcus:

Yes, last week we announced our headline tour for September and we’re very happy to be finally back on stage again and play the new songs. Of course this is not the only thing that we plan and we hope to be able to announce more shows for 2018 too! Time will tell.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Thank you very much for your open words. I wish you a lot of success with this well-done album, which will surely still run many times in my player. Now the last word is yours. Is there anything you would like to tell to your fans and the readers of Time for Metal?

Avatarium / Marcus:

Thanks a lot for taking the time for this interview and for your support, it’s much appreciated! Hope to see you in September on on