Avatarium

Avatarium
Jennie-Ann Smith at the 2015 Rock Hard Festival
General information
origin	Stockholm , Sweden
Genre (s)	Doom metal , rock
founding	2012
Website	http://avatariumofficial.se/
Current occupation
singing	Jennie-Ann Smith
Electric guitar	Marcus Jidell
Electric bass	Mats Rydström (since 2017)
Drums	Lars Sköld
Keyboard	Rickard Nilsson (since 2016)
former members
Electric bass	Leif Edling (until 2017)
Keyboard	Carl Westholm (until 2016)

Avatarium is a Swedish doom metal and rock band from Stockholm that was formed in 2012.

history

Foundation and first album

The founding of the band goes back to the birthday of bassist Leif Edling in 2012. Edling decided to start a new band together with Mikael Åkerfeldt . However, since Åkerfeldt was too involved in Opeth , he could no longer participate in the project. Edling, who had already completed three songs, came to the help of guitarist Marcus Jidell ( Evergrey ) instead , which made it possible to rehearse in Jidell's studio. The band also includes singer Jennie-Ann Smith, keyboardist Carl Westholm ( Krux ) and drummer Lars Sköld ( Tiamat ).

In September 2013 the EP Moonhorse was released via Nuclear Blast , which contained the song of the same name, as well as the song Boneflower and the Black Sabbath cover War Pigs . The self-titled debut album followed in November of the same year. Avatarium played at the Roadburn and Hammer of Doom festivals before another EP called All I Want was released in November 2014 . At the Metal Hammer Awards , the band was nominated in the Up and Coming category and Avatarium in the Best Debut Album category, but the prizes went to Beastmilk and Insomnium, respectively .

The Girl with the Raven Mask and Hurricanes and Halos

For health reasons Edling has not played any more concerts with the band since autumn 2014 and is replaced by Anders Iwers ( Tiamat , Dark Tranquility ). A year later, the second album The Girl with the Raven Mask was released , which was named album of the month by the German magazines Rock Hard and Metal Hammer . The album debuted at number 38 in the German and at number 56 in the Swedish album charts. The band played at the Rock Hard Festival and the Graspop Metal Meeting in the summer of 2015 and at the Masters of Rock a year later . In September 2016 the band received the Metal Hammer Award in the “Up and Coming” category.

Carl Westholm and Leif Edling left the band a short time later and were replaced by Rickard Nilsson and Mats Rydström. The third studio album, Hurricans and Halos , was released on May 26, 2017 and was voted album of the month by the German magazine Metal Hammer. Even though Leif Edling was no longer a member of the band, he wrote most of the songs on the album. Hurricans and Halos was ranked 36th in the German, 51st place in the Austrian and 29th place in the Swiss album charts. The band played at the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in the summer of 2017 and a year later at the Rockharz Open Air and the Sweden Rock Festival .

The Fire I Long For

On November 22nd, 2019 the band will release their fourth studio album The Fire I Long For , which was produced by Marcus Jidell. Leif Edling contributed three tracks to this album, while Jennie-Ann Smith and Marcus Jidell composed the rest. The Fire I Long For was named album of the month by the German magazines Metal Hammer and Rock Hard .

style

According to Markus Endres from metal.de, the band played a mixture of Doom Metal with melodic guitar riffs and classic and hard rock from the 1970s on their debut album . In addition, progressive trains are also recognizable. Smith's singing is described as dark, rough, and bluesy .

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	SE
2013	Avatarium Nuclear Blast	-	-	-	-	First published: November 1, 2013
2015	The Girl with the Raven Mask Nuclear Blast	DE38 (1 week) DE	-	-	SE56 (1 week) SE	First published: October 23, 2015
2017	Hurricanes and Halos Nuclear Blast	DE36 (1 week) DE	AT51 (1 week) AT	CH29 (1 week) CH	-	First published: May 26, 2017
2019	The Fire I Long For Nuclear Blast	DE63 (1 week) DE	-	CH90 (1 week) CH	-	First published: November 22, 2019

EPs

• 2013: Moonhorse (Nuclear Blast)
• 2014: All I Want (Nuclear Blast)

Music videos

• 2013: Boneflower
• 2016: Pearls and Coffins
• 2017: The Starless Sleep
• 2019: Rubicon

gallery

• Avatarium, line-up at Rockharz Open Air 2018
• 

  Bass player Mats Rydström

• 

  Drummer Lars Sköld

• 

  Guitarist Marcus Jidell

• 

  Keyboardist Rickard Nilsson

• 

  Singer Jennie-Ann Smith

Awards

Metal Hammer Awards

year	category	For	result
2014	Up and coming	Avatarium	Nominated
	Best debut album	Avatarium	Nominated
2016	Up and coming	Avatarium	Won

Web links

Commons : Avatarium  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Chart sources: DE / AT / CH / SE

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Markus Endres: Avatarium. "Avatarium". metal.de, accessed on January 25, 2013 . 
2. ^ Björn Thorsten Jaschinski: Avatarium . Death comes on heavy hooves. In: Rock Hard . No. 319 , December 2013, p. 46 f .
3. ↑ Biography. avatariumofficial.se, accessed January 25, 2013 . 
4. ↑ LEIF EDLING To Sit Out AVATARIUM's Performance At ROADBURN; TIAMAT's ANDERS IWERS To Fill In. Blabbermouth.net , accessed October 17, 2016 . 
5. ↑ RockHard: Album of the Month. Retrieved May 6, 2017 (English). 
6. ↑ Avatarium THE GIRL WITH THE RAVEN MASK: Album of the month November . In: Metal Hammer . October 21, 2015 ( metal-hammer.de [accessed May 6, 2017]).
7. ↑ METAL HAMMER AWARDS 2016: These are the winners! In: Metal Hammer . September 19, 2016 ( metal-hammer.de [accessed May 6, 2017]).
8. ↑ Frank Thießies: Avatarium - Hurricanes and Halos. Metal Hammer. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
9. ↑ The album of the month 12/19: Avatarium THE FIRE I LONG FOR. Metal Hammer. Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
10. ^ Wolfgang Liu Kuhn: Avatarium - The Fire I Long For. Rock Hard, accessed November 21, 2019 .