Swedish metal band, Avatar, has returned with their 8th studio album Hunter Gatherer, which will be released Aug 7th via eOne. This time around the band has once again teamed up with producer, Jay Ruston (Stone Sour, Slipknot, Anthrax), who they worked with on their 5th album Hail to the Apocalypse.
The album opens up with ‘Silence in the Age of the Apes’, a song that show cases their signature sound with heavy drumming, fast riffs, tempo switches and guttural vocals. It really kickstarts the rollercoaster ride of what is to come further through the album, as it gives the fans something familiar and eases them into the album’s heavy hitter, ‘Colossus’, which in my opinion is one of the best tracks.
But just as you think you know where this album is going, they throw you a curve ball by following up with ‘A Secret Door’, which features Slipknot’s Corey Taylor whistling throughout the song. Since the first time I heard Taylor’s whistling paired with the calm, mellow vocals of Johannes Eckerstrom, this song has been constantly stuck in my head. Another notable track is ‘Gun’. It sticks out because it’s only song on the album that is purely vocals and a piano but it’s simplicity really helps to showcase Eckerstrom’s versatility as a vocalist.
If I had to describe Hunter Gatherer with only one word, it would definitely be diversity. Upon the first listen, the album feels like it’s all over the place compared to some of their other releases, but the more you listen to it the more details you pick up on that shows you how everything connects. That’s the one thing that I’ve always appreciated the most about Avatar. Their ability to push themselves creatively as musicians in each album and experiment with new things while still finding a way to distinctively sound like Avatar. It’s genuinely refreshing, and Hunter Gatherer is no exception to this as it really highlights the uniqueness of the band as it felt like they were able to take the best parts of their 7 previous albums and change it up to take it to a whole new level with each song leaving it’s own mark.
‘Hunter Gatherer’ will be available worldwide on August 7th. Pre-order the album, here.
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