Hailing from Sweden we have Avatar a twisted combination of dark circus theatrics and heavy metal. Being a fan of their music but not having witnessed them live I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The room grew silent as I waited for Avatar the tension slowly growing within the crowd. The silence was suddenly broken by the sounds of anticipation and one by one approached the stage silently greeting the crowd with a cold malicious stare from the centre of the stage robotically and dutifully moving to stand in their place. Waiting like a caged animal upon the call of their master and then came on stage greeting the crowd like a ringleader inviting them all deeper into their circus of madness and all that tension in the crowd, all that malice within the band exploded into one. 
And it didn’t stop there followed by ear piercing guitar solos, and an impressive vocal range drawing you in with a soft almost frail voice. But smashing into a powerful bone shaking shrieking tearing its face off in front of you to reveal its true nature.
And at the end of the show each band member silently as before walked to the front of the stage and one by one thanked the fans. After they gathered together placed their arms around each other and took a final bow, a class act. To me it was more than a genuine and heartfelt send-off great things are rarely made of one thing, it’s when you have all the elements whether it’s Kungen and Tim Öhrström’s rock and roll sound the technical solos and hard hitting riffs. Henrik Sandelin’s rhythmic and groove inspired bass. John Alfredsson’s smashing the drums providing the heart attack rhythm to the machine. And Johannes Michael Gustaf Eckerström’s impressive vocal range entertaining and almost sadistic showmanship. Only by combining all these elements together you can only produce something as unique as Avatar.
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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY LUKE DENHAM