Avatar at The Van Buren
The journeyed, eccentric, Gothenburg, Sweden-founded melodic death metal act formed in 2001 and enjoyed major home country success with their fourth and fifth albums, 2009’s Avatar and 2012’s Black Waltz. It was between these releases that Avatar debuted the look which ultimately defined them, with their lead vocalist Johannes Eckerström presenting himself as a cross between the Joker and a ringmaster leading a group of jesters. It was a distinct image and made Avatar well-known internationally. Eckerström maintained this look into the 2020s with the release of 2023’s Dance Devil Dance.
Formed by two kindred musical souls who realized that their previous band was holding them back, Avatar were born when drummer John Alfredsson and guitarist Jonas Jarlsby decided that their positions in Lost Soul were going nowhere, so they left and regrouped under their new moniker. Eventually, Alfredsson and Jarlsby would be introduced to Eckerström, and the core of Avatar would be in place. To round out their membership, bassist Henrik Sandelin and guitarist Simon Andersson joined the fold in 2003, just in time to record the band’s first demo, Personal Observations. While gigging to promote this, Avatar stepped back into the studio to record their debut EP, 2004’s 4 Reasons to Die. Following the EP’s release, Avatar were given the opportunity to tour outside Sweden for the first time. They next entered the studio to work on a debut full-length and scored a deal with Gain Records during the recording process. That album, Thoughts of No Tomorrow, was released in 2006 and followed by two European tours, one with Impaled Nazarene, the other with Evergrey. Their busy year was rounded out with two shows alongside original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di’Anno.
Avatar had an equally busy 2007, starting off as the opening act for major metal band Stone Sour and finishing it with a new album. Schlacht, released in October of that year, was followed by a support slot on the 2008 Obituary tour. The group’s eponymous third studio album was released in 2009, and the next two years found Avatar hitting the tour circuit hard and embarking on their first-ever U.S. jaunt. Two nights before Halloween 2011 — in Helsingborg, Sweden — Eckerström stepped on-stage sporting his unhinged Joker look for the first time.
A couple of months later Andersson left the band and was replaced by the guitarist Tim Öhrström, who also provided backing vocals. Arriving in 2012, the well-received Black Waltz peaked at number 25 in their native Sweden, and 2014’s Hail the Apocalypse became the first Avatar outing to crack the Billboard 200. In 2016, the band issued its sixth studio long-player, Feathers & Flesh, a conceptual piece about an owl who declares war on the world. Their seventh effort, Avatar Country, arrived in early 2018. Produced by Jay Ruston (Stone Sour, Anthrax, Steel Panther), the album featured the singles “A Statue of the King” and “The King Wants You,” as well as Avatar’s spin on the Swedish royal anthem “Glory to Our King.” The following year, the band released their first live outing, The King Live in Paris. 2020 found them returning to the studio with Ruston to record their eighth album. The resulting Hunter Gatherer was issued toward the end of the year. In 2021, they founded their own label, Black Waltz Records, and it was on this imprint that they unveiled 2023’s Dance Devil Dance, featuring a duet with Lzzy Hale of Halestorm.
In the recent history of heavy metal, there have been few emerging bands that have shaken up the scene in the way Alien Weaponry has. Since releasing their acclaimed Napalm Records debut Tū in 2018, the New Zealand band’s kinetic presence and unique sound – combining thrash metal with lyrics in the native indigenous language, te reo Māori — has attracted throngs of fans and media supporters across the globe that have responded to the sheer ruthlessness, untempered passion, and unbelievable noise created by the three-piece.
Rising even higher with the release of their second acclaimed album, Tangaroa (2021), the band has amassed millions of streams, video views and success at SiriusXM Liquid Metal, was hailed the “future of metal” by Metal Hammer, and has performed with the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Gojira, Slayer and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, the band capped off 2024 with the release of a documentary film, Kua Tupu Te Ara, which premiered at the renowned Tribeca Film Festival.
New Zealand modern groove metal trio Alien Weaponry will release their heaviest, most powerful and mature offering to date, Te Rā, on March 28, 2025 via Napalm Records.
SpiritWorld is a heavy metal band from Las Vegas, formed in 2017 by vocalist Stu Folsom, known for its “death-western” style that blends thrash, death metal, and hardcore with outlaw country and horror themes. The band’s aesthetic combines elements of the Old West with supernatural horror, presented through high-energy, aggressive metal music. Folsom’s background, including growing up in a country-western environment, is a major inspiration for the band’s unique concept and imagery.