AVATARIUM

Between You, God, The Devil And The Dead

AFM
rating icon 8.5 / 10

Track listing:

01. Long Black Waves
02. I See You Better In The Dark
03. My Hair Is On Fire (But I'll Take Your Hand)
04. Lovers Give A Kingdom To Each Other
05. Being With The Dead
06. Until Forever And Again
07. Notes From Underground
08. Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead


From their origins as a Leif Edling side-project, to their current status as one of the most imaginative doom-related bands around, AVATARIUM have always been a class act. These days the Stockholm band are led by guitarist Marcus Jidell and vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith — partners in music and in life — and while the specter of Edling's legendary talents still looms in the background of their thunderous sound, they have taken the CANDLEMASS man's original idea, carefully nurtured it, and allowed it to blossom into something more.

As with 2022's criminally underrated "Death, Where Is Your Sting?" , AVATARIUM's sixth studio album highlights the couple's refined, songwriting chemistry, while sounding absurdly lush and authentic, like some long, lost proto-metal masterpiece from 50 years ago. Alternately morbid and euphoric, "Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead" draws proudly from doom metal's riff-built legacy, but with impressive levels of subtlety, sophistication and soul. It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, utterly gorgeous.

In a sense, this is the logical culmination of everything AVATARIUM have released to date. Smith's voice is such a unique and evocative instrument that she could sing any old garbage and give people goosebumps, but with songs as deep and dramatic as these, she meets the moment in spectacular fashion. It certainly helps that Jidell has conjured some truly spellbinding music here. "Long Black Waves" was the first song released into the world, and it perfectly encapsulates the way that AVATARIUM have evolved in the 12 years since their debut album. Rooted in '70s rock, but not self-consciously so, it marries a timeless doom riff to one of Smith's most electrifying vocals and allows that combination to meander and wind through a hazy but portentous arrangement, with Hammond organs bubbling away beneath the tumultuous surface. Both gently bluesy and wonderfully sinister, in that highly stylized, occult rock way that seldom fails to hit the spot, "Long Black Waves" is mesmerizing. Smith sings "In dreams they swallow me whole…" and the atmosphere is pitch-black, treacle-thick and genuinely unsettling, but also imbued with profoundly satisfying, big rock belligerence.

A more succinct variation on the same theme, "I See You Better In The Dark" is a sublime, four-minute rush of classic rock capriciousness, with a surging, upbeat chorus, angelic backing vocals and several riffs of unquestionable distinction. The mood shifts on "My Hair Is On Fire (But I'll Take Your Hand)", wherein momentous, doomy chords collide with progressive pomp and another magical Smith vocal. It's a joyous, slow-motion juggernaut of melody and muscle, and one of the heaviest and most dynamic songs AVATARIUM have yet recorded. The short, snappy "Notes From Underground" is similarly potent, with strong prog vibes emanating from those old-school keys, and more riffs that crush and caress with equal enthusiasm.

But there are real revelations here, too. "Lovers Give A Kingdom To Each Other" is partly acoustic and palpably psychedelic, with a languorous gait that leans into freewheeling space rock and '70s FLOYD without surrendering AVATARIUM's core heaviness. Likewise, the closing title track is an absurdly pretty, piano-led torch song that aches with love, loss, grief and gratitude, and steadily builds to an austere but devastating crescendo of guitar solos and a disembodied Smith floating through the distortion like a vision from beyond. Like everything else here, it resounds with timeless grace and emotional fortitude. Still a class act, then, and still evolving.

Author: Dom Lawson
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