Avatarium – Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead
Release Date: 24th January 2025
Label: AFM Records
Order/Stream
Genre: Hard Rock, Doom Rock, Blues Rock.
FFO: Lucifer, Black Sabbath, Sorcerer, Oceans Of Slumber, The Doomsday Kingdom, Krux.
Review By: Mark Waight
Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead, there are also a great many other people in the world who are going to want to check out this wonderful sixth album from Swedish doom and hard rock maestros Avatarium.
Avatarium have been constantly evolving since their 2013 self-titled debut and their latest album Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead has been eighteen months in the making, proving that these guys never rush anything in the search of perfection (and nor should they). All their endeavour and hard work on offer here has certainly paid off, as in my opinion you won’t hear many finer compositions than this in the coming year.
Avatarium is Jennie-Ann Smith (vocals), Marcus Jidell (guitars), Andreas Habo Johansson (drums and percussion) and Mats Rydstrom (bass).
The opening track dives straight into those Avatarium trademark dark, deep and heavy doom-laden riffs with an added touch of bluesy rock really enhancing the creative melting pot. It’s an engaging song that will have you instantly on the hook, with those Long Black Waves keeping you totally immersed as they constantly flow over you!
Taking it down a notch or two, I See You Better in The Dark is an absolute belter of a tune. Jennie-Ann Smiths vocals are on fire as they wrestle to compete with some outstandingly powerful guitar chords that will have you sat open-mouthed on the edge of your seat!
Heartbreakingly beautiful, My Hair Is on Fire (But I Will Take Your Hand) is a gloriously gloomy composition where the emotions simmer right to the point of boiling over throughout. Just how they managed to keep the lid secure and prevent it spilling over is quite an achievement in its own right! It’s a tightly wound, harrowing and haunting rendition that could even stir a response from the dead!
Staying with a similar theme, Lovers Give a Kingdom To Each Other this time uses dreamy acoustic guitars rather than a piano to generate the same sorrowful effect. It’s just as equally moving, and you like me may even find yourself shedding a tear or two.
Being With the Dead conjures up images of old school hard rock and early heavy metal in a timeless classic that has an authentic flavour spanning the decades. The guitar solo (appropriately) is to absolutely die for!
With a ghostly and ghastly aura Until Forever and Again is as black as night as it weaves its intoxicating gothic spell. The beautiful vocals at times completely bridge the void between rock and soul with apparent ease.
A little lighter and more up-tempo instrumental track, Notes from Underground has an almost Santana feel about it but with much, much darker undertones. This kind of Latin style appears to work well when blended with doom rock in a kind of day of the dead celebration.
Title track Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead brings down the curtain on this outstanding album. Avatarium have already set the bar extremely high for 2025, and I personally don’t think there are too many other bands out there in this field or genre who are going to be able to compete with quality of this kind.
Anyone who is a serious lover of music is going to absolutely adore Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead as it is a truly remarkable creation and one which Avatarium should be extremely proud of. Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead is Hard Rock for adults and an album that I’m sure that people are going to be talking about for quite some time. If you are looking to purchase any album this coming month then Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead is certainly well worth considering as for me, it stands head and shoulders above many recent releases and may in time become an all-time classic for Avatarium. Very highly recommended.
(5 / 5)
