AVATAR ANNOUNCES WORLD TOUR
CANADIAN STOP IN TORONTO ON APRIL 16TH
WATCH VIDEO FOR NEW LAND
Toronto, ON – March 29th, 2017 – Swedish metal band, Avatar, will bring their highly engaging heavy metal to international audiences this spring. The band will head out on April 7th, starting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through May 18th, alongside In This Moment and Motionless In White, with a stop in Toronto on April 16th at the Danforth Music Hall. In June, they’ll begin the festival circuit in Czech Republic at Metalfest Open Air, wrapping in Bangor, Maine at Rise Above Festival. See complete list of dates below for details.
“We’ve got many friends in the United States nowadays and we feel like making some new ones,” says frontman, Johannes Eckerström. “We are grateful for this opportunity to hit the road. I believe this will not only be a chance to meet all our faithful Avatar Country-citizens once again, but I think there will be a busy day on our embassy following this. It’s funny that the one I look forward to the most to perform in front of this time is YOU, who won’t be reading this as you don’t know who we are yet. Boy, oh boy are you in for a treat… It’s on.”
The band recently released their interplanetary video for New Land, from their 2016 release, Feathers & Flesh, which premiered via Loudwire. Known for their creative visuals and extreme sounds, Avatar cites inspiration for the video from the recent discovery of “Trappist-1, also designated as 2MASS J23062928-0502285.”
Feathers & Flesh is a concept album and booklet about “an owl who goes to war to stop the sun from rising.” “It’s a tragic story of someone ultimately being set up to fail. She will learn many lessons and encounter many other creatures with ideas of their own. In the end, however, one must ask if something was learned at all,” says Eckerström.
The band depicted these narratives through a series of videos. First for the track, For The Swarm, which recounts the Owl’s encounter with a beehive, followed by The Eagle Has Landed, which presents the Eagle, the antagonist of the tale, as he sees himself.
The album was recorded in Germany, Finland and Sweden in December 2015 with producer extraordinaire, Sylvia Massy (System of a Down, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers) at the wheel. The music is as always rooted in the extreme, with plenty of melodic sensibility and a lust for experimentation. There is a love for intense double bass drumming, riffing and shredding of timeless dimensions alongside rough edges, slow grooves and epic storytelling for the ages. The idea is that as the band digs deeper, the fists will be held up higher. The result is a modern metal album with all the ruthlessness and power one could ask for handled with a loving songwriter’s hand, inspired by The Beatles and Queen.
Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, Avatar (comprised of Johannes Eckerström – Vocals, John Alfredsson – Drums, Henrik Sandelin – Bass, Kungen – Guitars, and Tim Öhrström – Guitars) grew up in the eye of a storm of local musicians made up of metal greats and legends, who conquered the world and redrew the map of heavy metal. This was the measuring stick, and the group have proudly taken on the challenge ever since.
With their release of Black Waltz in 2012, Avatar found their voice in the madness, and started to truly forge their own path in the music they were making. “Our take on playing in a band is that it’s concept art,” says Eckerström. “Everything has to carry the same idea and emotion. You have to be able to see what it sounds like, hear what it smells like and read how it feels.” As such, it is only natural that a group creating music with such strong imagery have become so visually striking, a trait that only became stronger with their 2014 release, Hail the Apocalypse.
Having grown up playing music together, the history of the band is already long and rich. Avatar has toured with Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, Rob Zombie, Sevendust and many others, as well as extremely successful headline rounds and record breaking appearances on festivals such as Rock on the Range and Louder than Life.
With glorious nightmares we didn’t dare to dream of, Avatar takes listeners on a true journey. Be sure to catch them when they are in your city, and stay tuned for more info.
TOUR DATES
4/7 — Milwaukee, WI — Eagles Ballroom
4/8 — Green Bay, WI. — The Sandlot
4/9 — Minneapolis, MI. — Myth Live
4/11 — Omaha, NB. — Sokol Auditorium/Underground
4/12 — Kansas City, MO — Arvest Bank Theater – The Midland
4/13 — Springfield, MO — The Regency*
4/14 — Indianapolis, IN — Egyptian Room – Old National Centre
4/15 — Columbus, OH — Express Live
4/16 — Toronto, ON — The Danforth Music Hall
4/18 — Philadelphia, PA — Electric Factory
4/19 — Albany, NY — Palace Theatre
4/20 — Brooklyn, NY — Saint Vitus*
4/21 — Baltimore, MD — Rams Head Live!
4/22 — Stroudsburg, PA — Sherman Theater
4/23 — Worcester, MA — The Palladium
4/24 — Lancaster, PA — The Chameleon
4/25 — Pittsburgh, PA — Stage AE
4/26 — Detroit, MI — The Fillmore Detroit
4/27 — Louisville, KY — Mercury Ballroom*
4/28 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade
4/29 — Destin, FL — Club L.A.
4/30 — Ladson, SC — Wybb Show
5/2 — Birmingham, AL — Iron City
5/3 — Cincinnati, OH — Bogart’s
5/5 — Nashville, TN — War Memorial Auditorium
5/6 — Mobile, AL — Soul Kitchen
5/7 — Knoxville, TN — The International
5/10 — Rochester, NY — German House
5/11 — Battle Creek, MI — The Music Factory
5/12 — Peoria, IL — The Limelight
5/13 — Joliet, IL — The Forge
5/14 — St. Louis, MO — Fubar
5/16 — Hidalgo, TX — State Farm Arena
5/17 — Corpus Christi, TX — Concrete St. Pavilion
5/18 — Houston, TX — Proof Bar
6/3 — Czech Republic — Metalfest Open Air (Plzen)
6/14 — Austria — Nova Rock
6/15 — France — Hellfest
6/16 — Belgium — Graspop
6/22 — Germany — With Full Force
6/23 — Halden, Norway — Tons of Rock
6/24 — Madrid, Spain — Download Spain
7/13 — Oshkosh, WI — Rock USA
7/14 — Cadott, WI — Cadott Rockfest
7/15 — Chicago, IL — Chicago Open Air
7/23 — Bangor, ME — Rise Above Festival
* = headline show
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