''Avatar Country'' is the seventh studio album by Swedish metal band
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
, released on 12 January 2018.
Background
The band recorded their seventh studio album throughout Summer 2017 at Spinroad Studios in Lindome, Sweden. The album was produced by Jay Ruston, noted for working with
Stone Sour
Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand ...
,
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...
and
Steel Panther
Steel Panther is an American comedic glam metal band from Los Angeles, California. They are known for their profane and humorous lyrics as well as their exaggerated onstage pastiche of the stereotypical glam metal lifestyle.
History
Metal Sh ...
.
Keyboards and orchestral arrangements were provided by Aron Parmerud.
Avatar took part in the Avatar Country World Tour 2017, touring the United States from January to February 2018, and various countries in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
from March to April, with The Brains and freakshow attraction Hellzapoppin'.
Just one night before the album's release, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Avatar performed six songs from the album for the first time, along with songs from their previous albums.
Song information
Avatar released music videos for three songs on the album; "A Statue of the King" on 24 October 2017,
"The King Wants You" on 19 December 2017,
and "The King Welcomes You to Avatar Country" on 23 May 2018. All three videos were directed by longtime collaborator Johan Carlén.
Avatar also called the opening track, "Glory to Our King", the album's "national anthem".
Notably, every song on the track listing has the word "King" in its name.
Track listing
Personnel
Avatar
*
Johannes Eckerström
Avatar is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed in Gothenburg in 2001. The band has released eight studio albums, the most recent being ''Hunter Gatherer'' in 2020. The band has had some success on US rock radio, notably with their song " New Land" ...
– lead vocals
*Jonas "Kungen" Jarlsby – guitar
*Tim Öhrström – guitar, backing vocals
*Henrik Sandelin – bass, backing vocals
*John Alfredsson – drums
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2018 albums
Avatar (Swedish band) albums