Album Review: Avatarium - Death, Where Is Your Sting?

When you come to a fork in the road, there are not just two options. There does exist a third option, which is to eschew choice altogether and simply barrel through and blame the power of momentum and inertia for the destruction it causes. I kind of feel that's where Avatarium has been, caught between their roots as a doom band, and their growing comfort as a classic/folk band. The two sides pull the wheel in opposite directions, and it evens out with the band going straight ahead, sometimes to their detriment.

I really loved their last album, "The Fire I Long For", because it felt like the band expanding their wings. The weakest moments on that album were when they fully embraced doom, and that is where this album cycle started. The first track that heralded this release, "God Is Silent", was the band at their most doom, and dare I say also their most boring. It's difficult to leave your roots, but sometimes they hold you down.

We see that on the opening "A Love Like Ours". There are beautiful strings dotting the song, and the tension built during the guitar solo is arresting, but the core of the song is a rather dull and slow slog that never gathers much momentum. It's all droning chords without a melodic movement to the tone, which doesn't give much contour for Jennie-Ann to weave her magic. There are some beautiful tones, but the doom holds the song back from fully developing into something special.

The title track is the magic Avatarium is capable of. There is still a hint of doom to the electric guitars that rumble in the background, but the strummed acoustics have just enough propulsion that Jennie-Ann's melody moves and sticks. It's a gorgeous, dark rock song, and the sort of thing Avatarium does as well as anyone. That's what makes it so disappointing that we only get one or two of those moments on any of their records.

The majority of this record falls into the doom trap, wherein each track becomes a mire to wade through for the brief moments that capture my attention. Their last record had a few more, and had me thinking the band's situation was moving in the right direction, but this album falls back into the darkness. Simply put, while the band's sound, and Jennie-Ann's voice, are absolutely lovely, the songs aren't there to properly showcase what they can do.

This record does give us one absolute classic, but I can't say I would ever reach for this album over "The Fire I Long For". Sometimes when we take a step forward, we discover we aren't on the right path. I'm feeling that way about Avatarium right now, since I know what they are capable of. I was expecting more.