Avatar- Feathers & Flesh

This has taken longer than expected, but here it is finally. Avatar is a band that caught me from the very first note I listened from them, so Feathers & Flesh was an album that I was really waiting for. It was so promising. I listened to it the first time as it arrived to me three months ago. With a great illusion I unpacked the CD. Great design, by the way. Illustrations are amazing both in the cover and the booklet, although I would have preferred to have the lyrics printed in there, so as to read them.

It was a stressing time, lots of things to do, but I decided to listen to it while completing other tasks. However, it was impossible. Little by little, I got into the music and it had me there, unable to do anything other than taking some comments for this post. It had been ages since an album did that to me! But let's talk a bit more in detail about what made me get lost in the notes...

The first thing one can notice is the powerful catchy riffs. They draw your attention immediately. Then, song by song, I can discover an infinity of details that I get lost into and make the album great. The drum lines seem to be the leading part in each song. The richness of fills, rhythms and percussion effects are just a gift to the ears. It's at least surprising to hear cowbells in songs like The Eagle Has Landed, Black Waters or Pray the Sun Away, or a vibraslap (Black Waters) or bells; for these instruments are more typical of other musical genres, but Avatar just made them fit in there. And this all without forgetting the technique and quality of the playing. Each stroke is definite, the riffs well phrased, etc. To sum up, there's a brilliant work in the drums.

Pretty much the same can be said of the vocals. I can only congratulate Mr. Eckerström for his job. There's a wide range of registers: clean, gutturals, torn voices..., which leads to a great personification of all the characters taking part in the story, and great combinations of those in songs like Night Never Ending or Raven Wine. Even at the beginning of Sky Burial there's a perfect a capella part closing somehow the album with the same verses it started (I find it gives that a high sense of cohesion!).

And hand in hand with the musical part, go the lyrics. All the songs together tell a story, a fable, and the contents and meaning of it can be inferred from the verses in each song (for those of you interested in reading the whole fable, Avatar's selling the book, so go buy it!). Besides, as we've just mentioned, the characters taking part are perfectly represented by using different voice techniques, and the atmosphere of each piece conveys the meaning of the lyrics (one can hear the decay and feel the end near in the riffs and melodies of Raven Wine or feel the epicness of Sky Burial).

Finally, the album ends with two bonus tracks (not listed in the tracklist) whose sound is far more death-metal-like but don't really seem to fit in the context (even if they are killer, full of energy, and sound like the best of Avatar). They are like a world apart: I've Got Something In My Front Pocket For You and Det Är Alldeles Försent.

To sum up everything, this album is a union of a great amount of effort, work, stunning instrumental lines and vocals, and a strong deep story. It would be difficult to choose a song over the others, but if I had to recommend the most remarkable hits, these would be:

• New Land, as a kind of flashback to the atmosphere in Hail The Apocalypse
• Fiddler's Farewell, for its ballad-like sound and those details that slightly remind me of the Beatles (was that made on purpose or was it by chance? Just wondering)
• Night Never Ending, for that festive atmosphere, so far away from the darkness of the story
• The Eagle Has Landed, probably the most catchy piece. Once you listen to it it's difficult to get the verses "What a sensation, can you feel it? Can you see what I see?" out of your mind. I'll leave the video here.

Definitely it deserves a couple (or more) of listenings to appreciate it. Hope you enjoy!

Ithilien (Belgium) + Incursed + Hilotz, 05.22.2016 at sala Edaska, Barakaldo

I'm not used to going to concerts on Sunday, but this time I needed to do so. Last concert with Incursed's actual lineup, the one I've known since I discovered them one year ago. I just couldn't miss the event. And, to tell the truth, I was so excited about it, that I truly thought that Incursed headed the show, which was not true, obviously...

18:45 and it was time to go in. The place was rather small, just to make everything so homely. First sign of what was coming. I could also see part of the soundcheck and foresee that the evening was about to be extraordinary. 

Hilotz, from left to right: Mikel, Etxahun and Pablo

First of all, it was the turn for Hilotz (Lasarte-Oria, Basque Country) to go onstage. Early in the first song, I thought of writring this, as I was caught in the heavy riffs they delivered. A hard, strong wall of sound, gutturals that felt like something was being ripped off within me and bass lines that made me collapse in pleasure. I was also delighted by the cowbell sound coming from the drums amidst such extreme sounding, overwhelming guitars that filled the whole venue. Furthermore, they pretty much mastered the art of combining fast riffs with slow or mid tempos, more distorted sounds with more acoustic lines, etc. No doubt these guys have a high potential. However, I feel they still lack something the experience will give them, and I'm gonna quote my friend and personal photographer during the concert: They play, but they don't play together, as one. I guess everything takes time, but definitely, I'm gonna swallow each one of their songs until I learn them.

Sabrina and Pierre from Ithilien

Then Ithilien (Belgium) came. The first things one could see before it all started was that there was a lot of people on a stage that left almost no room to move around comfortably, and that an astonishing musical deployment was about to take place: bagpipes, a hurdy-gurdy (I had to ask what it was, it is such an awesome instrument, please check it out), or a bouzouki amongst others. The lights came down, and only their ready silhouettes could be made out in the dark. And then it all exploded and the very first note worked out the magic. They made themselves big on such a small stage. It was a pity that no one else but me in the audience had listened to at least a song. And they were so static like waiting for who knows what to happen. Instead, I was headbanging harder than ever (up to that moment, of course). I enjoyed every single note, and especially paid attention to the hurdy-gurdy and the bagpipe. Hey, it didn't sound through any microphony system and it could be perfectly heard over the crushing guitar/bass riffs, awesome. Maybe, what I liked the least was the drums. I usually prefer well defined and accentuated double bass drum strokes, and this time the drums sounded a bit blurry, but still amazing. I stood in awe along the whole set and couldn't help buying a T-shirt, as a way to thank them for their great job.

Jon Koldo "Flying hands" Tera, from Incursed

(from left to right) Narot, Jonkol and
Palas from Incursed

At last, the most awaited moment: Incursed (Bilbao, Basque Country) got onstage to delight us all with their viking-themed aesthetic and music. And there I was, in the front row, with bright eyes and the look of an excited child. I could say that we, the audience, gave everything we had, but it wouldn't be fair: we only reflected and maybe boosted what they gave us from up there. I absolutely enjoyed Narot's wild energy and gutturals (and jokes), Mr. Jonkol "Flying hands"'s keytar lines and clean vocals, Juan's bass lines, and Asier's drumming, of which I had already had a taste back in August last year; and of course, the stunning guitar lines by Palas, who had barely had time to learn all the songs in the absence of Asier and from whom I got my flower garland souvenir. Man, I admire you for that effort, and thanks for the garland *chuckles*. Songs such as Tidal Waves, Beer Bloodbath and Suaren lurraldea (the last two are probably my favourites) couldn't be left out of the setlist and we all danced, jumped and sang to them (and I headbanged even harder than with Ithilien, letting myself go), as vikings having fun, drinking beer and conquering another milestone. Neither could a heavy version of A-ha's Take On Me, to which we had a good time, and in my case, a fair share of laughs (of true happiness, of course). Although we were all emotive (both the audience and the band) because Narot and Juan are leaving, there was no place for sadness, only for fun, and good music and vibe.

Incursed says: Never stop messing around!!

To sum up, it was the perfect evening, I ended up knackered, covered in sweat after three hours of shows. My neck still hurts from all that headbanging. I have to say that the bands playing were very brave, playing for so few people. I know, we assume them to act like that, but it's something we still have to recognize and admire. I didn't only discovered that they were incredible bands, but also that there are very kind and talented people playing in them. You can follow these bands in these sites:


Hilotz:

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hilotz666/
• Webpage: http://www.hilotz.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hilotz666
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/HILOTZ666

Ithilien:

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ithilien.Music/
• Webpage: http://www.ithilien.be/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/ithilienmetal
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Ithilienmusic

Incursed:

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IncursedOfficial/
• Webpage: http://www.warbanner.eu/incursed/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/IncursedBand
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/IncursedOfficial

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank Jon Rodriguez Martin, aka Jack Kalavera for his excellent photos.

Arch Enemy- War Eternal

"What we've got here is failure to communicate"... No, that's another thing. However, we are not so far from the meaning of this sentence. This new Arch Enemy album is not exactly what I expected. It is not even "real" Death Metal. In some tracks, like You will know my name, or Stolen life, they sound like Power Metal with guttural voices; and, in some others, like No more regrets, they seem to be a failing attempt of Symphonic Metal outfit. Anyway, let's talk about some aspects of this War Eternal.

It starts with a Preludium, which heads what is going to be symphony-like structure. After this first track we can find a series of songs, amongst which we also find the typical instrumental track which acts as a break in the musical continuum of the album and reminds us of previous melodies we have heard. After all, some say music is based upon memory.

Musically, there isn't anything especially interesting to find. There are the usual chaotic riffs that could define a Death Metal band, combined with the melodies which give them the status of Melodic Death. Although some of them are pleasant to be heard (as the melodic lines in War Eternal), some others trespass the boundaries of simplicity, just in order to sound even childish. One really bad point of this work is the excessive use of the same sequence of chords, which make the music seem much less elaborated. Furthermore, all the songs have almost the same structure, with heavy, fast and obscure riffs in their verses and grand melodies for the choruses, making all of it a little bit plain and boring. Only You will know my name sounds a little bit different.

On the other hand, there are the good aspects of the album (not everything was bad). We must remember that it is the first release of Arch Enemy after they changed their vocalist. Alissa perfectly lives up to our expectations, with her strong guttural voice, plenty of wrath when necessary (in On and on, her voice sounds like an epic warcry). Nevertheless, although we can hear some very shy clean backing vocals in songs like Avalanche, I still deeply miss Alissa's ability to shift between clean and guttural vocals. Anyway, she performs great gutturals which she can pitch and tune (something that I haven't heard so many times). Another thing that will not disappoint you is the fast and groovy rhythms of the different riffs we can hear.

The lyrics are another important point in assessing a new album. And, this time, they seem to be the only really good thing of it. Rich in vocabulary and rythm, they transmit exactly what they intend to with an astonishing intensity. Some of them are even catchy, which is always good.

At last, but not least, we must talk about the last song, which is a cover. I guess we can all agree that it perfectly conveys the sound and style of arch enemy. Nonetheless, a lot of details of the original are lost (sound, atmosphere, melodic lines, attitude...). Therefore, I think it was not a good choice to include it.

All in all, I cannot say that War Eternal is a disastrous album. not even bad or very bad. However, deep in my heart I know that it could be much, much more (and much better). I expected more myself. Anyway, I encourage you to give it a try, so that you create your own opinion.