LIVE(STREAM) REVIEW: Avatar @ Age Of Illusions
To create an illusion is to create a distortion of the senses, to shift our perception of the very fabric of the reality that consumes us. An illusion is an experience of seeming to see or hear something which does not exist, or perhaps is other than it appears. In an age governed by smartphones and social media, pulling off an illusion requires the audience to suspend their disbelief, to allow themselves to be dazzled by deception. If suspending your disbelief for an evening in a world held hostage by a global pandemic allows you to escape to an all-encompassing immersive experience, then it’s no surprises that Sweden’s avant-garde metal troupe AVATAR are the kings of livestream vaudeville.
Night two of the Avatar Ages series (following night one’s Age of Dreams), the aptly-titled Age of Illusions, sees the group grapple with a fan-curated setlist, composed of songs solely selected from their mid-career concept albums, 2016’s Feathers & Flesh and 2018’s Avatar Country. If any of the albums in their catalogue were best paired together, it’s these two; the former the tale of an owl who goes to war against an eagle who threatens to bring the day, the latter a larger-than-life history lesson inspired loosely by guitarist Jonas Jarlsby, aka Kungen (Swedish for King), and based on the band itself.
Like Age of Dreams before it, Age Of Illusions takes place at Gothenburg’s Kajskjul 105 venue. Whilst they may be holed up in a single room, just like the first stream they slip between three separate soundstages, each uniquely allowing AVATAR to bring the concepts of their albums alive. It’s perhaps here, more than usual, that frontman Johannes Eckerström thrives on the theatrics, often channelling his inner Joaquin Phoenix-era Joker, most notably on the IRON MAIDEN-meets-VOLBEAT-esque The Eagle Has Landed, jaunting around the stage somewhat comically as a never-ending forest unfolds across the screens surrounding him.
Every second of the stream is a spectacle, carefully constructed scene-by-song, song-by-song with no stone left unturned. The devil is in the detail from drummer John Alfredsson jumping from stage-to-stage, driving home a series of drum fills searching for the right fit, before bringing in the band against the golden AVATAR backdrop for the blistering blastbeat riddled One More Hill to the arrival of Act Two in the form of a crown-adorning Jonas Jaelsby sat atop a throne, sliding home the opening solo of Legend Of The King, pyro erupting all around him. It’s not often a livestream gig can truly make you forget your curled up on your sofa in your pyjamas, and yet AVATAR pull it off, submerging you into their fantastical wonderland. It’s only the all-too-rare occasions Eckerström takes to the mic in between the festivities to address the viewers that you feel as if you’re pulled out of the dream, and even that’s a little theatrical – a true testament to the band’s attention to detail.
It’s not only in the theatrics that the night’s suspension of disbelief truly thrives in, but their ability to tell the stories of the songs the fans have chosen. The setlist leans a little heavier on the side of the delightfully darker Feathers & Flesh, which is met fervidly by fans as the far rarer of the material on display tonight, often left out of AVATAR’s setlists since they put the cycle to bed. Whilst Avatar Country boasts some of the band’s best songs of their career, hearing the compellingly complex narrative of Feathers & Flesh come to life in sequence is something else entirely, as the album is played in order almost entirely save for a few choice cuts. The shifting, spiralling nature of the stages allows for these stories to play out, and the two acts take hold of the world’s they’re inhabiting.
It’s only when the credits roll across the instrumental Silent Songs of the King, Pt. 1: Winter Comes When the King Dreams of Snow that you feel like you’ve awoken from a dream sequence. We’ve bore witness to a whole host of livestream concerts over the last year, and few bands have come as close to creating an experience unlike any other than AVATAR have here.
Rating: 9/10