Metal Hammer UK

AVATAR

Dance Devil Dance

CENTURY MEDIA

Sweden’s kings of the carnivalesque forget to oil their joints

THERE CAN’T BE many bands who can write songs that sound like Humpty Dumpty stumbling around after an all-night bender and pull it off with aplomb. Since their inception, Gothenburg circus metallers Avatar have toyed with eclectic sounds while always keeping things unmistakably on brand. But just when it feels like there’s nothing left to explore, their ninth studio album pulls them in new and surprising directions.

“Why have drums, why have bass, if people don’t move their feet?” is the question posed on the accompanying bio to Dance Devil Dance. From 60s surf groove through the glitterball beat of to the table-flipping punkish smash of Avatar have plumbed with all sorts of weird and wonderful flavours, all engineered to get you grooving.

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