- Country: Sweden
- Style: Groove metal / Melodic death metal
- Label: Century Media / eOne
- Release date: 7 August 2020
Hunter Gatherer is Avatar’s eighth studio album, and it’s the least playful thing the Swedes have put out in years. Coming after Avatar Country, the jokes are mostly gone. What’s left is heavier, colder and noticeably angrier.
Jay Ruston produced it, and the band tracked it together, live in the room at Sphere Studios, straight to two-inch tape. You can hear that. The riffs have weight and a bit of air around them, and the drums sound like drums rather than samples. Opener “Silence in the Age of Apes” is a frantic, sneering thing with Johannes Eckerström switching between a bark and a full-throated scream, while “Colossus” crawls along on a slow, mechanical stomp that gets under your skin after two listens.
“God of Sick Dreams” is the catchiest song here, all bounce and menace, and “A Secret Door” stretches out past six minutes with a creepier, more theatrical mood. The back half dips a little, with “Justice” and “Gun” not quite matching the opening run, but “Wormhole” closes things on a high. A darker Avatar suits them fine.
Best tracks:
Silence in the Age of Apes
Colossus
God of Sick Dreams
A Secret Door
Wormhole
Author’s rating: 8.4/10
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