Review Summary: A cold bowl of cereal. Once having potential, but not that interesting any more.
Thinking about music as cereal may seem a strange comparison, especially in the case of the Swedish Melodic Death Metal band Avatar. Avatar sounds like a slightly more stagnant Dethklok with extremely average to poor vocals. But in sticking with the metaphor, consider a band that you enjoy a nice bowl of cereal, to your tastes specifically. Now imagine what happens when you put too much milk in the bowl, or leave it while you go to listen to Avatar's début album. When you come back, the cereal is going to be a soggy mess that isn't exactly appealing, but is still digestible. This is the best way to describe the music on
Thoughts of No Tomorrow.
With the first mouthful of this record, it doesn't taste too bad. Like most melodic death metal bands, the focus is on the flashy guitar work and growls, of which only one provide interest on this record. The guitar work on this is good, it's great. It keeps you entertained long past when you grow tired of the vocals and drumming patterns. The dual teamwork of guitarists Tim Öhrström and Jonas Jarlsby create a great sense of enjoyment. With well thought out riffs that create a solid framework for the rest of the music.
Strangely, the second mouthful, whilst a little harder to swallow suggests that all hope is not lost for this record (or meal). It is the little parts of this record that really give it a little aid. The little keys at the beginning of
Slave Hive Meltdown are used in a way that breaks up the rest of the distorted aspects. As well as this, the flute and other orchestral instruments found on
Sane? make the listen just a little easy to swallow, a little less of a drag. The only problem is how long it takes to get to this point in the record.
This record, like most ambitious meals, is very front loaded. It seems enjoyable from the first few songs, but once you're past this mark, it begins to get a little hard to handle the monotonous vocals and general vibe of the album. After the first 5 catchy songs, you're left very drained and not particularly interested in how the rest of the record is painted despite the collection of good riffs found scattered within the songs. The lyrics aren't exactly mouth-watering either, as shown in the lyrics for
The Willy:
Slaughter me; I'm in need of killings
And tender love is all we need
Slaughter me, so I can lose the feelings
That caresses me until I bleed
They masturbate, just want to mate
Seeing your face, they seal your fate
They've tried to love, I'll rise above
This record is plagued by it's habit to stick to the well-established, worn thin, formulaic melodic death metal stylings. When it could easily be attempting something slightly more competent, as shown in
Sane?, it sticks to its boring and frankly, average style. Upon consuming this bowl of cold, soggy cereal, the listener is left slightly confused and irritated at the lack of content, or interest, leading to a rating of 2.5/5 stars.
