10 Most Anticipated Metal Albums Of 2018

2. Avatar – Avatar Country

Avatar Country is an albumthat has a massive amount to live up to. Much like its lauded 2016 predecessor Feathers & Flesh, it appears that Avatar Country is set to be yet another concept album. While Feathers & Flesh followed an Aesopian fable of a narrative, telling of an owl that goes to war to stop the sun from rising, Avatar Country seems to follow a central character known only as “the King”, the omnipresent monarch of the record’s titular nation.

As they announced Avatar Country in October 2017, Avatar marked the occasion with the album’s first single, “A Statue of the King”, punctuated by a massive video that demonstrates the sheer power and grandeur of this ominous, totalitarian character (played in the clip by guitarist Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby, with “kungen” aptly being Swedish for “king”).

Musically, the track is tried and true Avatar: avant-garde riff structures, frenetic melodies and, of course, a gorgeous chorus with plenty of arena rock sentimentalities.

If the rest of the album follows the enormous precedent established by both this new single and Feathers & Flesh before it, then I may need to grab my passport and immigrate to Avatar Country as soon as possible.