2025 is already shaping up to be a massive year for Avatar, from their run of shows opening for Iron Maiden to a huge Halloween celebration in Mexico City.
On top of that, it looks like Avatar will be releasing their next studio album later this year.
“I always tend to find energy simply through pushing my range, pushing my volume,” frontman Johannes Eckerström told Loudwire Nights‘ Chuck Armstrong on Thursday (May 8).
“What if I can just sit perfectly right in that pocket and lean into the words of what I’m singing? That’s really hard. Let’s write songs like that because I’m not able to sing like that yet and let’s do it until we get it right. Let’s evolve.”
As Chuck heard that, he asked Eckerström when fans might get to hear him and the band push themselves and evolve like he described.
“We’re putting out new music and I double-checked what can I tell [you] during Loudwire Nights,” he said. “You can tell them we’re going to do some new music.”
He laughed and filled in a few more details.
“We were in the studio back in January, February. We did it with [producer] Jay Ruston as we have done for a while because we really click and gel amazingly well. We find cozy ways of doing it, this time we were back in Germany, in the place where we did Feathers & Flesh. This time we broke in and got access to this professional-grade kitchen where you feel like a TV chef or something when you’re running around there. The frying pans are huge there, man.”
This yet-to-be-announced album marks Avatar’s 10th full-length and Eckerström admitted the band feels a unique pressure with it.
“With that is the challenge of making sure it feels special, that it feels challenging and that it’s important for us to do more than just keeping the machine going,” he shared.
“I feel like we did something that kills Dance Devil Dance because we found a fresh angle for ourselves … I can’t wait to show you.”
Though he didn’t have a specific date to give fans as to when they’ll hear the album, he promised them it won’t be much longer.
“Later this year.”
Soul Music’s Influence on Heavy Metal
Along with teasing new music from Avatar, Eckerström spent time celebrating Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, namely how he believes they helped bring the tradition of soul music into the heavy metal space.
“Soul music rarely has the best lyrics,” he said, “but when you listen to it, it sounds like the greatest lyrics of all time.”
Thanks to Charles Bradley’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes,” Eckerström began to make the connection between soul and metal.
“When you look at the influences that led to Black Sabbath, before it’s heavy metal, the soul side of it is completely forgotten and underrated today in modern ideas of what metal is,” he said.
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“Soul is loud, it’s emotional. They scream and belt it out … Ozzy does that. I feel he’s not always treated as a virtuoso because he didn’t do the big ornamental wailing and stuff … Ozzy conveys lyrics like it’s nobody’s business in a way that I feel is an old-school skill. He’s so full of intangible, you-can’t-teach-that qualities. But he also does things that are just really, really, really hard. That is what gives you the sense of horror in Black Sabbath.”
For Eckerström, what Ozzy did with his singing will forever be an influence to him.
“[He’s] a soulful singer. The words mean something, you believe it when you hear it. I think that’s the most important quality in any style of vocals or any style of music. Whatever it’s supposed to feel like, it better feel like that when you do it right.”
What Else Did Avatar’s Johannes Eckerström Discuss on Loudwire Nights?
- How he’s feeling leading up to Avatar’s shows with Iron Maiden: “I feel like there’s a lot going on in the best way possible. I’m a bit sore because I’m going to front the band, sharing the stage with another band fronted by Bruce Dickinson. I’m hitting the gym a lot. I’m weighing my gluten-free macaronis. It’s a bit of that, controlling all the parameters to make this better than ever.”
- With soul music in mind, what else influences Avatar: “We’re a metal band, it’s always a riff. It’s always a riff first and a cool thing that a guitar does and you build it from there.”
- Why he likes being a frontman: “I can’t say I’m not an extroverted person…a lovely thing about being at the center of attention onstage is you get a whole lot of control in a social setting. It’s a strangely safe space, a controllable environment where you know what you’re supposed to do.”
Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below
Johannes Eckerström joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, May 8; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.
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Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner
Content shared from loudwire.com.