Times have changed, instead of playing in Satan’s Hollow to Manchester’s local metalheads, Avatar have blown up to a whole new level with a sold out show at The Academy.

Mastiff are first up on tonight’s line up, and there is just something about them that gives this charming personality. It’s a casual attitude that brings them more down to earth with the crowd and keeps the energy at a mild pace to start the night, which to be fair with what was about to come throughout the rest of the night is probably the smartest thing. They’re a sludge band with thrash influences with some forms of hardcore thrown in and every now and again the heavier moments and aggression gets thrown into the show especially on tracks like ‘Repulse’ & ‘Acid Breather’ which was actually featured on Cyberpunk 2077.

Easily a highlight of their performance was seeing their vocalist Jim Hodge maintaining perfect expert composure and not missing a single beat while he was very obviously drunk, taking it back to some classic rock days. There’s no telling if he actually was drunk but he did fall over part of the drum set a few times in between songs and it was time I looked around the crowd to confirm if they had clocked onto the same thing.

Next up was Veil of Maya, now compared to the other bands that are on the bill tonight, this was quite different. Other than frontman Lucas Magyar the stage presence was quite tame and dull, he had a level of energy that every band should have, their sound is built around mind-bending technical proficiency which for some it can turn them off. But when you look around the crowd for this you can tell it just captivated everyone more. They played Godhead for the very first time tonight and it went down pretty well with the crowd. They finished their set with an all-time classic with Mikasa. The crowd really got the energy up for these guys and it was perfect timing too, hearts were pounding when Lucas made his way onto the barrier to scream into the crowd and see everyone properly for himself, and the crowd was loving it. It’s a packed out room and it wouldn’t shock me if most people here decided to come and see these guys again.

Before the set all of us Photographers are given a pre warning before the start of the show, and I’m not surprised at all, the lights go down and the smoke filters through behind the drums as each member takes their place, there’s four doors on platforms that light up when a new member of the band comes onto the stage. Smoke floods the stage and the sparklers light up the room. The first track being Dance Devil Dance, being the title track to the new album, every song played on this set fitted so well into this night.

The Eagle Has Landed was present on the set and there are so many other tracks ready for this show that would show off the strength of the band’s rhythm section.

Chimp Mosh Pit caused so many people to lose their freaking minds and it could be a new rock club staple, so let’s see what gets played the next time I set foot into Satans Hollow on a Saturday night. Scream Until You Wake made its appearance, which is one of the heaviest tracks on the new record due to the grinding harmonic riffs and pounding drums, this is without a doubt going to be a fan favourite soon. Watch it be the next rock song to go viral on social media.

Johannes’ rhythmic barking vocals during this show makes it weirdly easy to scream along to. But then again metal is weirdly easy to scream along to when you’re in the moment at a show, and you feel like you could also do this all the time, until you try again in your house and you sound like a dying cat. Outside of shows we leave it to the pros.

At one point, out of the darkness, the frontman Johannes turns up at the mixing desk, lit by a single spotlight, with a trombone in his hand and plays it beautifully, before he takes his spot back on the stage. The cinematic feel to their performance is what really brings you in, apart from the music. It’s like Johannes stage presence is something else, throughout the performance he brings in this incredible character like a Circus Ringleader entertaining the audience with insane riffs, guitar solos and deep and aggressive vocals, he marches in sync with the music and the crowd head bangs back it’s like he has everyone under his musical control.

Johannes’ vocals were more reserved at times during Tower making it a low key creepy ballad, this gave it a really unsettling vibe but it still brings a sense of safety and security all while showing off beautiful anthemic choruses that take a few verses to learn before it’s burned into your memory for the rest of your life.

Johannes’ final monologue during the encore was really heartfelt and meaningful as he talked about giving meaning to the music the band made by having it mean something to the audience. It’s hard having to talk like this and still seem in a way genuine but he seems to wear his heart on his sleeve and everything he does shows he means every word he says to the crowd tonight.

Avatar are without a doubt a band that you need to see perform live, if you caught them in their smaller days you need to catch them now, they’ve blown so many people away tonight and you could see the look of awe on the faces of everyone in the crowd, everyone fell more madly in love with this performance as the seconds went on, and this is a feeling you need to experience too if you haven’t already.

Words & images: Lauren Allard

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