They originally started off as a side project for Leif Edling of Candlemass, but over the years Avatarium have grown and flourished in their own right.  Their latest album, The Fire I Long For, sees the band taking a huge leap forward producing the most fulfilling and diverse album of their career to date. Metal Express Radio's  Mick Burgess spoke with vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith about the album, coping with life in a COVID-19 world, and balancing life in a rock band with a career as a psychosocial counsellor while being a new mother.

MER: You are planning on doing a live stream show with Candlemass in the near future. When do you hope to stream this?

Smith: "That is the plan. We want to have optimal conditions for that so discussions are ongoing. We hope to do it sometime after the summer holiday in August. That will be great. Candlemass are like our big brother and we`re their obnoxious little sister. Of course, Marcus works closely with Leif Edling of Candlemass in different projects, and we worked for a few years with Leif in Avatarium, but we are more independent now. He`s still contributing with a couple of songs on our last album but it`s nice to still have that connection."

MER: Your latest album, The Fire I Long For, has been out for a few months and is your most varied, diverse album that you`ve done. Was that the plan when you started writing the album?

Smith: "We had many ideas and when it comes to making an album, we have quite a strong pop tradition is Sweden, and we have a strong heritage of prioritising strong melodies, so we wanted to make an album that`s built on that. We wanted to do one that we would want to listen to from the beginning to the end. We wanted it to be that interesting that you`d want to listen to it. There`s no fillers or space and it needs to demand your focus. I just wanted to make good songs and write good music that`s stimulating for me to make and listen to."

MER: How did you feel when you finished the album?

Smith: "I`m very proud of the album and think that it`s quite amazing that we did it. It was huge step for me as a songwriter and to have the courage and energy to finish it and put it out there. With previous albums it was so much less and as Leif Edling was so experienced and well established you could rely on him knowing what to do. On this record we felt that it was time to write and be independent but still have his input. He was like a mentor to us.  He still wrote two songs that really suited the record and I`m proud of what we have made. I think that the material is strong with good melodies. Of course, I`m so pleased with that."

Read the complete interview here.

Avatarium recently released their new dark gospel, The Fire I Long For, via Nuclear Blast. Founded in 2012 by Leif Edling of Candlemass, Avatarium soon saw the arrival of Marcus Jidell (producer Candlemass) and Jennie-Ann Smith who brought an air of charisma with her soulful grace. By now, the band has become an entity of its own and while Leif still contributed three songs for the new album, the band’s current nucleus consists of Marcus and Jennie-Ann, who are accompanied on this record by organist Rickard Nilssonand new drummer Andreas ‘Habo’ Johansson (The Doomsday Kingdom). Together, this open-minded, yet doom-laden collective draws elements of folk, jazz and psychedelic brilliance into a grandiose amalgamation that manages to maintain an almost pop-like elegance.

Recorded at Studio DeepWell in Stockholm, the album was produced by Marcus Jidell, mixed by Grammy Award winner Niklas Flyckt and mastered by Svante Forsback (Rammstein).

Tracklisting:

"Voices"
"Rubicon"
"Lay Me Down"
"Porcelain Skull"
"Shake That Demon"
"Great Beyond"
"The Fire I Long For"
"Epitaph Of Heroes"
"Stars They Move"

"Lay Me Down" lyric video:

"Voices" visualizer:

"Rubicon" video: