Unleashing the Inner Beast: Avata’s Return to Australia

Swedish heavy metal beasts Avatar are making their Australian return this month after a three-year absence.

Touring in support of their 2025 album, Don’t Go In The Forest, Avatar are a frantic live outfit whose frontman, Johannes Eckerström, is a sight to behold, with Everblack Media calling him "one of the greatest frontmen of our time."

Ahead of their first show in Adelaide on Wednesday 26 August at Lion Arts Factory, Eckerström opened up about Avatar's Aussie return, praise from Metallica and the physical toll of perfomring live.

Metallica publicly praised Avatar for "raising the bar" on the M72 Tour – how did it feel to have one of the biggest metal bands on the planet acknowledge your stagecraft so directly?

We are fans. We grew up with Metallica, and they are without exaggeration one of the absolute main reasons Avatar came to be in the first place. All of that matters much more than their size, and it is as fans we take that message, which of course feels amazing in the goofiest boyhood dream way you can imagine. That being said, the fact that the biggest band in the history of metal chooses to use their platform to put the spotlight on us like that is far beyond anything we have the right to expect or dare to hope for. It is incredibly generous, and very much in tune with how they treated us throughout all the shows we did with them. This goes for the band, but also everyone around them.

Johannes, Metallica called every night with Avatar "a spectacle". What specific elements of your live show do you think resonated so strongly with them and their fans across Europe and the UK?

I think we are very unapologetic with who we are and what we do. We are also just as hungry as we were on day one, and we make sure that it shows. I don't think it's one specific element, but rather the sum of everything, which maybe can be summed up in us saying "Holy shit! Heavy metal rules! Let's break their bones and make them love it."

You've called the M72 run a series of memories you'll carry forever. What moments from that tour reshaped Avatar's vision moving forward?

Most of the memories have more to do with all that lead up to being there at all, such as watching Metallica's set with my brother, who already had all their albums when I got into metal myself. When thinking forward, it makes us want to step up our game in how we take care of our own openers. I also think that playing such a bare-bones show in that environment helped reintroduce us to ourselves a bit as performers. For a band like us, there is a fine line between the theatrical and theatre. The M72 shows were rock and roll, and that's what it's all about.

Australia witnessed Avatar's power in 2023; now you return with Don’t Go In The Forest. How does this new album evolve the twisted, theatrical Avatar universe? What will fans expect, including those in New Zealand for the first time, following you into the forest on this tour?

Something that has become a core tenet in our trip is that every album must be something we wouldn't be able to have done before, and also unable to repeat. We achieve that by being honest with ourselves about where we are at and let the music reflect it. I want to learn and discover something every time. The titular forest of this album mainly refers to our inner darkness, and our minds overall. I paid more attention to the subconscious during the writing process this time around, letting dreams seep into the stories and the words. The album carries a different sense of being present to me than anything we've done in the past. A great show is all about that presence, that nerve. We seek to create, and when done right, people will have the opportunity to get lost in their own inner forests and unleash themselves upon the world. New Zealand should be prepared to experience what Australia did last time and more!

'Dance Devil Dance' hit #1 on the iTunes Rock and Metal charts here, and the new album continues that momentum. How do you see Australian fans shaping Avatar's global rise?

The fact that we could finally go to Australia in the first place and now return to prove it wasn't just a little fling speaks for itself. What blew my mind when we came over last time is that it didn't feel like a first time at all. No explanations were needed. We were among our people, and it was beautiful, and now we get to go to New Zealand, which is another dream come true’

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Avatar shows are known for their immersive theatre: The Clown, the fire, the ritual. How do you balance storytelling with sheer sonic intensity when crafting a live experience?

It isn't very hard if you put the music first. When you write and play your own material, and that material is made with the right intentions, all you really need to do is continue to be yourself. The clowning around, the ritualistic side of things, the clashing shades of light and darkness, are all extensions of the songs and of ourselves. We don't worry about balance.

You’ve built a cult following across Australia. Is there a particular memory, venue or fan interaction from last tours here that shaped how you approach this return?

We made sure to premiere On the Beach in Australia, as it borrows heavily from Nevil Shute's novel. It was cool to bring a slice of Australia to Australia, even if it might have been a very dark and bleak one. On a more goofy side of things, I played a bit of Waltzing Matilda on the piano one night, which I always had wanted to do because Tom Waits did it on some Australian TV show back in the day, and we had learned the song during English class in 6th grade or something like that. I was also a pretty good tourist on our first visit, which pleases me. I held a koala, fed a kangaroo, and shat myself seeing a cassowary. I took a selfie in front of the Sydney Opera House, and patted myself on the back for the tiles coming from the Swedish company Höganäs Keramik. Now we also hope to build a strong following in Auckland and see some sights!

Your performances are intensely physical. How do you prepare your bodies for a tour this demanding, and has the band’s approach to stamina, fitness, or recovery evolved over the years?

My current training program is six days per week, with three being lifting, two cardio, and one a bit of both. Together with practising the music on the regular, the whole idea is to get your body out of the way of what you want to do. It is crazy though how relatively little it helps. I mean, in the most cardio-focused phases of my life, I've started tours with a resting pulse under 50. But the passion and adrenaline you feel once you are up there on stage is a different beast that you can only learn to tame and ride in the moment. I have never surfed, but I still think the idea of learning how to ride a wave is a good analogy. You can't control the waves. You are surrounded by a force much greater than you. Still, you can get on top of it, and if you know your place and stay tuned with it, you can have it take you exactly where you need to go.

Avatar is constantly evolving, sonically, visually, philosophically. What’s the biggest internal shift happening within the band at the moment, and how will Australian fans feel that onstage during this tour?

We have found ourselves in the middle of a giant epiphany at the moment, actually. We are deconstructing our entire modus operandi in regards to how a show is put together. We are breathing life back into something that technology has made very safe and predictable. We are rediscovering rock and roll. It is very exciting, and because we're pretty much wrapping up some kind of vacation, Australia and New Zealand will be the beginning of something new, and we can’t wait to get back there and play for all of our fans; it will be one hell of a show.

Catch Avatar performing at Lion Arts Factory on Wednesday 26 August. Tickets on sale at thephoenix.au.