{"id":97220,"date":"2025-05-13T05:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T05:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/97220\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T05:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T05:21:09","slug":"avatars-johannes-eckerstrom-says-new-album-will-be-out-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/97220\/","title":{"rendered":"Avatar’s Johannes Eckerstr\u00f6m Says New Album Will Be Out This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025 is already shaping up to be a massive year for Avatar<\/a>, from their run of shows opening for Iron Maiden<\/a> to a huge Halloween celebration in Mexico City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On top of that, it looks like Avatar will be releasing their\u00a0next studio album later this year.<\/p>\n

“I always tend to find energy simply through pushing my range, pushing my volume,” frontman Johannes Eckerstr\u00f6m<\/a> told Loudwire Nights<\/a>‘ Chuck Armstrong<\/a> on Thursday (May 8).<\/p>\n

\"Loudwire<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

As Chuck heard that, he asked Eckerstr\u00f6m when fans might get to hear him and the band\u00a0push themselves and\u00a0evolve like he described.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

He laughed and filled in a few more details.<\/p>\n

“We were in the studio back in January, February. We did it with [producer] Jay Ruston<\/a> 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.”<\/p>\n

This yet-to-be-announced album marks Avatar’s 10th full-length and Eckerstr\u00f6m admitted\u00a0the band feels a unique pressure with it.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“Later this year.”<\/p>\n

Soul Music’s Influence on Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Along with teasing new music from Avatar, Eckerstr\u00f6m spent time celebrating Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> and Black Sabbath<\/a>, namely how he believes they\u00a0helped bring the tradition of soul music into the heavy metal space.<\/p>\n

“Soul music rarely has the best lyrics,” he said, “but when you listen to it, it sounds like the greatest lyrics of all time.”<\/p>\n

Thanks to Charles Bradley’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes,” Eckerstr\u00f6m began to make the connection between soul and metal.<\/p>\n

“When you look at the influences that\u00a0led 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.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Wolfgang Van Halen: New Song, New Music Video + Honoring Black Sabbath<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

For Eckerstr\u00f6m, what Ozzy did with his singing will forever be an influence to him.<\/p>\n

“[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.”<\/p>\n

What Else Did Avatar’s Johannes Eckerstr\u00f6m Discuss on Loudwire Nights?<\/p>\n