Avatar: Feathers & Flesh inspired by fear of death

Avatar

Avatar singer Johannes Eckerstrom says parts of their latest album Feathers & Flesh are centred around the fear of dying.

Speaking about the band’s concept album, which tells the tale of an owl that goes to war with an eagle, the frontman hints that he worries about getting older and the opportunities that passed him by in life.

Speaking to TeamRock at Download after their set on Saturday, Eckerstrom says: “Death anxiety inspires part of it. The main thing is trying to come to terms with certain things in life – like death or time passing and feeling like our time is limited.

“That is one of the central themes for it and, of course, that falls back to when you start to realise you’re not 12-years-old any more.

“Life happens and it keeps on happening. Lots of opportunities will never come back. The older you get, the more you start to realise that.”

“The owl fails to come to terms with it, and I also feel like that – that’s a challenge that I’m facing.”

Avatar will play Kvinesdal’s Norway Rock on July 8.

TeamRock is at Download all weekend. Visit teamrock.com to keep up with all the news, reviews and interviews from the festival as they happen.

Inside the bonkers concept of Avatar's new album Feathers & Flesh

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.