Adavant

Country: USA
Style: Folk Metal
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 14 Jan 2023
Sites: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Metal Archives | Official Website | YouTube

I automatically threw Adavänt into the opening slot for today on my schedule thinking that they're a local band here in the Valley of the Sun. Sure, they're a damn good one, as I know from a few gigs over the last bunch of years, but that doesn't matter. Then it registered on me that The Mystic and the Mountain is their fourth album. They're not a new up and coming band any more. They're well and truly established and they deserve the top slot for the day.

I have the previous three albums, which are all decent, but this feels like a step up on the previous one, which came out five years ago in the before times. Mystic is a particularly good opener, and I fully expect it to become a set opener for live gigs. It builds in layers, starting with folky guitars on strident percussion, with a lute-like acoustic guitar soon joining them, then a ramp up with electric guitars and full on drums. There's a piano stretch then more drums to add to the existing beat and finally, a minute and a half in, some vocals. It's excellently done but apparently effortless. They're simply this good nowadays.

I should add that there are two vocalists in Adavänt. We hear Nathan the Ravenous first, who has a deep growl that doesn't have much in the way of intonation. It's fundamentally a texture rather than a lead. However, Charlotte the Alluring provides a high and elegant symphonic metal voice. I like her voice on stage but she keeps getting better and she's obviously relishing her sustain now. Later in the song, they both sing at once, not in unison but in contrast, with her soaring traditional metal melodic lines over his low drone. There's no gothic metal in their sound at all, but a beauty and the beast style works in folk metal too.

By the way, I'm not conjuring up nicknames here. Adavänt's musicians name themselves as if they want to become Red Dragon Inn characters and it lends them an easy uniqueness. So that's Justin the Fierce on guitar, Javad the Fearless on drums, Andy the Cunning on piano and keyboards and Ryan the Bard on flute and Irish bouzouki. Previous bassist Corey the Vigorous, who left in 2014, is back. Maybe he didn't think he was quite as vigorous as he turned out to be. [This paragraph has been edited: thanks to Javad the Fearless for updating me on the latest line-up changes.]

And the sound suggests that everyone ought to be vigorous. Folk metal is rooted in folk and folk is rooted in dance and Adavänt know that. Miss Maddie's Forge turns into a jig at one point and War Gnomes follows suit. Feast of Fiends and Pestilencia Swing are dances in the vein of Trollfest, with more of a polka thing going on, thankfully without goblin vocals on top. A Respite Round is always a dance, even when the vocals arrive. I tend to turn myself into a drum when listening to rock and metal, but some bands get me moving in other ways too. Adavänt had me bouncing in my chair on this album. No, I'm not going to get up and dance—I'll trip over something—but I'll happily dance in my chair.

Adavänt have always been tight on stage, at least since I've been paying attention and I first saw them live almost a decade ago, supporting Alestorm. However, they feel extra tight here and the breakdowns in many of these songs are exquisite. Most of the band will just stop on a dime to give one instrument a spotlight moment but, phrase delivered, they kick back in on the same dime. It's there right from the outset on Mystic and it keeps going. This isn't always keyboards, but Andy the Cunning does get a few spots. I have to call him out for his Hammond organ halfway through Lunar Cutlass, but the piano midway through Pestilencia Swing is gorgeous too.

The other technical touch I noticed here that I don't specifically remember from earlier albums, so should go back to check, is that there's some serious style to how they begin their songs. Some are pretty obvious in their intros, like the chimes that set up the mood on Miss Maddie's Forge, albeit very effectively, but some of it's just clever songwriting. There's a sweet opening to Lunar Cutlass that turns into a delightfully ominous build, with some flutes bringing some light to that darkness. Feast of Fiends kicks off with the inexorable monster march beat of Trollfest and that runs on into Pestilencia Swing.

The good news is that there are a lot of positives this time out o nwhat I believe is their strongest album to date. The better news is that there isn't much negative to counter that. I'm not entirely sold on the drum sound. It didn't bother me particularly but some of the drums sounded muffled to me on Mystic and on some later songs too. I can't pretend that Nathan the Ravenous's voice is remotely as versatile as Charlotte the Alluring's, but he works as a texture. Beyond that, with so many highlights, it seems a little more obvious than it should that a few songs don't match them, but that's far from the worst problem a band can have though.

And so I need to stop thinking of Adavänt as a local band who support the big fish when they come to town. I need to start thinking of them as a damn good folk metal band who have been playing a decade and a half now and put out four decent albums that keep on getting better. Let's see some folk come to town to support them.

By Hal C. F. Astell at April 17, 2023
Labels: 2023, folk metal, USA - Apocalypse Later

Review and Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: 13th Floor Entertainment (https://www.13thfloorentertainment.com/ )
Venue: Pub Rock, Scottsdale, AZ (https://pubrocklive.com/ )
Date: Friday November 5th, 2021
Tour: CD Release Party for The Mystic And The Mountain Album

One of the great things about Phoenix is that we have a very strong and faithful Metal family. One of the bad things is that for some reason, this Metal family is not real big. Some people in other major metropolitan city think it is strange that we can only get about 8000 people at an Iron Maiden concert. But the nice thing is that we get to see these amazing metal groups in smaller venues. It is especially hard for local metal bands. Most of the time they either have to be on the sub-bill for a large touring band or they end up playing at really small bars.


Tonight we had a major CD release party at a small local bar for the local Folk Metal band, Adavänt. They were joined by locals bands The Writ and Cyterra. The problem with a lot of the smaller bars is the size of the stage and the poor lighting. Tonight, was especially hard for me as a photographer because only 1 of the 4 front projecting lights was working. So, the middle of the stage was lit OK, but the sides were very hard to photograph. Since these small shows don’t generate a large sum of money for the venue, it is hard for them to upgrade and fix lighting easily. Hopefully, Pub Rock will fix the lighting soon because they do put on some great small metal shows.


Adavant CD Release Party at Pub Rock, Scottsdale, AZ on January 14th, 2023
It was January 2019 my Metal Head friend Hugh and I attended an Ensiferum concert at Club Red in Mesa, Arizona. I was lucky enough to get a media pass so I could photograph the concert. Having checked out Ensiferum prior to the show, I know that they would be in face make-up and some would be wearing kilts. However, when the first band came out on stage, I was wondering who these strange looking people were. They had their faces painted along with their arms and some were wearing kilts.

This was my first introduction to Adavänt, now one of my favorite bands from the Phoenix area. They are a Folk Metal band. They also utilized a male and female singing dual. I was also amazed by the crazy keyboard player. He would jump around and at time even leap up almost level with the keyboard. I was hooked and really enjoyed their energy and music.


Adavant CD Release Party at Pub Rock, Scottsdale, AZ on January 14th, 2023
Well, its 2023 and Adavänt has just released a new CD. Like a lot of other small bands (and most local area bands) they had to resort to using crowd funding to help produce their CD. Tonight, was their public CD release party for this new CD, The Mystic And The Mountain. They will be having another release party for those fans in Tucson at The Edge on February 11th .

This event was held at a small bar in Scottsdale, AZ called Pub Rock (Pub Rock is also a local bar featuring Kansas City Football events). There was a nice crowd tonight of about 150 to 200 people. Everyone was enjoying themselves and seemed to have a great time with all of the bands. As you can see from the setlist, Adavänt performed the entire new CD in order. They also added a few extra fan favorite songs at the end including one additional song not on the original setlist, “Black Barrel Ale”.


Adavant CD Release Party at Pub Rock, Scottsdale, AZ on January 14th, 2023
If you listen to their songs, they have a very heavy folk influence mixed with a Heavy Metal sound. When we saw them originally with Ensiferum they were a perfect match. For the most part the band is basically the same as when I saw them in 2019. Still on lead vocals is the metal goddess Charlotte “The Alluring”. She is joined on lead vocals by the powerful and dynamic Nathan “The Ravenous”. Nathan use to play bass, but Corey “The Vigorous” has move over to bass. Justin “The Fierce” is on guitar, with the crazy Andy “The Cunning” as the energic keyboard player. Javad “The Fearless” always give me crap because I never get any good photos of him on drums, sorry Javad but the lighting on you is poor. In December 2019, just prior to the pandemic, they added Ryan “The Bardic” to the band. Ryan plays a number of folk instruments including different flutes and the lute. One of the best parts of this band is the diversity between the growling of Nathan and the sweat harmony of Charlotte.

This was the 5th time I have seen Adavänt and they just keep getting better. With the release of this new CD, they now have a great collection of songs to perform. For me personally I really enjoyed their performance of “Miss Maddie’s Forge”, “Her Last Howl”, “Pestilencia Swing” and “Mountain” from this new album. You can check out The Mystic And The Mountain on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.

Hopefully, they will be able to stay together ((it is really tough for local bands) and they can get some additional recognition. If you get a chance to see them perform, I strongly recommend it. They sound really good on the new CD, but live they are outstanding. You can follow Adavänt on either their website, Facebook page or on YouTube. I hope to see you all at one of their future shows. I know I will try very hard to be there. - Fred Kuhlman

ARKONA Bring Along METSATOLL and ADAVANT for a Folk Metal Night at Arizona’s Club Red [Photos & Show Review]
BY KATHLEEN KAUFMAN 09/11/2019 2 MINS READ


“The Pagan Rebellion Tour” was in full swing by the time Russian folk metal band Arkona headlined Mesa, Arizona’s Club Red with support from Estonia’s Metsatöll. We gave them a warm welcome on September 10th with local folk metallers Adavant opening the show (yes there is folk metal in Arizona!).

Arizona is very fortunate for having venues like Club Red and standout local bands, and Adavant is no exception. They’re a fun band to watch and they don’t take themselves too seriously. Bands with keyboardists take note, Andy The Cunning doesn’t stand in the back and occasionally make aggressive faces. He gets right up front and makes himself and the instrument a vital part of the stage performance.

Next up were Baltic bards, Metsatöll. Guitarist and singer Lauri “Varulven” Õunapuu is not only an expert at traditional Estonian instruments, but his vocals are hauntingly deep. Metsatöll seamlessly blend folk music with heavy metal in a way that sounds primal yet modern. All of their songs are sung in Estonian, some in archaic Estonian, which adds to the primordial atmosphere of their performance.

Then Arkona took the stage. Masha Scream appeared in a hooded cloak under dim blue lights, chanting and beating a drum. The rest of the band soon joined her on stage and exploded into song. They fuse traditional Russian music and instruments with a raw, heavy sound. Their sound is heavier than most folk metal bands and their performance is highly energetic, without being campy. Their most recent album, Khram, was released in January 2018.

Watch Arkona’s official music video for “Goi, Rode, Goi!,” the title track off their 2009 album:

Arkona’s eighth full-length album Khram was released on January 19th, 2018, via Napalm Records: - V13

As much as I enjoyed the energetic and frankly quite silly debut from Adavant, I'm not so keen on this year's third full-length The Unyielding. The reason? It's not as silly. Also, the enthusiasm shows itself in a different way, which involves spending more time on the conceptual storyline, something that I feel restricts the appeal of the music. On the debut, it was funny that the theme of a siege matched up so poorly with the giddily melodic keys, but here more is at stake, as the description suggests: this is "the tale of an intrepid hunter who undertakes a journey to unravel a timeless mystery, set upon the backdrop of a fictional world created by Adavänt." Running to 72 minutes doesn't make this any easier to digest, especially with the busy musical style that remains from the early days of the Arizonan group.

Changes, differences, influences? The dual vocal approach remains one of the most distinctive factors for the melodic folk metal, as do the ever-present keyboards, which might even take a greater role here than they did on Tale Untold. Much less of Eluveitie and their ilk colours the long compositions, finding common ground with Nightwish due to the prominent position of Charlotte the Alluring (okay, the members' names haven't lost their charm), who handles a lead role with her semi-operatic voice driving all but the heaviest sections. Sometime since A Light Cut Through the Void in 2013, Nathan the Ravenous (still as peckish as ever) took up bass duties and Ryan the Dreaded filled out the group to six members once again by adding second guitar. Frankly, Justin the Fierce did a good job on his own, blending melodeath with folk metal to cultivate a jaunty, classic romp, though the pair uniting forces seems to have added heaviness to sections of 'Gallows Pass' and particularly 'Grimfang Woods', which cycles through some catchy, jumpy melodies before giving the death growls an almighty backing with a death metal riff that allows Jake the Thunderous to go appropriately nuts with drum fills and double bass.

That extremity pleases me with its novelty here, as do the clearly defined riffs showing up in other places, such as the catchy-as-flu heavy Celtic jig of 'Stumbling Huntsman' (nice title for a drinking song, if we consider it the name of the pub), the mid-paced thunder that opens 'Fairhaven', or the dark chord-based section of 'Barren Fields'. However, that brings me to my first criticism, because 'Barren Fields' reminds me quite specifically of Cradle of Filth (a band I like, if that helps to qualify the comparison), who have often been guilty of creating excellent riffs and then larding them over with copious quantities of distracting keys and unnecessarily busy vocals. Such is the way with 'Barren Fields'. On the other hand, the main keyboard melody of that eight minute song recalls Alestorm's debut in all the best ways, showing that the keyboards are certainly used well at other moments. I mentioned earlier the extreme girth of the album (probably the reason that Corey the Vigorous had to leave the group, if you've been tittering at the nicknames along with me) and it works in the same way as some of CoF's more saturated albums: loads of musical, vocal, and conceptual ideas are flung at a huge canvas and the listener is expected to keep up with it all. During the first two-thirds of the album, most of it registers and will reveal itself more after a few listens, but the closing tracks begin edging over seven and eight minutes, which seems like a deliberate challenge to endurance. Some of them also feature complicated structures, tons of extra sections, and several changes of style. Put simply, there's material for two albums here.

Listeners to The Unyielding will have to be very accepting of all Adavant's quirks and ambitions in order to get the most out of the experience. I'm not merely being stern with the album - after all, I did say it should be more fun - but this goes down as a truly demanding listen, as well as a rewarding one for those prepared to put in the time and effort to get to grips with the dense sound and multiple distractions. The intensity doesn't remain consistent from start to finish, which is a blessing, taking downtime during the acoustic ballad of 'The Landeer', while many of the cuts contain softer bridges or instrumental breakdowns, particularly the closing 'Gardens of the Ivory Keep', which feels like a celebration for making it through the whole album. Occasionally, the contrast in styles creates a problem, which is summarized by listening to 'Fairhaven': that song has quite an aggressive structure and dark topic, but the folky vocals and Christmas carol keys don’t match, leading the listener to conclude that Adavant haven't entirely mastered the mood they wish to create. I still enjoyed The Unyielding, but I felt like I had to work much harder for my pleasure than I usually do. - Encyclopedia Metallum

Everyone has a style that they truly enjoy but don’t visit very often because they don’t want to spoil themselves with it or get burnt out with its varying sounds. For me, that’s folk metal and I’ve always been very picky about it, but tonight I sat down to find a new album of the genre that I wasn’t even gonna think about. Just pick a record and see what happens. Luckily, the first album I found was the latest offering from America’s Adavant, and it’s quite a savory album to behold.

Something that always makes a folk metal album good to me is if the band in question is going above and beyond with the theatrics and really shows the listener that the band know only knows their way around a solid structure for music but also has a sense of musicianship as it’s not easy to bring the many factors that go into the style then proceeding to make it work. Adavant is not a band of fools as their latest album, “The Unyielding”, has practically everything I look for in a top-tier folk metal album outside the sheer mastery over the sound, but I can excuse such a thing. The concept album brings together so much of what makes folk metal great, to begin with from the fantastic instrumentation, a terrific backdrop that’s perfect for this story of revenge, an intrepid hunter, and a journey resulting in self-discovery, and an undeniable spirit to back it all up in the end. From start to finish, “The Unyielding” has a compelling story, an unbelievable allure that’s sure to hook most anyone who takes even a step into these twelve tracks, and an overall sense of awesomeness that truly permeates every moment of this record. Adavant has been going for over a decade now, and it’s a damn shame they’re not more well known as “The Unyielding” is a display of true brilliance in every capacity.

Hopefully, this magnificent record will propel this band to a bigger fan base that they undoubtedly deserve as they’ve put in the time, the passion, and have the undeniable talent that deserves more recognition and you can really feel all of that in the first two tracks of this album alone. In every single way, “The Unyielding” is a terrific piece that demands to be heard, and it’s so complex that it’s hardly a thing you can just casually listen to for the first time as it’s a real experience. - Head Banger Reviews

With 2018 looming in the near future, it is inevitable we will start seeing albums for the new year arriving and the first is the latest from Adavänt from Arizona USA. Due to be released at the end of January, their 3rd full length will be entitled “The Unyielding” and will be released independently. It has been 3 plus years since their last effort “A Light Cut Through The Void” was released (2013) and this time around they are tackling the most dreaded of releases….THE CONCEPT ALBUM. Dreaded I say? Well you can either sink or swim with a concept album and I am always going to compare it to the classics for me (“Abigail”, “Operation Mindcrime”, “Dimension Hatröss” and a few others). So, is it successful? Let’s put that on hold for one second to go over their sound……epic melodic symphonic folk metal in the vein of other US acts like Winterhymn or Helsott or possibly some Ensiferum and some eastern European acts like Grai but none are spot on comparisons. They are a 6 piece in a unique configuration of dual guitars, keys, drums, vocalist/bassist and female vocals so there are lots of possibilities as far as vocal ideas and styles available track wise. Now onto the album….and what a nifty package this is. What is the concept? Hard to summarize but it is an original story about a warrior on a journey of revenge and has some mystery to it. I don’t have lyrics to follow along but I would assume they help tie the loose ends together to make sense. Musically, you are not forced to necessarily listen as a concept piece as the tracks stand alone as individual pieces. There is a lot of variety on “The Unyielding” with various styles, tempos and lengths. Tracks range from 4 to almost 11 minutes with album closer, the epic “Gardens Of The Ivory Keep”. This is a lot of music to digest in one listen (12 tracks at 72 minutes) but after repeated listens you will begin to chip away at it and it will be worthwhile. The vocals are the highlight for me, both Nathan’s and Charlotte’s….yes the music is killer but their vocal interplay really sells the songs and the concept. They create different moods and direction throughout the tracks with the growls of Nathan and the semi-operatic delivery of Charlotte. There are lots of other tasty highlights from the riffs and keys interplay to the various drum and bass lines…..no missteps here at all. I would question whether this may be a tad too long and if they could have told the tale with a song or two less but if that’s the worst I can come up with then get in line to buy yourself a copy in January. It really has almost a Broadway play soundtrack feel to it as the drama starts to become more tangible with every passing track. Of course, it would be the heaviest show ever performed if that were the case.
Mix and overall sound is superb with enough clarity and heaviness to appease all listeners. Not even 2018 and an album of year contender already……an early Christmas present from Adavänt.

Tracklist
Dimiscian Overture
Gallows Pass
Overgaard
Stumbling Huntsman
The Landeer
Fairhaven
The Catacombs
Renegade Ridge
Grimfang Woods
Barren Fields
The Divide
Gardens of the Ivory Keep - folkmetal.nl