In The Airwaves Tour 2025: Avatar/ Alien Weaponry/ Spirit World (Portland Edition)

Phantom Light Media
Nov 23, 2025
4 min read

Avatar are a Swedish melodeath/groove band - that’s the simplest way I can describe them to someone musically. But live? Now we have to add in clown face paint, royal insignias, fleur-de-lis designed guitars, guys with executioner hoods wearing tiny cymbals on their heads - the list just goes on. They’ve been around for nearly 25 years come 2026, so it’s no surprise they’ve had time and practice to perfect their live show. I was lucky enough to catch their Portland stop on the In The Airwaves USA tour, knowing whatever high expectations I had would only be surpassed by the Swedes with ease.

Opening the three-band bill was the only name I didn’t recognize - SpiritWorld, a “death-thrash-western” band from Las Vegas who came gallivanting onstage dressed to kill - or perhaps to rob a train. The “death-thrash-western” label immediately made sense to me as their high-tempo blast beats kicked the crowd into motion through set opener “Relic of Damnation”, a tune that I’m pretty sure is about encountering the Devil in a rundown Texan bar - but not being sure if it’s the real Devil or not due to high amounts of psychedelics being involved. Deathly and Western, for sure. The 8 songs on offer followed similar lyrical trends backed by some pretty rollicking riffs from guitarists Randy Moore and Matt Schrum, evoking musical comparison to early In Flames and Death Angel with a healthy splash of Texan swagger reminiscent of Eliminator-era ZZ Top. I have to give props to frontman Stu Folsom for being one of very few opening acts I’ve seen be able to convince a true and enthusiastic circle pit out of a crowd before 8:30 PM - things got rowdy pretty quick around the halfway mark, courtesy of “Lujuria Satanica” and its call-and-response chorus. I’ll freely admit that thrash isn’t usually my speed for some reason (genuinely not sure why) but SpiritWorld leaned just far enough into my beloved melodeath soundscapes that I can’t deny I walked away with a bit of a sore neck. They were a really good primer for the night without giving the crowd no space to breathe, and people seemed eager to meet the second band with equal energy.

Second up was Alien Weaponry, one of the cooler acts I’ve seen live - I first experienced them in 2021 when they toured with Gojira and Knocked Loose (one of the best tours ever packaged, by the way). They’re harder to fit into genre labels definitively, but draw inspiration from acts like Gojira and Lamb of God to make some seriously groove-laden headbangers. The addition of lyrics being sung in their native Maori tongue adds a menacing yet powerful air to the rhythmic quality of frontman Lewis de Jong’s vocal delivery. Their set was only five songs long, but each of those songs was about 6 and a half minutes of pure groove and harsh dissonance. They even broke out the recently-released “Taniwha,” my personal favorite track that features a monstrous guest appearance by Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) and spawned a pretty solid mosh pit for nearly a minute straight. There may only be three members of Alien Weaponry, but they absolutely commanded the Roseland stage that night. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up headlining it some day in the next few years. They’ve been on quite the rise recently, and they seem to only get better with each new release.

At last, it was time for the royal circus themselves to take the stage. Avatar have perfected their iconic masquerade appearances over the years, and when the (literal) curtains rose to reveal five cloaked figures marching onto the stage, the crowd understandably went nuts. The Roseland soon became something like one massive chorister loft as vocalist Johannes Eckerstrom led attendees in song for the next 100 minutes with little to no effort. Avatar’s extensive discography was well represented throughout the night, with songs from 7 of their 10 studio albums delighting fans amidst a veritable onslaught of shifting light stands and fluttering curtains. Standouts included tried-and-true mosh fuel “Bloody Angel,” newer cuts “Captain Goat” and “Death and Glitz”, a beautiful piano-led stripped version of “Tower”, and the epic three-song encore of “Dance Devil Dance,” “Smells Like A Freakshow,” and “Hail the Apocalypse.” It was a cavalcade of royal extravagance, a circus for the senses, with Eckstrom the ringleader backed by his faithful (and incredibly talented) bandmates. One of the best moments by far came during “Legend of the King” when an honest-to-god throne was wheeled onstage after a brief instrumental interlude, bearing lead guitarist Jonas Jarlsby front and center to serenade the crowd. The stage setup was equally as entertaining as Avatar themselves - the real showstopper was the ingeniously machined drum kit of John Alfredsson. Whenever the set called for a transition, the whole kit simply split in two - one half on each of two platforms, which then moved on rails to the wings of the stage. It all was very reminiscent of mechanical puppetry - a fitting image for Avatar in particular. But it was truly difficult to say whether the band or the fans were the puppets that night. All I can say for sure is that the Avatar live experience lives up to every bit of hype you may have heard, and it left me absolutely ravenous for more. I’ll be sure to see them again soon and hopefully I’ll have the privilege of shooting them again some day.