The night I was waiting for finally arrived—the Swedish metal circus is back in town! Swedish metal masters Avatar are touring the US again at last. On November 23, they stopped off at the Fillmore Silver Spring for the first time since 2023. They’re on tour in support of their latest album, Don’t Go In The Forest. Avatar continues to pick winners to bring along on tour; on this run, they have SpiritWorld and Alien Weaponry along for the ride.
It was a marathon night of metal, kicking off at 7:30 when SpiritWorld took the stage. Hailing from Las Vegas, SpiritWorld (Stu Folsom, Matt Schrum, Nick Brundy, and Preston Harper) describe their sound as “deathwestern”—it’s thrash metal with Western themes. The band all wear stylized stage clothes that underscore that theme, wearing suits with elaborate embroidery and sequins, cowboy hats, and boots.
The 30-minute set was a short list of long tunes; just four songs, split between 2022’s Deathwestern and 2025’s Helldorado. Helldorado has received praise for its cool and original concept, which mixes aggressive metal with Americana. SpiritWorld did its job as the night’s leadoff, priming the crowd at the Fillmore for a whole evening of metal, and getting the crowd surfing started in the process.
After a quick turnover, the house lights darkened, and Van Halen’s “Jump” filled the room. Once the song ended, drummer Henry de Jong appeared onstage, walked to his drums, and performed a short haka for the simmering crowd. Alien Weaponry hail from New Zealand and are of Māori ancestry. Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand (Aotearoa), known for their rich culture, traditions, and language. The haka is a ceremonial dance that conveys pride and respect.
The haka ends, and De Jong’s bandmates, Lewis de Jong (they’re brothers) and Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds, join him onstage and proceed to burn the place down. Alien Weaponry came together in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2010—the de Jong brothers were but 10 and 8 years old at the time. By the time the boys were teenagers, they were already touring and playing Wacken (in 2018). In 2020, bassist Morgan-Edmonds joined.
While SpiritWorld combined thrash with themes from Americana, Alien Weaponry combines thrash with their Māori heritage. Lyrics are written in the native language and address deep themes of historical conflict, ancestry, and the frictions of divergent cultures. The Fillmore crowd was into it—wild and crowd surfing, even Lewis de Jong paused to comment on how great the audience was Sunday night.
I’ve had the privilege and honor of covering Avatar for The Vinyl District for several years now. Each time is a thrill; each show brings the excitement I felt after that first gig. After you cover bands multiple times, you naturally come to know what to expect from them. With Avatar, you can be guaranteed they will bring their A game. These Swedes never seem to phone it in, and it’s clear they want each tour to be a little bit different and a little better than the last. That is what they are delivering on the Don’t Go In The Forest tour.
I rolled up to the Fillmore Silver Spring and immediately exchanged excited giggles with a friendly security guard. We’d been talking about this show for months and were stoked the day finally arrived. And boy, did Avatar ever arrive.
When it was time for the band to finally appear, the crowd’s excitement threatened to blow the roof off the darkened room. The curtain parted, and Avatar (Jonas Jarlsby, Tim Öhrström, Henrik Sandelin, Johannes Eckerström, and John Alfredsson) straight up rolled on stage, standing in formation on a moving platform. Once at the front of the stage, the drum riser, split in two, reassembled behind the band, and the guys stepped off the platform to take their places.
Launching into “Captain Goat” from the band’s latest album, Don’t Go In The Forest, the band performed in the dark, shrouded in mystery and dim blue fog. The only light came from a lantern held aloft by Eckerström. As I pointed out in my review of the new album, released on Halloween, “Captain Goat” is a sea shanty of all things. But performed live, the song sounds heavier and more sinister, and the cloaks the men wore gave the whole thing a “satanic panic” vibe. Fabulous. One hell of an entrance. The rest of the set maintained that high standard.
Over the course of two hours, Avatar ripped through eighteen songs. At this point in Avatar’s career, assembling a setlist must be a miserable experience (what a bounty of songs to choose from), but they’ve got a list of bangers, old and new, on this tour. Yes, the piano comes out for “Tower,” and yes, Jarlsby gets crowned during “Glory to the King” while the rest of the guys wear those gorgeous white jackets. “Blod” from 2012’s Black Waltz gets dusted off. The place still “Smells Like a Freakshow.” My beloved “Colossus” is still in, and the night ends with “Hail the Apocalypse.” It’s the quality we’ve all come to expect from Avatar.
But speaking of new songs, the set includes six of them (the aforementioned “Captain Goat,” “Death and Glitz,” “Don’t Go In The Forest,” “Howling at the Waves,” “In The Airways,” and “Tonight We Must Be Warriors”). I loved the new album when I reviewed it last month and was drawn to several tracks, including “Magic Lantern” and “Abduction Song.”
But now that I’ve had more time to sit with the material, there’s one that stands out to me, one I love the most—“Death and Glitz,” a danceable bit of aggression that comments on society’s questionable fascination with true crime. I came to my realization the other day when I was dancing around my apartment to that track, with my cat Jimmy Page flung over my shoulder. I love metal you can shake your ass to, and like the OG metal gods Judas Priest, Avatar have a knack for it. My god, I love that song.
From the looks of it, everyone else at the Fillmore loved it too. They appeared to eat up all the new material, a testament to the caliber of the album the band has just released. When it was all over, the entire show clocked in at almost four hours. It was a long night, but the fans were there all the way to the end—singing, fist pumping, crowd surfing. If I know Avatar fans at all, more than a few had probably been camping out in front of the Fillmore since that morning.
Is Avatar worth all that effort? You bet your ass they are, but look, I get it. I’m a known Avatar fangirl. So, of course, I’m going to say positive things. But I’m being sincere and objective when I tell you these five men are among the very best in the metal world today. They’re incredible musicians who understand and deliver on the need to provide a memorable experience for their fans. They’re charismatic, unproblematic, and exceedingly talented, with shows going for about 50 bucks a pop. They’re wonderful.
What a great night. Catch Avatar with SpiritWorld and Alien Weaponry while you still can. The current tour ends in Dallas on December 7.
ALIEN WEAPONRY
SPIRITWORLD
