Angels and Agony

Taking a walk on the typical side of the darkened electro realm, Avatar marks the group’s first LP release in North America via Metropolis. Mostly featuring club tracks that will work well with any dark-music DJ’s set list, the album’s largest problem lies in its inability to stand out. There are simply no surprises here, just straightforward, electronic mediocrity. These guys are talented, and their music is presented decently, but an injection of creativity is greatly needed for their abilities to actually shine through. Tracks like "Experience” for example, where echoing vocals are looped over simplistic melodies, hint towards the group having an understanding of innovativeness. Yet, A&A instead vomit out the same old angst offered by every other shadowy synth pop troupe. Producing good music is just not good enough in this case and if there is going to be a next time for A&A, optimistically they will offer something a little less standard.