Avatar Unveil ‘Regret’ and ‘House of Eternal Hunt’ From ‘Feathers & Flesh’ Album

Avatar are raising the bar with their upcoming Feathers & Flesh album and you can see further evidence of that with the release of the first two songs that kick off their forthcoming concept album. The group has just unleashed "Regret" and "House of Eternal Hunt" off the disc, which you can hear in the player above.

The video, which premiered at Metal Injection, finds the two songs playing out as the view pans around a darkened art gallery. We see many paintings of birds, primarily owls, mirroring some of the artwork that the band has created for the individual songs on their album. As for the tracks, "Regret" is a more haunting opening, building in intensity, while "House of Eternal Hunt" picks right up and ventures into a high energy, heavy riffing jam. Combined, the two songs take listeners on an epic journey.

The band stated that "Regret" is the intro for the disc, serving as "an intense journey through epicness" and adding, "It is by far the most different album intro we ever written." Of "House of Eternal Hunt," they added, "This is fast. This is loud. This is metal. Five minutes of double kick drum madness, freaky guitar solos and brutal riffs. This is our definition of metal."

In his own statement, vocalist Johannes Ekstrom revealed, "What you have is the beginning of the story and all the light and darkness of things to come! We meet our protagonist, Owl as she lies dying, looking back on the night that would be her last. 'Regret' is about, well regret! Staring into the cold eyes of Death, she wishes to change everything, to go back, to live again. This leads us to 'House of Eternal Hunt.' It is how things used to be; how they were supposed to be. That is how the tale starts, with a predator ruling the sky on the night that would turn out to be her last! With this concept and these tracks, we want to give you the past, present and, more than anything else, the future of metal as we see it. It is the beginning of an epic journey and we're glad to have you along for the trip."

The two songs follow on the heels of the single "For the Swarm." You can check out the eye-catching video for the track by clicking the red button below.

Avatar's Feather & Flesh album is due May 13 and you can currently pre-order the effort digitally via iTunes or via the band's online pre-order site here. Look for Avatar returning to the road in late April with dates booked in North America and Europe leading into June. See all of their scheduled shows here.

Watch Avatar's Johannes Eckerstrom Discuss Dimebag Darrell

Most Anticipated Hard Rock + Metal Albums of 2016