“The Dirt I’m Buried In” by Avatar
Perhaps it can be deduced that the addressee of “The Dirt I’m Buried In” is a romantic interest, considering that Johannes sings of ‘entering’ this person in the second verse. But in the chorus he gives a more solid clue that the one who “buried” him, presumably being this selfsame addressee, is actually “the world”.
So that would mean all of the metaphorical ranting he goes beforehand about being “used” by the addressee and what have you – and vice versa – is meant to allude to his relationship to the world at large, or something like that.
So with that theory in mind, all lyrics considered the thesis sentiment of this piece, more simply explained, would revolve around Eckerström noting that the world as being a less-than-ideal place, or something along those lines.
But it isn’t simply the case of us dealing with a narrator who feels as if he wasn’t given a fair shot in life. The vocalist isn’t bit-hin’ and moanin’ per se, because he conscientiously decided to deal with the addressee in full.
Or stated differently again, he was likely aware of the risks of getting into bed with the world, if you will, beforehand. So now in the aftermath, he’s coming off as if the primary negative consequence of making that decision is now having to deal with a harrowing sense of loneliness, and it can be said alienation and pessimism.
Avatar
Avatar, in the world of heavy metal music, is the name of a band from Sweden that has been around since the turn of the century. They’ve experienced some success in their homeland, but in more recent years their most-notable charting has occurred stateside. The group’s 2018 LP “Avatar Country” just fell a spot short of topping Billboard’s US Independent Albums chart.
Between now and then they dropped another studio album, “Hunter Gatherer”, in 2020.
“The Dirt I’m Buried In”
Concerning “The Dirt I’m Buried In”, this is a single that Black Waltz Records, i.e. Avatar’s own label, released on 8 December 2022 from their ninth album titled “Dance Devil Dance”.
Credits
Avatar is an outfit made up of frontman Johannes Eckerström who is backed by the following:
- Henrik Sandelin (bassist)
- John Alfredsson (drummer)
- Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby (guitarist)
- Tim Öhrström (guitarist)
It is the above five individuals who are credited with writing this song.
There’s a music video to this track, as directed by Johan Carlén.
Could just be making enough mistakes (wrong people, rumors, attitude, bad decisions), that you can’t really go anywhere now, because there’s so much dirt on you, that it’s impossible to move forward. It’s pretty unfair for a lot of people out there.
I appreciate all of the very intelligent folks who love avatar, as I love them immensely as well. I also appreciate the application of deep psychological insights to “The Dirt I’m Buried In.” But folks, it’s one of those sad, scary tales which are a specialty of the house, told as only Avatar can tell it. The wolf kids are especially heartbreaking…we lost my baby brother’s best friend since 3rd grade, as well as his girlfriend, on their way to a show a couple of hours from home. Never saw or heard from them again; screwed all of us up really really badly.