What I expect from Avenged Sevenfold's new album

            In recent music news, California hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold has announced that they will release their sixth album, Hail to the King, on August 27th of this year. Upon release, it will have been three years since their previous release Nightmare which was the first album without their drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. The passing of their drummer and friend impacted the band dramatically, as it should for any band and it can be seen in the lyrical content of the album itself.

Arin Illejay behind the drumkit bearing the two deathbats

I personally consider this their first release after the Rev, and not Nightmare because I recall reading the Rev wrote out some of the drum parts for the album. Hail to the King will be the real test for the band to see what they can do with their new drummer Arin Illejay, from the metalcore band Confide. Avenged has had a few interviews regarding their first album and there have divulged a little bit of information concerning how the album will sound. Lead singer Matt Shadows has stated that the album is very riff oriented and very bare bones, mentioning that the band had to restrain themselves from adding more background vocals and accompanying melody lines in order to keep it much more raw and "badass".

The album art for the album Hail to the King

Their guitarist, Synyster Gates, has also mentioned that the songwriting on this record would be sonically better than previous records. He also mentions how impressive Arin is in terms of his groove and how the way he plays is exactly what the band was going for in their new album. I hope that is true because this is the true test for them in my book (but then again, who am I to judge?). After losing the Rev, I expected them to either disband or put out a low quality album. I was wrong and they put out an album that on par with the rest of their releases, but it was not the best. Hail to the King will show how much they were able to recover from the loss of the Rev, albeit it three years, and continue as musicians together. I am very much looking forward to Arin's contribution to the band because of his immense drumming talents and abilities. If there is one thing I have learned from band lineup changes, it is that the drummer is a huge part of the sound of the band. You could look at Paramore and compare the Riot! Album to their recent self titeld release. The band sounds completely different, not because of the mics, or the vocals, or even the guitars and bass, but because of the feel the drummer offered and lent to the songs.

The band has stated that they drew inspiration musically from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath for this record. I feel that this album will have reflect that strongly. There will be less songs that resemble Beast and the Harlot and Almost Easy and more songs that will resemble Whole Lotta Love and Iron Man in terms of song structure. Avenged Sevenfold also released a thirty second song snippet (Found at the bottom), that fans are assuming is the title track to the album. As one can assume, the snippet is very riff oriented and the drums are loud and in your face. Shadows is also the only vocalist here, with no harmonies from the other band members (minus the Hey! Hey! in the background).

Bottom Line: This album is going to be a loud, in your face hard rock album. The band is going for an older approach with just one vocalist, and that is a huge change for them in comparison to the rest of their albums. It could almost be compared to Waking the Fallen in that respect. There will be less complex harmonies, and more of their focus will be centered around the riff and the overall presentation of the song. As far as the harmonized solos that Synyster and Zacky are known for, I feel that there will be less of them, but there might be less shredding solos and more melodic solos, such as the one in Gunslinger or maybe even Dear God. All I know is that this album will be one of the most anticipated albums for me next to the Winery Dogs.

Here is the link to the snippet. There other low quality ones surfing around the web, but this is the one from Avenged Sevenfold's Youtube Page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRPiPb_UcdI