Avenged Sevenfold- Hail To The King Album Review

A couple of months ago, Avenged Sevenfold released news that they were releasing a new album. It would be the first full album without the late drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. Many fans were distraught upon hearing the news about Jimmy's passing and they thought the band was going to break up. They eventually found Arin Illejay and the band was able to continue onwards. In various interviews, they said that this album was going to be completely different from all of their other records (What band DOESN'T say that?). They said they were trying to get a Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin feel for this album in various interviews. This was surprising considering they always seemed more influenced by heavier acts like Iron Maiden and Guns N Roses, but Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin WERE pretty heavy music acts, so I thought they were going to release a really good album. On Tuesday August 21st, the band decided to stream their full album on iTunes, and the following will be a track by track review of the album, followed by an overview.

1.      Shepherd of Fire- This is the opener to the album! It has a very good intro in my opinion and it Arin creates a nice buildup. It has a very old school metal feel to it I will admit that. I'm not a huge fan of the lyrics though. They seem really cheesy to me, but to each their own I suppose. The rhythm section in this song is superb and the song is overall not bad. The solo is very shreddy though, and has no real melody and is just mindless shredding to me. I felt the band could have opened up with a better track in my opinion. The track overall is a 5.5/10

2.      Hail To The King- The first single released for this album, as well as the album's self titled track. When I first heard this song, I really didn't like it. The drums completely sucked, and they were so basic, and the lyrics felt like they were bad Iron Maiden lyrics. After listening to the album as a whole a bit more, I've decided it fits the album, but it doesn't hide the fact that the drums aren't as technical as I first expected them to be. I wasn't a fan of the lead part that Synyster played under the rhythm, which was a very legato like riff. I felt it didn't fit the song during the verses, but it sounded good in the intro and in the buildups to the chorus. This is song is definitely going to be an Avenged Sevenfold staple. It has such a big chorus and it's pretty dynamic overall. I'd give it a 5/10.

3.      Doing Time- The first time I heard this song I thought I was listening to Revelation Theory. The intro for this song is a dead ringer for Rev Theory's single "Hell Yeah". I'll supply the link below with "Hell Yeah" as well as a timestamp as to where the similarities are. With that being said, this track is pretty solid. I really like, the drums fit the track really well and the song overall is really cool. The solo wasn't has mindless as other have been, and the little overdubs Syn does fit the song so well. 7.5/10. 

4.      This Means War- This is another stripped down track, similar to Hail to the King. Arin gets a LITTLE bit fancy on the rhythm, but otherwise this sounds like a very old school metal track from the 80's. Syn went crazy on the whammy bar, and Zacky and Johnny, the rhythm guitar player and bassist respectively, keep a great groove together. The track is a 6.5/10 for me. It was bolder and sounded better to me than Hail to the King.

5.      Requiem- This song, in my opinion, should have been the opener to the album. This is yet another heavy chunky track. Syn changes it up in the solo with a wah pedal, something I don't hear him using too much in his playing. The track opens up with chant in Latin, followed by a track that I feel could belong on City of Evil. It's really good in my opinion and it's starting to grow on me. I wish they filled out the high end with keys or some sort of orchestration because that would make it ten times better! 6.75/10

6.      Crimson Day- Unlike the other tracks, this one starts off with a single guitar with reverb on a clean tone as well as a bass. The track eases into a very soft rock feel, but it builds up as the tracks goes on. There are keys placed in this tracks so it fills out the high end of the song, making it feel much fuller and louder overall. I really liked the fact that the clean riff was played in the chorus as well because it sounds really good there and even the solo had a good melody going for it. This solo reminds me of the stuff that'd appear on the band's self titled album, and that's a good thing! The bass can actually be heard for once, as opposed to being overshadowed by the guitars, and Johnny takes advantage of this by play a smooth bass line that shows he just doesn't follow the root notes. 8.5/10

7.      Heretic- The drums get better on this track. Arin starts to discretely add 16th note triplets on the bass. I'm happy this track retained a little bit of the harmonies that I've come to expect from Avenged Sevenfold over the years. The bass is large and thumpy on this track, more so than on previous tracks, and the melody riff is a bit edgy, which is good for this song I think. About half way through the song, it goes into a "Seize the Day" kind of groove. It's pretty cool, but some would think that it was kind of sporadic and doesn't fit the song. The clean guitar that uses reverb sounds out of place on this track, but it quickly goes back into the main groove of this track with another Syn solo. Lyrically, this song was kind of odd to me, but then again, most of the lyrics of this album have thrown me off. I will say this though; the ending to this song is really cool for no clear reason to me. 7/10

8.      Coming Home- If I could only download one song off this album this would be the song. This the song I think everyone has been expecting from Avenged Sevenfold. It is so loud and is immensely reminiscent of something that belongs on City of Evil. The drums have finally kicked in and Arin can show what he can do on the kit. It's a hard rock track for sure, but Arin doesn't go all out as I expected him to. On an even brighter note, Syn's crazy solos finally have a place where they don't sound like they were randomly thrown in. The track is really consistent and is my favorite track off of the album. For all of you guitar nuts that love to hear Syn solo, Syn has a minute and fifteen seconds of a solo. Lyrically, this song is fantastic, and I was even able to catch a little bit of Johnny Christ's bass fills and interludes in the song which give it great depth. They stand out in the chorus and sound amazing. This track is a 9/10. If it had harmonies with Synyster or Zacky, or keys section that could buildup to Synyster's solo it'd be a perfect track in my opinion as far as this album is concerned.

9.      Planets- Matt sounds very gritty on this track, and they return to their heavy metal feel. Arin does have a double bass section within the song, right before the choruses that give it an old school Avenged Sevenfold to it. Out of all of the "old school metal tracks" on this album, this is probably my favorite. I like the drums, they sound better and much more natural. It sounded like Arin really felt the groove of this track and got into it. I can definitely see this track becoming popular with Avenged fans. There are interestingly placed horns in this track, which I am all for, make the track sound louder and in your face. But, I personally can't see myself listening to the track on repeat. It felt very repetitive at some points. 6.5/10

10.  Acid Rain- This is their ballad rock song, and it's how I seen Avenged close their albums (Fiction closed Nightmare and Dear God closed the self titled).It picks up and drops at certain point, but it is overall a decent track. I didn't quite follow the track too well, but I really like the keys and piano that were placed into the song. Syn also solos beautifully and soulfully in this track, thus making the song come together since an out of place solo can ruin a song. It was an overall great way to end the album.6.75/10

The Album Overall:
This album is completely different from anything Avenged Sevenfold has done. They've done hard rock records, metalcore records, but never an album that had an old school metal feel. For I'd say fifty percent of album, Avenged Sevenfold stuck to their word about the album and how it would have a heavy metal feel to it, as well an old school metal feel. It felt as so, mainly because of the drums and how it guided the songs. I tried to place a lot of emphasis on Arin in this review since he is the most recent member of the band, and he has to take the place of The Rev on the drums.

Like everyone, I expected more out of Arin on this album, but I fully understand why he played as he did on the album. The album wasn't meant to show off the drums and the fact they had a new drummer, but the fact that they were back and that they were able to recover from the passing of their former drummer to a certain extent. The drums, and the album as a whole got considerably better as each song passed. I wasn't a big fan of songs like "Shepherd of Fire" or "This Means War", but things really picked up in the second half of the album with "Planets" and "Coming Home". I sincerely wish Zacky and Syn retained their job as backing vocalists because they accented Matt's voice amazingly well, and there were some parts of the record where I thought their backing vocals would be perfect. I also feel some keyboard playing, or rather, the addition of keys would make the songs sound fuller and much more dynamic. Lastly, I do wish Syn didn't play as many 'mindless' shreddy solos that have no real purpose other than to say "Hey I can play fast and sweep!". He is a great guitarist, and has shown that he knows his way around the fretboard album after album, but I wish they had more substance and fit the song more, but that's just my 2 cents. Overall, this record to me is a 6.75/10. The tracks kind of started to blend together after a while. There are stand out tracks like "Doing Time", "Crimson Day", "Coming Home" and even "Acid Rain", but past that, they sounded kind of bland.