Band of the Week #8- Avenged Sevenfold

History:

The band formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach California by Matt Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev, and Matt Wendt, who would be later replaced by Justin Sane. Lead guitarist Synyster Gates would join the band at the end of 1999, making the metalcore band a five piece. They recorded their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet in 2001 and toured with it up until Justin Sane attempted suicide via cough syrup. He was placed in a mental ward and was replaced by Johnny Christ. They would go on to release their next record Waking the Fallen in 2003, an album that sounded much more mature and refined than their debut record. Songs such as Chapter Four and Unholy Confessions greatly stood out in this record. The band would soon be signed to Warner Bros. Records.

In 2005, they released City of Evil. This album differed greatly from their other previous two records on a lot of levels. For one, the songs were much longer than before, plus there is no screaming on this record. Instead, Matt decided to obtain a grittier voice, while still maintaining the core 'sound' of the band. The album was a mainstream success and it really put the band on the map. They toured the album for two years, and then use that very same momentum to release their self titled album in 2007. It garnered great reviews and the fans enjoyed the record as well, but the enjoyment would slowly turn into sadness on December 28th, 2009 when Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan died of a drug overdose. The band faltered for a bit thereafter, but released their fifth album dedicated to the Rev, entitled Nightmare. The record was a very emotional one for both the fans and the band since they were all one big family. Mike Portnoy, Ex- Dream Theater drummer played drums on this record, and even toured with them for the subsequent tour. The band did work with Activision and their Call of Duty Series for the next three years. In 2013, they released their most recent effort, Hail To The King, a old school metal album featuring their new drummer Arin Illejay from the metalcore band Confide.

My Thoughts:

I got into Avenged Sevenfold around my sophomore year of high school, which would be around four yers ago. I got hooked onto the band because of their hard hitting tracks like Bat Country, Unholy Confessions, Crossroads, MIA, Brompton Cocktail, and Chapter Four, all stunning tracks in their own right. The band has always kept a fresh sound, thus keeping them moving and advancing musically. Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates are a fantastic guitar duo, and Shadows' vocals are fantastic, very unique and distinct. Johnny Christ is a good bassist, and connected well with The Rev, an insanely talented and energetic drummer in his own right. I can't wait for the band's next album!

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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.

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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

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Music's Image

Why does music have to have an image? Why do musicians have to look or act a certain way to get a record label? What is with the stereotypes that rock stars have to do drugs, and have lots of sex, or the stigma that all country artists wear cowboy hats and the whole cowboy, lone ranger shebang? This concept is one of the most annoying things I see when I see how record labels sign artists; by their "image."

Musicians should be judged based on their merits. How well they can play, not just as band, but as individuals. How well the drummer can play his beat, or how well the guitar or bass players play when a string snaps. They should be judged on how well they play it, and how much energy or a crowd they can draw. If a local band is drawing a huge crowd of people that want to watch them, why should it matter how they look? Why should it matter if they look like the belong in Led Zeppelin or Avenged Sevenfold? Last time I checked, people like good music, music that they are interested in or that they can relate to, looks should come second. I understand that if a musician looks good, a fan might be more drawn to the band, but that should not play a large factor if the person like the act or not.

I know bands that look like they do not belong in the "scene" they claim they are part of, but they sound amazing and sure as hell belong in that "scene". Those bands, those groups of people writing music in someone's basement or in a big recording space, those are really people. We were always told as kids to not judge a book by its cover, why should we do so when it comes to bands and signing then. I thought it was the content of the book that mattered, not the pretty looking digitally remastered cover that was done with Photoshop. I remember hearing how record labels signed bands, and maybe they still do it this way... I recall hearing how record labels would send out a representative into a club where they had local bands playing. They would dress how they chose, whether it be casual or professional. Then they would watch the full set, all the bands and groups that performed. If they liked what they see, they might go to another show or two of the bands of interests, and then if they still like what they hear, they will give them card as an offer and from there it is up to band. Why can they not do things like that anymore, listen to the music, feel the energy, hear the crowd signing these local songs as loud as they can.

Music is something that should be limited to how one looks. I look like a guy that listens to post hardcore or "emo" music (kind of), but I fucking love Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, 311, Paramore, Foo Fighters etc with every fiber in my body and would kill to see any of these bands live. It just seems really stupid and illogical to judge a band by their looks, and not by what they are creating and making. Labels should be more focused on the sound of the music, and how both the artist and the label could benefit from such a partnership, and not how the lead singer's hair looks, or how "brutal" the band looks. Image shouldn't be a credential for a band, and damn the person who first thought it should. 

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