Week of Avenged Sevenfold

     A ton of amazing rock records have been coming out in previous weeks. So I have had to be very picky with my albums. I have chosen very carefully and this week I will be reviewing Avenged Sevenfold- Hail to the King.

          Avenged Sevenfold are an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach California, formed in 1999. The band is most famously made up  of Lead Vocalist M. Shadows, Rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, Lead guitarist Synyster Gates, Bass Guitarist, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. The band is not majorly religious but the name is from a bible verse in Genesis 4:24, the story of Cain and Abel. Former member Justin Sane attempted suicide in 2001 on the take action tour and had to be removed from the band. They released their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet in 2001. After gaining some recognition opening for Mushroomhead in 2002, they released their second album  Waking the Fallen in 2003. In 2005 the band moved to a major record label and released City of Evil. This album saw their sound change from a more metalcore style to classic metal. It also saw them achieving major success with lead single "Bat Country". In 2007 they completed their first world wide tour, and played the main stage at Ozzfest. That same year they released their self titled album to mixed reviews. In 2009, the band had begun work on the follow up to the self titled when, on December 28th 2009 drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead in his home. I will cover more on that in a bit. In 2010 the band put out Nightmare, a much darker album inspired by the death of The Rev. That leads us to now and Hail to the King.

     The death of The Rev had quite the effect on the band and even almost broke them up. I think it's important to explore this further because it had some very strange things surrounding it. The original autopsy results were inconclusive, which seems to happen a lot with dead rock stars, (Jim Morrison, Paul Grey, The Rev). Eventually on June 9, 2010 the cause of death was revealed to have been an been a drug overdose from a bunch of different drugs: Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam, Nordiazepam, and ethanol. All were found in his system at the time of death. Following the Rev's death the band ended up in a studio with the now former drummer of Dream Theater Mike Portnoy. He did is best to imitate The Rev's drum style to a t, and thought he was going to be the new permanent drummer, that didn't exactly work out. The problem was that he was just to famous, so that when he went on tour with them it became Avenged Sevenfold featuring Mike Portnoy.
                                                  Hail to the King- Avenged Sevenfold

     Avenged Sevenfold has been changing their sound and evolving as a band way back since City of Evil and again with Nightmare. Here they are trying to push the boundaries of their sound by looking back to great albums of the past and making that sound their way. The major problems bands have when trying to make a new sound aside from it not going over well with the fans, is half committing to it. When you try to change and then back out half way because your afraid it will piss off you fans, all you get is a watered down result. This album does that a little bit. It starts off blasting like old school Metallica and even grooves at certain points, but after the first three tracks they start to move back in to familiar territory. It may not be bad music, but it does abandon the change. Until the last four tracks where they pick it back up again. In total this album is an epic that aims to be as big as it possible can be.
                                                         Heretic- Avenged Sevenfold

     The album opener "Shepherd of Fire" is one of the best song on the album. It almost sounds like old school Metallica re-imagined. It just tears into a huge stomping beat. The lead single "Hail to the King" may be one of the best songs they have ever written. It take a very old school metal approach to song writing and it pays off. "Doing Time" has M. Shadows doing more of a grimy vocal line, while still keeping up the old school Metallica feel. "This Means War" is so Mettalica I could've sworn it was James Hetfield for a minute. It slows down the beat a little and falls into a catchy groove. "Requiem" opens with a demonic chorus resembling that of Ghost B.C. It also features an orchestra and a spoken word section. It's very strange but it works. "Crimson Day" sees them trying to make their own "One" style ballad. It is a good song but it doesn't do the same thing that a great power ballad does. It slightly falls short of what it could have been. "Heretic" is a song that really falls into a groove. It sounds the most like older Avenged Sevenfold, but is still good music. "Coming Home is my favorite song on the album, and is also the point where the album goes from good to great. They are majorly channeling Iron Maiden here and I love it. It is a huge song in both length and badasserey. "Planets" is my second favorite song on the album. It features a horn section towards the end of the song. It is a true classic metal epic. Please make more like this A7X. The albums closer "Acid Rain" is a true amazing album closer starting with a slow driving piano and an orchestra section and pushing to something truly great. The album ends as strongly as it begins.
                                               Beast and the Harlot- Avenged Sevenfold

     This band has been improving ever since they began and it shows. I still personally prefer nightmare but only slightly, this album has majorly grown on me. They aim for classic album territory with this album and only fall slightly short. The problem is the true classic albums they were using for inspiration Mettalica's Black Album, Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion, Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast, never fall back on familiar territory even once they fully embrace the change and push forward from a great album to a legendary one. This album is truly great, but it falls back on old habits to much instead of embracing the new direction completely. This band has grown and improved a lot and I know they will continue to do so in the future.

Recommended songs: Hail to the King, Shepherd of Fire, Coming Home, and Planets.

4/5 Stars