So I have been a fan of Avenged Sevenfold for just over 6 years and am familiar with every song in their discography and i have formed an opinion about their music.
Disclaimer: This is purely an opinion and it can vary from person to person. So you can agree or disagree that's completely fine. This post is purely informative for somebody that never heard an Avenged Sevenfold song.
7. Sounding the Seventh Trumpet
Released back in 2001 this album is all over the place, which is understandable considering the fact that the band was young as were it's members. Songs are fairly similar but you could hear the potential and musicality that the band had in some of the solos and riffs.
There are bright spots here and there. Lead singer Matthew Sanders (stage name: M. Shadows) showing that he can sing with clean vocals too on Warmness on the Soul.
This is the only Avenged Sevenfold album that I can say it's not good.
Top songs on the album:
1. Warmness on the Soul 2. Darkness Surrounding 3. Shattered by Broken Dreams
6. Hail to the King
With this 2013. release members of the band wanted to pay homage to the music of their youth. It was done pretty much in the style of Metallica and lacked creativity in lots of places. There is great riffing for a bit and then they would replace that riff with another really generic one. There are some song that you just won't remember like Doing Time, Heretic or Coming Home, it felt like they were there just to fill the song count. Planets is by far the best and most original song on this album, it's just wonderful.
This was also the first album without any contribution from their deceased drummer James Owen Sulliven(Stage name: The Reverend Tholomew Plague or The Rev). He was one of the main creative forces of the band and you could feel that the drums were lacking on this record as well as overall songwriting.
I understand what they wanted to achieve with this album it was just lacking execution.
Top songs on the Album:
1. Planets 2. Hail to the King 3. Acid Rain
5. Avenged Sevenfold
Maybe some of the long-time Avenged Sevenfold fans would disagree with my choice here but I feel like this album is just inconsistent. I still listen to this album a lot but i feel that it's weaker than the ones above it on this list.
So, this self-titled album was released in 2007 and it's the album that launched Avenged Sevenfold into mainstream music. What i meant by inconsistent is that, just like on Hail to the King, there are really good parts of some songs and then there are parts that you just won't forget. Like, Scream is a really catchy song, but there are parts of that song that hurt my ears. But on the other hand you have songs, like Afterlife,Critical Acclaim, Dear God, and A Little Piece of Heaven that are still one of my favorite songs. With the latter being the most original song that Avenged Sevenfold ever did. And I just want to note that their now-deceased drummer single handedly wrote 3 songs on this album and was a part of creating the rest of the album as well.
Best song on the album:
1. Afterlife 2. Dear God 3. A Little Piece of Heaven
4. The Stage
Avenged Sevenfold dropped this album in late October 2016. kind of unexpectedly. They released one single The Stage and then dropped the album without even announcing a release date. So naturally sales suffered which didn't concerned the band because they "did what they wanted to do". This release marks bands first concept album which revolves around space and AI. What's most appealing to me on this album is just pure originality that went into making this album. They released Arin Ilejay who was a drummer on Hail to the King and brought in Brooks Wackerman for this album and it worked as a charm. Brooks brought life back to Avenged Sevenfolds drumming. I'd say that the star of this album was the lead guitarist Brian Haner (Stage name: Synyster Gates). His guitar work was outstanding on the entire album and culminated with the 15 minute closing track Exist which also featured famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Opening track The Stage has that prog sound we are all familiar with and I love it. The entire album feels more mature then their other work. I feel like they are headed in the right direction.
They are also nominated for a Grammy Award. Ceremony will be held on January 28th.
Best songs on the album:
1. The Stage 2. God Damn 3. Roman Sky
(This was so hard to narrow down)
3. Waking the Fallen
Now this is where it gets interesting. These next three albums are pretty much open to position changes depending on the mood I'm in, but objectively speaking this is the true order even though I would love to put Waking the Fallen on the top of the list, it just has some imperfections.
This 2003 release what I consider perfect metalcore. It's raw and rough but it has some soft spots and most importantly songs are perfectly paced. I listened to this album so many times, it's insane. Songs like Unholy Confessions, Remenissions, Second Heartbeat, Eternal Rest are just what i need from metalcore. And the two-part song I won't see you tonight shows both sides of the band once again.
Best songs on the album:
1. Remenissions 2. Second Heartbeat 3. Unholy Confessions
2. Nightmare
So what do you do when your drummer dies in the middle of creating an album. You get one of the best drummers in rock to record with you and use the raw emotion to produce something that is close to masterpiece.
So The Rev died during the creative process and the rest of the band coped with it in the best possible way, they got Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater and got into studio and smashed it. Synyster Gates wrote a beautiful ballad dedicated to deceased drummer and a friend. Band said that this was their last album with The Rev so it had to be the best and in my opinion it was really close. Maybe this album is the best, I don't know, I feel like Danger Line is the weakest link of the album and for me it ruined the experience of listening, it just didn't feel like it should be on this album. It's not a bad song don't get me wrong, I just think it doesn't belong. Fiction is such a sad song, it feels like Rev was saying goodbye, it's super emotional and Save Me was the band delving into progressive sound for the first time and the experiment was a success in my opinion.
Best songs on the album:
1. Save Me 2. Nightmare 3. So Far Away
(Again, really hard to narrow down)
1. City of Evil
I don't care what you think about Avenged Sevenfold but this album is a must listen for any fan of rock music.
This is where everything came together. After the second release Waking the Fallen this was an amazing follow up, even though the band moved on from their original metalcore sound album just hits right. The drumming, the dual guitars. What surprised me the most is the Shadows' ability of storytelling. Lyrically, this album is filled with biblical references and imagery from Beast and the Harlot to The Wicked End. There is also a song dedicated to late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell called Betrayed. I feel like Scream from the self-titled album is just a worse version of Sidewinder from this album and Seize the Day keeps the pace of the album at an optimal level. I don't think there is a better way to leave your listeners with something to think about than closing your album with a track like M.I.A. I can't recommend this album enough.
Best songs on the album(hint: it's all of them):
1. M.I.A 2. Seize the Day 3. Bat Country
So, no poem today, I'm sorry if anybody was looking forward to it...This took way more time than I thought it would considering I have an exam tomorrow.
See you in the next post...
P.S. Upvote if you liked the review and follow for more :D
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