Nightmare

Nightmare is the fifth studio album by American hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold, released on July 27, 2010 through Warner Bros. Records. It was produced by Mike Elizondo and mixed in New York City by noted engineer Andy Wallace.Nightmare is the first Avenged Sevenfold record without James "The Rev" Sullivan performing drums on all the songs due to his death in December 2009; however he did write parts that were used for the final recordings, making this the last album he would write on, The Rev's vocals are still on the album as a tribute to him. Mike Portnoy, from Dream Theater, who performed as the drummer for the album in his place, also played with the band for all their tours through the end of 2010, due to Dream Theater not touring at that time. They have since hired Arin Ilejay to drum in The Rev's place. The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA in the United States.

Writing and recording

In late 2009, two years after Avenged Sevenfold released their self-titled album, and four years after they had issued their breakthrough studio set, 2005's City of Evil, the band started working on their next record, their "most personal and epic that will definitely take you on a very dark journey." Around late 2009, the band worked on the album's production until the death of their drummer.

On December 28, 2009 the body of James "The Rev" Sullivan was discovered inside his home. This incident made the band suspend work on the album for some time. In the later months, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater (a major influence on The Rev and the rest of the band) agreed to finish recording the drumming tracks for the album:

After a couple of months, more notices about the album became available; a short message from Zacky Vengeance was posted on the official Avenged Sevenfold Twitter on April 17, 2010: "Tracking is complete. There are no words that will ever describe the feeling of listening to this album while driving home alone at 4 am."

Johnny Christ stated in an interview with Ultimate Guitar about the writing process and subject matter of Nightmare:

M. Shadows and Synyster Gates, in an interview with The Pulse of Radio, confirmed The Rev's special appearance in the record. According to the band members, he left a couple of vocals (to their fortune, clear and in key) before his death, which they used on the record. With his drum fills and vocals intact, the record shows itself like the band's last record with their drummer. The same band members revealed some details about the new record in an interview to Hard Drive radio:

Fiction

It has been confirmed in a recent interview that the song "Fiction" from Avenged Sevenfold's 2010 album Nightmare, was initially written in Pinkly Smooth, but as they went on an indefinite break after Avenged Sevenfold took off, The Rev never finished it. He revisited it and finally finished it (under the title name "Death") three days before he died on December 28, 2009. "Fiction" is one of only two songs on Avenged Sevenfold's album Nightmare to feature The Rev's vocals (the other is "Save Me") as they were able to save a demo recording that he did of the song shortly before Sullivan's death.In a recent interview with Spanish magazine "Binaural," Synyster Gates stated that they're thinking of remixing and remastering the album and possibly adding new parts now that he has the opportunity as he said the album's quality was similar to a demo. 

Release and promotion

The first single, "Nightmare", was released digitally on May 18, 2010. A preview for the song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after for unknown reasons; However, on May 10, 2010, a 30-second audio uncensored sample was again revealed, but this time at SoundCloud and on the band's official website. The band also posted, the same day, a video of the song on their official YouTube channel with animated lyrics, which received over 275,000 plays in 24 hours.

On June 3, 2010, the band revealed a "Limited Edition" of Nightmare for pre-order available only on their website, which contains:

• Full Nightmare album on CD.
• Expanded booklet featuring lyric sheets from the band and exclusive artwork.
• Housed in a synthetic leather bound book with special silver plated Nightmare crest.
• Limited 24″ x 36″ lithograph entitled Death Bat Anatomy, featuring original artwork on special textured paper embossed with a silver colored Death Bat.
• Instant download of the new single, Nightmare.
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  

Since May 27, 2010, the band revealed the album cover piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle over a period of eighteen days, revealing the complete cover on June 15, 2010, along with the track listing.

On June 29, 2010, the band made available an iTunes pre-order of the album, which contains:

• Full Nightmare digital album.
• Bonus track: "Lost It All"
• Exclusive photos.
• "Nightmare" music video.
• Behind the scenes footage from "Nightmare" music video shoot.
• Written treatment for "Nightmare" music video.
• "Nightmare" lyric video.
• Audio interview with album producer, Mike Elizondo.
• Type-set lyrics with hand-written notes for bonus track, "Lost It All".
• Sketches of album art concept.

The song "Buried Alive" was posted on the band's Facebook page on July 14, 2010, but experienced loading issues due to a large number of users trying to access the video, and was briefly taken down. The problem was resolved on July 15, 2010, and was posted on YouTube as a lyric video which also contained a small animation.

On July 21, 2010 the song "So Far Away" was released by KROQ radio exclusively for one day.

On October 19, 2010, the single "Welcome to the Family" was released.

On April 5, 2011, "So Far Away" was released, followed by the music video.

In September 2011, the band announced plans for a music video for their next single, "Buried Alive". They tried to get Rob Zombie to direct the video, but he declined due to being focused on another project.

Critical Reception

Upon its release, Nightmare received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 7 professional reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

In the August 2010 issue of Metal Hammer, Terry Bezer rated the album an eight out of ten. In his review he had praised the band members for their courage despite of the death of The Rev and called it "the ultimate tribute to a fallen friend." He also praised Mike Portnoy for his part in the album and found him a fitting stand-in for The Rev. 411 Mania gave the record a lengthy but highly positive review by giving it a score of 9.0/10. As a conclusion they stated, "If you’re a fan of Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare is a must-have for you. This album is incredibly moving and is better than any tribute to the late Rev I could have possibly imagined." Kerrang! gave the album 4 K's out of 5 concluding: "Where Avenged [Sevenfold] go from here is still in the lap of the gods. Whatever their future, though, Nightmare marks the point at which the Huntington Beach crew put away childish things and became men. Wherever he is now, their brother must be immensely proud."

About a month and a half before the record had released, Faye Lewis of Rock Sound, gave the record a highly critical review, saying that the title track "Nightmare" was the only highlight, which generated much criticism. Rock Sound later issued an apology for the review and took it down from their site. In their letter of apology they said: "Rock Sound recently published a track-by-track guide to the forthcoming Avenged Sevenfold album. We wish to apologize wholeheartedly for any misunderstanding in the article that caused upset to both the band and their fans. This was certainly not our intention and therefore we have removed the piece from the site." Iann Robinson of CraveOnline was much less forgiving or accepting, calling the album "a waste of space," ultimately giving the album a 1 out of 10.

Accolades

Band Member

M. Shadows – vocals
Synyster Gates – lead guitar
Zacky Vengeance – guitar
Johnny Christ – bass
The Rev – drum arrangements

Additional musician(s)

• The Rev – vocals (on "Fiction", "Save Me"), piano (on "Fiction", "Save Me")
• Mike Portnoy – Drums
• Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance, Johnny Christ – Backing Vocals
• Brian Haner, Sr. – guitar solo on "Tonight the World Dies" and additional guitar on "So Far Away"
• Sharlotte Gibson – backing vocals on "Victim"
• Jessi Collins – backing vocals on "Fiction"
• David Palmer – piano, keyboards, B3 on "Nightmare", "Danger Line", "Tonight the World Dies", "Fiction" and "Save Me"
• Stevie Blacke – Strings, string arrangement on "Nightmare", "Danger Line", "Buried Alive", "So Far Away", "Fiction" and "Save Me"
• Stewart Cole – trumpet on "Danger Line"
• Mike Elizondo – keyboards on "Fiction"
• The Whistler – Whistling on "Danger Line"
  
  

Production

• Craig Aaronson – A&RBrent Arrowood – assistant engineer
• Chad Carlisle – assistant engineer
• Mike Elizondo – producerD.A. Frizell – illustrations, treatment
• Adam Hawkins – engineer
• Ted Jensen – masteringJodie Levine – production co-ordination, contractor
• Clay Patrick McBride – photographyAndy Olyphant – A&R
• Paul Suarez – pro-tools
• Jan Petrow – assistant engineer
• Cam Rackman – paintings, portraitsRafa Alcantra – art direction, photography, layouts
• Travis Smith – cover art, tray card art
• Joanna Terrasi – production co-ordination, contractor
• Andy Wallace – mixer

Release history

CD

Singles

Nightmare ( May 18, 2010)
Welcome To The Family (October 19, 2010)
So Far Away (April 5, 2011)
Buried Alive (September 20, 2011)                                  

                                                    Nightmare Single

"Nightmare" is a song by American metal band Avenged Sevenfold released as the lead single for their fifth studio album, Nightmare. It is also their first single released without former drummer "The Rev", who died on December 28, 2009. The song was released digitally on May 18 and 21, 2010 on the US and worldwide, respectively, on iTunes as well as an animated lyric video on YouTube, which received over 275,000 plays in 24 hours. A preview for the song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after for unknown reasons. However, on May 10, 2010, a 30-second audio uncensored sample was again revealed, but this time at SoundCloud.

"Nightmare" was nominated for Best Single at the Kerrang! Awards 2010, but lost to Liquid Confidence by You Me At Six.

"Nightmare" was released on July 27, 2010 as a downloadable track in Rock Band 2 along with Seize the Day and Scream. It was discovered by fans that the face of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, the band's deceased drummer, can be seen on both the single and album cover.

"Nightmare" is an easter egg in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is accessible by completing the One Giant Leap Achievement or Trophy.

Reception

The song was the No. 1 most added track at Active Rock radio in the US during one week of May 2010. It was also the No. 1 rock song on iTunes in the US (and also in the UK), selling over 23,000 units in its first day. The song Nightmare became the most Radio Played rock song in the USA of 2010, with over 35,000 spins.

Music Video

The band has filmed a music video for "Nightmare". To film the video, they hired the famed video director, Wayne Isham, who has worked with bands such as Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi and Metallica. The video itself was filmed at Linda Vista Hospital Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California. The music video premiered on July 17, 2010, on MTV2, at 11 AM EST, and on Avenged Sevenfold's website. An unedited version of the video premiered later on that day. The video can be seen on the band's official YouTube page.

The video depicts lead vocalist M. Shadows about to undergo surgery, when the surgeons take him out of the room on a gurney. Shadows then notices the torn-down former drum kit of the band's deceased drummer, The Rev, when he toured with them to support their record City of Evil. The surgeons move him through halls and he sees the members of Avenged Sevenfold acting mentally insane, such as lead guitarist Synyster Gates continually banging his bloody head against the window of a door, bassist Johnny Christ crawling on the ceiling, and seeing rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance in a straitjacket, and later waltzing with a skeleton, as well as disturbing images of children playing and soaked in blood. The video shifts between this and the band performing in a black environment with a small bit of background light. Towards the end of the video, M. Shadows begins to fight the gurney, wanting to get off, as they wheel him toward a room being led by two young boys. He cannot get off because he is strapped to it. He is wheeled into a room, where the last drum set The Rev toured with Avenged Sevenfold with is set up with a light behind it, morphed into The Rev's figure. The video does not feature Mike Portnoy playing drums, this was decided by Portnoy himself as he wanted it to be all about Avenged Sevenfold and seeing as how The Rev wrote most of the drums for the album. Portnoy thought it would be wrong to have himself in the video. The music video is based heavily on the infamous scene from Jacob's Ladder where Jacob Singer is being pulled on a stretcher through hell. This was because the band knew this was one of The Rev's favorite movies.

Many homages and tributes are shown through the video. For instance, The Rev's City of Evil tour drum kit has spiders crawling on it, just like in the "Afterlife" video, except that the spiders were on The Rev's face. Additionally, while filming the music video for "Afterlife" The Rev stated his arachnophobia. Another example is during one of Zacky's scenes where he is waltzing with a skeleton. This is also shown in the "Afterlife" video, except that he is dancing with his then girlfriend (now his wife). Other smaller references to Avenged Sevenfold's videos are The Priest from "Seize the Day" and patients faces stretching, like in the "Bat Country" video.

The video was inspired by the movie Jacob's Ladder.

Track listing

1. "Nightmare" — 6:16
2. "Nightmare" (Demo) — 6:05
3. "Nightmare" (Instrumental) — 6:03

Chart position

"Nightmare" debuted and peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, on the week ending August 14, 2010, the song re-entered at number 83 due to the release of the album.

Band Member

M. Shadows — Vocals
Synyster Gates — Lead Guitar
Zacky Vengeance — Guitar
Johnny Christ — Bass
The Rev — Drums on demo version

Additional Members

• Mike Portnoy — Drums
  Mike Elizondo — keyboards

Production

• Mike Elizondo — producer
• Andy Wallace — mixingTed Jensen — mastering

                       Welcome To The Family Single & EP

"Welcome to the Family" is a hard rock song by the American rock band Avenged Sevenfold, released as the second single for their fifth studio album, Nightmare. It is the band's second single released without former drummer "The Rev", who died on December 28, 2009. In the news Theprp.com mention the second single from the album Nightmare is "Welcome to the Family", scheduled to be played on the radio starting on October 19, 2010. In Avenged Sevenfold's "making of" series on YouTube, In the Studio, singer M. Shadows and bassist Johnny Christ say that The Rev wrote most of the song and M. Shadows finished it when they started to record the album. No plans for a music video have been made so far. The song is playable as DLC in the video game Rock Band 3.

Reception

On Active Rock radio Charts, they are now #1 and #15 on Alternative Songs charts, #2 on U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. Also, on Detroit/Windsor-area radio station 89X, the song set an all time "People's Choice" record, winning 23 straight times.

Chart Position

Band Member

M. Shadows — VocalsSynyster Gates — Lead GuitarZacky Vengeance — GuitarJohnny Christ — Bass

Additional musicians

Mike Portnoy — DrumsThe Rev — Drum Arrangement (Posthumous)

Production

Mike Elizondo — producerAndy Wallace — mixingTed Jensen — masteringCam Rackam — paintings and portraits
 _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Family is the second EP by Avenged Sevenfold. It was released on December 21, 2010 by Warner Bros. The EP includes "Welcome to the Family", "4:00 AM", "Seize the Day (Live in Seattle)" and "Welcome to the Family" of digital booklet. The track "4:00 AM" is an unreleased song from the Nightmare sessions, and from the interview sessions M. Shadows in Revolver's Special Edition products -available through the phone. A preview for the "4:00 AM" song was released on Amazon.com.

Band Members

• M.Shadows — Vocals
• Synyster Gates — Lead Guitar
• Zacky Vengeance— Guitar
• Johnny Christ — Bass
• The Rev — Drums

Additional musician

• Mike Portnoy — Drums

Production

• Mike Elizondo — producer
• Andy Wallace — mixing
• Ted Jensen — mastering
• Cam Rackam — cover art

So Far Away Single

"So Far Away" is a song by the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released as the third single for their fifth studio album, Nightmare. It is the band's third single released without former drummer "The Rev", who died on December 28, 2009. In late March All Access Music Group mentioned that the third single from the album Nightmare would be "So Far Away", scheduled to be played on the radio starting on April 5, 2011.

This was the first Avenged Sevenfold song Synyster Gates wrote completely by himself. During most concerts, the band performs the song as a tribute to the Rev by having the audience hold up their lighters or cell phones during the song as the stage background features a banner commemorating the Rev's legacy. This song was dedicated by Synyster Gates for the Belated James Owen Sullivan (The Rev) on December 28, 2009.

Avenged Sevenfold posted a countdown on their official website that showed the time until release for a new video for "So Far Away". SFA7X When the video was released, the site crashed due to so many people attempting to watch the video at once. After a second failed attempt to release the video, they solved the problem by hosting the music video on YouTube.

Music Video

The music video features the four remaining members of the band playing in a studio and also driving a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Convertible through a neighborhood (Maybe Huntington Beach, where the band originate from). As they make their way, flashbacks of the four begin to play. They are shown as kids playing in a basement, then teens playing, hanging out, and stealing alcohol from a store. During the bridge, a collection of photos and videos of the Rev play. It ends with a clip of the band members hugging, the same scene depicted inside the case of the Nightmare CD case. This was the second video not to feature the current drummer for Avenged Sevenfold, the first being Nightmare. For this music video, Synyster Gates asked Schecter to make a special edition of his own custom made guitar, but instead of placing the letters "SYN" like the original, it displays "REV". Johnny Christ also wore a guitar strap with the word "foREVer" ('foREVer' being the phrase that fans use to, in a way, mourn, and tribute, towards Avenged Sevenfold's drummer, "The Rev") written on it.

Charts

On the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the song reached number one and on the Alternative Songs chart it currently peaked at #15. This is A7X's first number-one single.

Chart Position

Band Member

M. Shadows — lead vocalsSynyster Gates — lead guitar, backing vocalsZacky Vengeance — rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ — bass

Additional musicians

• Mike Portnoy — drums, percussion
• Zacky Vengeance — acoustic guitar

Production

• Mike Elizondo — producer
• Andy Wallace — mixing
• Ted Jensen — mastering

                                   Buried Alive Single

 Buried Alive is the fourth single from American rock band Avenged Sevenfold's fifth album Nightmare. In September 2011, the band announced plans for a music video for this single. They tried to get Rob Zombie to direct the video, but he declined due to being focused on another project. The single was released the September 20 of 2011.

Charts

Band Members

M. Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar
Johnny Christ - Bass

Additional Production

• The Rev - Drum Arrangements
• Mike Portnoy - Drums

             Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough

Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough is the first live album and DVD package and the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold released on September 16, 2008 by Warner Bros. Records. The live DVD features the band's April 10, 2008 hometown show at Long Beach Arena headlining the Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour, while the CD contains previously unreleased B-sides that were recorded during the making of Avenged Sevenfold, plus various covers, and other never-before-heard material. The Rev performs vocals on the tracks Crossroads, and Flash of the Blade.

The DVD was directed by Core Entertainment's Rafa Alcantara, who also worked on the band's critically acclaimed 2007 road documentary All Excess.

On August 15, 2008, a trailer was released by Avenged Sevenfold on their YouTube channel. On September 5, 2008, Avenged Sevenfold released the live version of "Seize the Day" from the DVD through their imeem account. "Unholy Confessions" and "Scream" were later streamed before the release as well.

There are two alternate mixes of songs on their self-titled album:

• The CLA Mix of "Almost Easy" is simply the original song as mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, instead of Andy Wallace. This includes the mixing of The Rev's vocal take as well as M. Shadows.
• The alternate version of "Afterlife" features a different bridge and a string section throughout the entire song.

Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. On November 5, 2008, the CD/DVD combo was certified Gold, but has now reached Platinum by selling over 100,000 (Video Longform platinum) copies.

Band Member for Live In LBC & Diamonds In The Rough

M. Shadows – Vocals
Synyster Gates – Guitar
Zacky Vengeance – Guitar
Johnny Christ – Bass
The Rev - Drums

Additional Members

Brian Haner - Orchestration in "Until the End"
Johnny Christ - lead vocals on intro Seize the Day in Live in the LBC
M. Shadows - organ intro on "Critical Acclaim"
Zacky Vengeance, Synyster Gates, The Rev - Backing Vocals

Singles

Walk (July 17, 2007)
Crossroads (February 19, 2008)

Track listing

Live in the LBC (DVD)

All of these songs are, as noted, recorded live. All songs composed by Avenged Sevenfold except where noted.

Diamonds in the Rough (CD)

All songs written and composed by Avenged Sevenfold (unless otherwise noted). 

Walk Single

Covers

Avenged Sevenfold recorded a cover of the song, which was included on their album Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough. It was released as the first single on the album. However, the song was originally recorded for the band's first DVD, All Excess. It was later included on the album as it was never released on CD. On the live DVD that was included with the album which was recorded at Long Beach Arena, the band performed the song live with a member from the audience (Mataho) performing the vocals.

 Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold (often abbreviated A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of M. Shadows (vocalist), Synyster Gates (lead guitarist), Zacky Vengeance (rhythm guitarist), and Johnny Christ (bassist).

They are known for their diverse rock sound and dramatic imagery in album covers and t-shirts. Avenged Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet but their style had evolved by their third album and first major label release, City of Evil into a hard rock/heavy metal sound. The band continued to explore new sounds with their self-titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan, died in 2009. Despite his death, the band continued on with help of now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and released and toured in support of their fifth album Nightmare in 2010 which debuted on the top spot of the Billboard 200, their first number one debut.

To date, Avenged Sevenfold has released five studio albums, one live album/compilation/DVD, and eighteen singles and sold more than four million albums worldwide.

History

Formation and Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (1999–2002)

The band was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California with original members M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev and Matt Wendt. M Shadows came up with the name as a reference to the story of Cain and Abel from The Bible, which can be found in Genesis 4:24, although they are not a religious band. Upon its formation, each member of the band also took on a pseudonym which were already nicknames of theirs from high school.

Before the release of their debut album, the band recorded two demos in 1999 and 2000. Avenged Sevenfold's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were just eighteen years old and in high school. It was originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings in 2001. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, at the end of 1999 when he was 18 at the introductory track "To End the Rapture" was re-recorded featuring a full band element. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002. The band started to receive recognition, performing with bands such as Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall and playing on the Take Action Tour.

Line-up stability, chart success and "Waking the Fallen" (2003–2004)

Having settled on their fourth bassist, Johnny Christ, the group released their second studio album titled Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Records in August 2003. The album featured a more refined and mature sound production in comparison to their previous album. The band received profiles in Billboard and The Boston Globe, and played in the Vans Warped Tour. In 2004, Avenged Sevenfold toured again on the Vans Warped Tour and recorded a video for their song "Unholy Confessions" which went into rotation on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball. Shortly after the release of Waking the Fallen, Avenged Sevenfold left Hopeless Records and were signed to Warner Bros. Records.

"City of Evil" (2005–2006)

City of Evil, the band's third album and major label debut, was released on June 7, 2005 and debuted at No.30 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 30,000 copies in its first week of release. It utilized a more classic metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold's previous albums, which had been grouped into the metalcore genre. The album is also notable for the absence of screamed and growled vocals; M. Shadows worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson—whose clients have included Axl Rose and Chris Cornell—for months before the album's release to achieve a sound that had "grit while still having the tone". The album received positive reviews from several magazines and websites and is credited for propelling the band into international popularity.

After playing Ozzfest in 2006, Avenged Sevenfold memorably beat out R&B Singers Rihanna and Chris Brown, Panic! at the Disco, Angels & Airwaves and James Blunt for the title of Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, thanks in part to their Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-inspired song “Bat Country.”

They returned to the Vans Warped Tour, this time headlining and then continued on their own "Cities of Evil Tour."In addition, their lead single "Bat Country" reached No.2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts, No.6 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts and the accompanying video made it to No.1 on MTV's Total Request Live. Propelled by this success, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's first gold record. It was later certified platinum in August 2009.

Self-titled album and death of "The Rev" (2007–2009)

Avenged Sevenfold was invited to join Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known hard rock and heavy metal acts DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed and System of a Down for the first time in 2006. That same year they also completed a worldwide tour, including the US, The United Kingdom (as well as mainland Europe), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After a sixteen month promotion of City of Evil, the band announced that they were cancelling their Fall 2006 tour to record new music. In the interim, the band released their first DVD titled All Excess on July 17, 2007. All Excess, which debuted as the No.1 DVD in the USA, included live performances and backstage footage that spanned the band's eight year career. Two tribute albums, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Wings and Broken Strings and Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: The String Tribute were also released in October 2007.

On October 20, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold released their self-titled album, the band's fourth studio album. It debuted at No.4 on the Billboard 200 with over 90,000 copies sold. Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" were released prior to the album's debut. In December 2007, an animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven." Due to the song's controversial subject matter, however, Warner Brothers only released it to registered MVI users over the internet. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Their fourth single, "Dear God", was released on June 15, 2008. Although critical reception was generally mixed the self-titled album went on to sell over 500,000 copies and was awarded "Album of the Year" at the Kerrang! Awards.

Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot. They used the footage from their last show in Long Beach for Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, a two-disc B-sides CD and live DVD which was released on September 16, 2008. They also recorded numerous covers, including Pantera's "Walk", Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".

In January 2009, M. Shadows confirmed that the band was writing the follow-up to their self-titled fourth album within the upcoming months. They also announced that they will be playing at Rock on the Range, from May 16–17, 2009.On April 16, they performed a version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.

On December 28, 2009, drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead at his home at the age of 28. Autopsy results were inconclusive, but on June 9, 2010, the cause of death was revealed to have been an "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol". In a statement by the band, they expressed their grief over the passing of The Rev and later posted a message from Sullivan's family which expressed their gratitude to his fans for their support.

Nightmare (2010–present)

The band members admitted in a number of interviews that they considered disbanding at this point of time. However, on February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold stated that they had entered the studio, along with now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, to drum for the record, in place of the Rev.

The single "Nightmare" was digitally released on May 18, 2010. A preview for the song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after for unknown reasons. Mixing for the album had been completed in New York City, and Nightmare was finally released worldwide on July 27, 2010. It met with mixed to positive reviews from music critics but was well received by the fans. Nightmare beat sales projections easily, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 163,000 units in its first week. After finishing recording, in December, Portnoy and the band posted simultaneous statements on their websites stating that he will not be their replacement for The Rev. However, Portnoy did travel with the band overseas in December 2010 for three shows in Iraq and Kuwait sponsored by the USO. They played for U.S. Soldiers at Camp Adder, Camp Beuhring, and Balad Air Base. On January 20, 2011, Avenged Sevenfold announced via Facebook that former Confide drummer Arin Ilejay will tour with them starting this year. Whether or not he will be joining the band on a permanent basis has not been decided yet.

Avenged Sevenfold performed at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals on June 3–5, 2011 alongside other bands such as Alter Bridge, System of a Down, and In Flames. On April 2011, the band headlined the Golden God Awards held by Metal Hammer. The same night the band won three awards for "Best Vocalist" (M. Shadows), "Epiphone Best Guitarist(s)" (Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance) and "Affliction’s Album of The Year: " for Nightmare, while Mike Portnoy won the award for "Drum Workshop’s Best Drummer" for his work on the album.

In May 2011, it was confirmed that the band had written a new song to be included in the Escalation DLC pack for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. The song is the first time developers Treyarch have commissioned an outside band to contribute a song since the franchise began. The song, titled "Not Ready to Die", was released on iTunes on May 2, 2011.

Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2011 Uproar Festival with supporting acts Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, among others. In August 2011, vocalist M. Shadows stated the band would finish the Uproar Festival, then go home to take a break for six to seven months before starting a new record. He also roughly stated that Arin Ilejay and the band are getting along great, but they have to make sure he's comfortable writing music with them, but he hopes everything works out. In November and December, 2011, the band went on their "Buried Alive" tour with supporting acts Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, and Black Veil Brides.

On April 11, 2012, Avenged Sevenfold won the award for "Best Live Band" at the Revolver Golden Gods awards. The band toured through Asia into April and early May, and played at the Orion Music + More, Festival on June 23 and 24 in Atlantic City, New Jersey alongside Metallica and Cage the Elephant among many others. On September 24, 2012, Avenged Sevenfold released a new song, titled "Carry On", which is featured in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Style and influences

The band has cited bands such as Bad Religion, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Dream Theater, Megadeth, Metallica, NOFX, Alice in Chains, Black Flag, Corrosion of Conformity, The Misfits, Slayer, The Vandals, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, Deftones and AFI as their artistic influences.

Avenged Sevenfold's material spans multiple genres and has evolved over the band's entire career. Initially, the band's debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely of metalcore sound; however, there were several deviations to this genre, most notably in "Streets" which adopts a punk style and "Warmness on the Soul," which is a piano-oriented ballad. On Waking the Fallen, the band displayed the contemporary metalcore style once more, but added more clean vocals as well as more mature and intricate musical elements. In the band's DVD All Excess, producer Andrew Murdock explained this transition: "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had come out before they had recorded Waking the Fallen, M. Shadows said to me 'This record is screaming. The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore. And the record after that is going to be all singing.'"

On City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold's third album, the band chose to abandon the metalcore genre, developing a more hard rock style. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, again, consists of several deviations to less consistent genres and styles from the album's main hard rock and heavy metal songs, most notably in "Dear God", which adopts a country style and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which is circled within the influence of Broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. Nightmare contains further deviations, including a piano ballad called "Fiction" and a brief return to their metalcore roots on "God Hates Us" and "Not Ready to Die". The band has changed considerably since their first album, in which during that time they have been characterized as a heavy band with a screamed and growled vocal style combined with clean vocals, chugging guitar riffs and breakdowns that one can expect from the metalcore genre.

Accolades

Band Members
The band members occasionally play instruments other than their primary instruments listed below.

Current members

M. Shadows – lead vocals, organ, keyboard (1999–present)
Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1999–present)
Synyster Gates – lead guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
Johnny Christ – bass, backing vocals (2002–present)

Former Members

Matt Wendt – bass (1999–2000)
The Rev – drums, piano, vocals (1999–2009)
Justin Sane – bass (2000–2001)
Dameon Ash – bass (2001-2002)

Former session and touring members

Mike Portnoy – drums (2010)

Session and touring members

Arin Ilejay – drums (2011–present)

Timeline

Discography

For a more comprehensive list, see Avenged Sevenfold discography.

 Studio Album

Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001)
Waking the Fallen (2003)
City of Evil (2005)
Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
Diamond In The Rough (2008)
Nightmare (2010)

Videography

 Studios titles of songs

• "Disneyland Acid Trip" was the original title of "Unbound (The Wild Ride)"
• "Fast Melodic" was the original title of "Lost"
• "Big Bear" was the original title of "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• "Country Rocker" was the original title of "Dear God"
• "I Don't Belong Here" was the original title of "Afterlife"
• "Brompton Rock" was the original title of "Brompton Cocktail"
• "Death" was the original title ofe "Fiction"
• "Total Nightmare" was the original title of "God Hates Us"
• "Military Death" was the original title of "Danger Line"
• "Bad Men" was the original title of "Save Me"
• "Avenged In Chains" was the original title of "Tonight The World Dies"
• "Reagan Blast" fut le titre Original de "Natural Born Killer"
• "Harvester" was the original title of "Lost It All"
• "One" was the original title of "Buried Alive"

 Deathbat

he group uses a logo called "Deathbat" ("Bat death" in French). It was created by a friend of the band, Micah Montague, as seen on the All Excess DVD. The Deathbat appears on the covers of all albums. Most of artworks have been created by Cameron Rackham, a close friend of group, but it is not he who drew the original. The Deathbat is sometimes shown as a complete skeleton with bat wings, as on the cover of City of Evil and Nightmare.

This emblem has aroused so much enthusiasm that it is widespread, and is now associated as a symbol of the group. The success was such that many fans are easily the logo tattooed on the body.

Certifications

Album

Waking the Fallen

	Certification RIAA	Certification CRIA	Certification SNEP
First certification	Gold	-	Unknown
Second certification	-	-	Unknown

City of Evil

	Certification RIAA	Certification CRIA	Certification SNEP
First certification	Gold	Gold	Unknown
Second certification	Platinium	-	Unknown

Avenged Sevenfold

	Certification RIAA	Certification CRIA	Certification SNEP
First certification	Gold	-	Unknown
Second certification	-	-	Unknown

Nightmare

	Certification RIAA	Certification CRIA	Certification SNEP
First certification	Unknown	Gold	Unknown
Second certification	Unknown	-	Unknown

DVD

Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough

	Certification RIAA	Certification CRIA	Certification SNEP
First certification	Gold	-	Unknown
Second certification	Platinium	-	Unknown

Singles

Bat Country

	Certification RIAA	Certification CRIA	Certification SNEP
First certification	Gold	-	Unknown
Second certification	Platinium	-	Unknown

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released on October 30, 2007 by Warner Bros. Records. The album, originally slated for an October 16 release, was delayed by two weeks in order to provide more time to complete bonus material and production for the record, including the making of the animated music video for the song "A Little Piece of Heaven". The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200. On September 23, 2008, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA. The album has also been released as a vinyl. The band supported the album with a tour, beginning a day before the release of the album and ending in 2009.

Avenged Sevenfold is the last full-length studio album produced by the band before The Rev's death which occurred on December 28, 2009, just two weeks before the band was to commence recording their follow-up album Nightmare. His vocals are recorded in all of the songs on the album. Although critical reception to the album was mixed compared to previous releases, Avenged Sevenfold won the Kerrang! award for Best Album in 2008.

Pre-Release

Avenged Sevenfold revealed the track listing for the album on their YouTube profile on August 9, 2007, as well as their text messaging service, A7X Mobile. The band has also posted a teaser on a recent YouTube blog featuring an excerpt of vocalist M. Shadows screaming in the studio.

On August 17, 2007, a clip was posted with about 2 minutes of their first track on the new album, "Critical Acclaim" on the band's YouTube. The single was later uploaded in its entirety on YouTube and released on the iTunes Store on August 28.

In the weeks leading up to the album's release, a series of ten video clips, called "webisodes", were recorded featuring "Wolfie the Fox". The first webisode was released on August 24, 2007; a 3:41 clip that was posted on the band's YouTube channel. The clip consists of a pre-recorded phone message from "Wolfie the Fox" and a few scenes of their process of making "Critical Acclaim". Each of the subsequent webisodes was similar in content. The clips featured a short mock-interview between M. Shadows and Wolfie the Fox, various band members during the making of various tracks for Avenged Sevenfold, and other background videos. About eleven days before the album's release, the Wolfie Trailer was posted on YouTube. In it, Wolfie sings "Critical Acclaim" and talks about the MVI version of the new album. The webisodes can all be viewed on the band's MySpace and YouTube pages.

By September 9, 2007, news leaked of the completion of a music video for the song "Almost Easy". It was directed by P.R. Brown, known for his collaborations with Mötley Crüe and Marilyn Manson, among many others. On September 12, 2007, the release date of the single "Almost Easy" was announced and was released six days later on September 18 to purchase via digital download.

The month of October was a busy one for the upcoming album. On October 3, Kerrang! released an article in which M. Shadows and Synyster Gates were interviewed about the new album. This day also saw the release of a live performance of "Almost Easy" at the Warped Tour 2007. Originally the band intended to release this footage if viewers watched the official music video for the track on YouTube 150,000 times. Though the goal fell short at 120,000 the band still released the footage. Another live video, featuring the third track "Scream" performed in Liverpool, England was posted on YouTube on October 11. The song was also heard during a commercial for the Scream Awards on Spike TV. M. Shadows can clearly be heard singing, "You know I make you wanna scream," which is an excerpt from the chorus. "Scream" was performed live at the 2007 Spike TV Scream Awards on October 23. Also, LoveLine played the radio premiere of "Afterlife" and "Almost Easy", which was guest hosted by M. Shadows and The Rev. Three days before, the Keyclub revealed an animated music video for "A Little Piece of Heaven".

To promote their new album, Avenged Sevenfold started their US tour on October 29, headlining in Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern. Their opening acts were Black Tide and Operator.

On October 30, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold was released in stores worldwide.

Songs

During production the band had taken great freedom in exploring different genres and styles of rock and heavy metal music. A noticeable difference between Avenged Sevenfold and City of Evil is that some of the songs take a slower pace and tempo to suit a more hard rock approach, a decision that was met with mixed responses within the fan base.

"Critical Acclaim" is the opening track on the album and features a gothic style organ in the intro. During the band's tour this song was a very frequent opener. "Almost Easy" is the second song on the album and features a thrash metal style reminiscent of City of Evil. The song also contains a keyboard overdub played by Greg Kusten. Other songs on the album contained overdubs for extra detail such as "Unbound (The Wild Ride)", which featured a background choir (this song has never been performed live), String quartet orchestras are featured in "Afterlife" and "Brompton Cocktail", the latter which was written by The Rev. "Scream" also contained overdubs in its bass line for extra detail. "Lost" made use of a vocoder and the song "Dear God" is a country rock ballad.

The most experimental song on the album is "A Little Piece of Heaven", which was originally written by The Rev while he took a break from the recording sessions. It is an avant-garde metal song but is influenced by Broadway show tunes and the work of Danny Elfman, using primarily brass and stringed instruments to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. The song tells the story of a man and woman in a happy relationship, but when the man proposes to her, she laughs in his face. Out of anger the man kills her. Soon after that, the man realizes that he loved the woman so much, he couldn't cope with the fact that he killed her, so he resorts to necrophilia. Eventually, the woman comes back from the dead, takes back her body, and kills the man the same way he did to her. She winds up forgiving him and they both get happily married in the afterlife. It is one of the band's darker and more humorous songs lyrically and is a fan favorite. Although it has never been released as a single, the band released an unofficial animated video of the song, which plays during live performances.

Reception

Upon release, Avenged Sevenfold was met with mixed critical reaction not only from critics but also within the fanbase. Metacritic accumulated an average score of 56 out of 100 based on thirteen reviews on the website.

Jason Lymangrover of Allmusic had given the album a rating of three stars out of five and wrote "While their willingness to experiment is admirable, despite the fact that they've gone overboard with their overdubs, the overabundance of studio polish leaves one to wonder if it's not because the songs just aren't as strong this time around". A more positive review came from Andrew Earles of A.V. Club who commented "The catchy Stone Temple Pilots vibe of 'Scream' is enough to put the band back on the charts, but that could happen with more than half of this album…And it probably will". He graded the album a B.

The album wasn't without its more hostile responses. A much more negative review came from Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic summarising "Avenged Sevenfold resemble a poor man's Hardcore Superstar" and rated the album one out of five.Andrew Blackie of PopMatters rated the album two out of ten and dismissed it as being "Unoriginal, overlong even at a ten track setlist, and riddled with banality..." He even went far enough to add "...the disc is even being released the day before Halloween, could it get more corny?"

Despite the mixed reaction the album won the Kerrang! Awards Best Album-award in 2008.

The USC Trojans Marching Band performed the song "Almost Easy" at the Rose Bowl halftime show on January 1, 2009.

Track Listing

Singles

MVI

• The Making of Avenged Sevenfold
• The Making of Avenged Sevenfold (animated short)
• "A Little Piece of Heaven" (animated music video)
• "Crossroads" B-side (song)
• Studio tour
• Producer for a Day
• Pre-encoded MP3s for all tracks
• Future Avenged Sevenfold updates (e.g. songs, videos, etc.)
• Making of "Afterlife" video
• "Afterlife" (live) from the band's new CD/DVD

Band Member

M. Shadows – vocalsSynyster Gates – lead guitarZacky Vengeance – guitarJohnny Christ – bassThe Rev – drums

Production

• Produced by Avenged Sevenfold
• Engineered by Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman, assisted by Clifton Allen, Chris Steffen, Robert DeLong, Aaron Walk, Mike Scielzi, and Josh Wilbur
• Mixed by Andy Wallace
• Mastered by Brian Gardner
• Drum tech by Mike Fasano
• Guitar tech by Walter Rice
• Fan Producers for a Day (MVI) by Daniel McLaughlin and Christopher Guinn

Additional Musicians

• Programming by Jay E on "Critical Acclaim" and "Scream"
• Piano and Organ by Jamie Muhoberac on "Critical Acclaim", "Unbound (The Wild Ride)", 'Lost", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Piano by Greg Kusten on "Almost Easy"
• Upright bass by Miles Mosley on "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Cello by Cameron Stone on "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Violins by Caroline Campbell and Neel Hammond on "Afterlife," "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Viola by Andrew Duckles on "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Background vocals by Zander Ayeroff and Annmarie Rizzo on "Unbound (The Wild Ride)"
• Percussion by Lenny Castro on "Brompton Cocktail"
• Choir: Beth Andersen, Monique Donnelly, Rob Giles, Debbie Hall, Scottie Haskell, Luana Jackman, Bob Joyce, Rock Logan, Susie Stevens Logan, Arnold McCuller, Gabriel Mann, and Ed Zajack on "Unbound (The Wild Ride)" and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Alto sax by Bill Liston and Brandon Fields on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Clarinet by Bill Liston and Rusty Higgins on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Tenor sax by Dave Boruff and Rusty Higgins on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Bari sax by Joel Peskin on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Trumpet by Wayne Bergeron and Dan Foreno on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Trombone by Bruce Fowler and Alex Iies on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Additional vocals by Juliette Commagere on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
• Lap, pedal steel and banjo by Greg Leisz on "Gunslinger" and "Dear God"
• Additional vocals by Shanna Crooks on "Gunslinger" and "Dear God"
• Additional vocals by Jaime Ochoa on "Critical Acclaim"
• Scream on "Scream" by Valary Sanders

                           Critical Acclaim Single

Critical Acclaim is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It is the first song from their self-titled album.

Background

“Critical Acclaim” is the first single from Avenged Sevenfold’s self-titled album. A 2-minute teaser was posted on the band’s MySpace to tide fans over until the iTunes release date, but on August 20, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold uploaded the full version on their MySpace. The full song was released on iTunes August 28, 2007.

Introduced by a twenty-two second long organ melody followed by a majestic, harmonized guitar solo, “Critical Acclaim” is based around two aggressive guitar riffs - One which is repeated during the verses, the second one after every chorus and before and during the third guitar solo - which pushes back the band’s musical direction much more to the one during their earlier career, still without staying close to their original metalcore sound, but instead showing signs of a more matured heavy metal sound.

The song’s lyrical meaning is a criticizing attack on people who, according to the band, are in their turn criticizing the soldiers of the United States of America for engaging in the Iraq War conflict, without trying to find a solution to end the ongoing war. Avenged Sevenfold lead singer M. Shadows has close friends who have experienced military service in Iraq.

The Rev provides the vocals for the chorus of the song, as well as some background vocals and screams.

The song is available as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band.

Band Member

M. Shadows - VocalsSynyster Gates - Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass, backing vocals
The Rev - Drums, co-lead vocals

                                              
                                                  Almost Easy Single

"Almost Easy" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It is the second song as well as second single from their self-titled album.

Background

The song first premiered at a concert in Indonesia during Avenged Sevenfold's 2007 Southeast Asian Tour.The song was officially released on September 18, 2007 through online music stores such as iTunes, URGE.The song was written by the band's drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. In the second chorus the whole band sang simultaneously - all 5 members combined their voices for more of a choir sound, which was shown in the MVI that came along with their self-titled album.

The song was included on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack. It was originally planned to be on the 2007 Transformers soundtrack; however, it was not finished in time.

The song is available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as of March 6, 2008 and featured again as part of the Avenged Sevenfold track pack for Guitar Hero 5. The song is also featured in Rock Band 2 and Need for Speed: ProStreet.

In December 2008 it was announced that the USC Trojan Marching Band would perform the song at the Rose Bowl halftime show on January 1, 2009.

Music Video

The band released a video for "Almost Easy" with director P.R. Brown (Mötley Crüe, Marilyn Manson). The video debuted on Fuse's The Sauce on September 24, 2007 and MTV2's Unleashed on October 1, 2007.

The video shows the band playing on a barren wasteland whilst they appear to be aflame. Over a ridge, a huge crowd of hundreds of people appear, walking in a zombie-like fashion towards the band, only to stop at a large gaping hole and jump downwards, into what appears to be Hell. Special effects show some parts where the people have skulls for faces.

At the end of the video, when the last person jumps down the cavern, the camera zooms out from the band, showing that the hole the people were jumping into was actually the eye of the bands recognizable logo from the Avenged Sevenfold album cover, the "Deathbat". The band stated in an interview with Fuse host Steven Smith on Steven's Untitled Rock Show that the inspiration for the video came from a Wendy's commercial they saw in Asia in which a large crowd is running toward the same hamburger.

M. Shadows then said "wouldn't it be cool if we (Avenged Sevenfold) were playing in a fiery blaze and a bunch of people were running towards us" an idea that eventually became the video. As of March 2012, it has 11,142,419 views on YouTube.

Band Member

M. Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums, backing vocals

Cla Mix

On the Diamonds in the Rough album an alternate mix of "Almost Easy" is included. This version, mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (hence the name), included triggered drums, louder guitars and pianos.

Charts

                                                        Afterlife Single

"Afterlife" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. The song is released as the third single from their self-titled album. The song itself features a string orchestra and was written by the band's drummer, The Rev. It was voted the best song of the new album on the band's homepage. The single and a live-action music video were released in early 2008.

The music video is directed by Wayne Isham who has shot videos for bands like Bon Jovi, Judas Priest and Mötley Crüe. As a side note, in the album version, there are violin parts in the intro and later in the song, both of which are cut out of the video, along with the bridge of the song, which features The Rev's vocals.

The song is available as downlodable content for Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5, and is featured in the video game NHL 09.

Music Video

The music video (legally released on March 12 by Avenged Sevenfold and Warner Bros.) consists of the band performing, on a small stage and shows clips of M. Shadows running, Zacky Vengeance ballroom dancing, Synyster Gates in a candle-lit room with a skull in his hand, symbolic of the play Hamlet, Johnny Christ holding and then releasing several pigeons but they were portrayed as doves, and The Rev lying down with a tarantula crawling across his face and body. The intro, prior to the band coming in, is cut out of the music video, as well as the bridge of the song with a portion of the solo. The removal of this content took the length of the song down to 4:02 long. Parts of the song were also removed in the Beast and the Harlot and Bat Country music videos.

Lyrical Meaning

The song is about a man who dies early and finds himself in heaven. Upon entering, he realizes that he has too many things to do on Earth, and to go back and make it right he has to escape from the afterlife. (This part was mentioned by Zacky Vengeance in the "Making of 'Afterlife'" video) In years since the death of The Rev, fans have discovered the irony in that Jimmy wrote the song, being in the position he is now.

Chart Positions

This is so far the highest charting single released after the first singles from both albums, Bat Country and Almost Easy, by charting in the top 20 on both rock charts. This has since been surpassed by singles "Welcome to the Family" and "So Far Away."

Band Member

M. Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums, backing vocals

                                    Dear God Single

Scream Single

"Scream" is the fifth and final single from Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album. It has reached number nine on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 26 on the U.S. Alternative Songs chart. It is the second of five singles by Avenged Sevenfold written by M. Shadows. This is also the last single to feature The Rev on drums.

"Scream" was released on July 27, 2010 as a downloadable track in Rock Band 2 along with "Nightmare" and "Seize the Day".

Music Video

On October 31, 2008, Avenged Sevenfold mentioned that fans of the band were eligible to make their own music video for the song. The video had to be submitted to YouTube before November 30, 2008. The winner and five runner ups of the contest were announced on December 15, 2008. The winner received a new MacBook Air computer that came with Avenged Sevenfold videos, music, and other items from the band. The winning video was also featured on the Avenged Sevenfold website, MySpace page, YouTube account, and Facebook account. The five runner ups in this contest received a copy of the DVD and CD Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, signed by the members of the band; in addition, a merchandise pack was also rewarded to these runner ups.

Band Member

M. Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums, backing vocals

                                 City Of Evil

                                   *All songs written by Avenged Sevenfold except where noted.

City of Evil is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold released on June 6, 2005 by Warner Bros. Records. Co-produced by Andrew Murdock, City of Evil contains a more hard rock and classic heavy metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold,s previous two albums, which showcased a predominantly metalcore sound. The album is also notable for the absence of screaming vocals. M.Shadows worked for months before the album's release with vocal coach Ron Anderson, whose clients have included Axl Rose and Chriss Cornell, to achieve a sound that had
''grit while still having the tone''.

The album contains some of Avenged Sevenfold's most popular and famous songs, including ''Bat Country'', ''Beast and the Harlot'', '' Burn it Down , and '' Seize the Day'', all four of which were released  as singles between June 2005 and July 2006. City of Evil was very successful after its release, debuting at #30 on the Billboard 200 chart and certified as a platinium record by the Recording Industry Association of America in August 2009. It went on to sell over 1,500,000 copies in the United States, and 2,500,00 total worldwide, making it the best-selling album out of Avenged Sevenfold's discography as of 2010. Also, it is the band's longest studio effort , at 72:52 minutes.( 01:00:52)

''Betrayed'' is a song written for the death of tge lead guitarist of Pantera, Dimebag Darrell killed in a show by a fan in 2004.

''Bat Country'', '' Beast and the Harlot'' and '' Seize the Day'' , were also released as music videos, directed by Marc Klasfeld, Tony Petrossian, and Wayne Isham, repectively. The Rev performs backing vocals on the tracks ''Bat Country'', ''Strenght of the World'', and ''M.I.A.''

The album title is derived from a lyric in the song, '' Beast and the Harlot''.

 

 *certified as a platinium record by the Recording Industry Association of America in August 2009

History

Previously, Avenged Sevenfold had written and released two albums, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet in 2001 and Waking The Fallen in 2003, under theHopeless Records label.Although neither album was a smash hit, the latter has been certified gold by the RIAA. Waking The Fallen attracted several major record labels to the band, and eventually they signed with Warner Bros. Records after consideration of several others.

Musical Changes

When they began to write the album, Avenged Sevenfold turned to their influences for a change in style. Realizing that none of their favorite bands were as heavy or extreme as them, they decided to change from metalcore to a more classic hard rock/heavy metal sound with few metalcore influences. "When we started working on this record, we said, 'You know what? None of our favorite bands are super extreme, they just write really good melodic songs that are still heavy," said singer M. Shadows in an interview.

M.Shadows' vocals changes

Shadows turned to Ron Anderson, a vocal coach that had previously worked with Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Shadows was specifically looking to add a more gritty, raspy tone to his voice and worked with Anderson for several months on this before City of Evil was
recorded.

''Ron taught me how to have that grit  to my voice while still having the tone. He brought all of that to the table and he brought that technique to my voice. I've worked with him for about a year and a half now, but I worked with him for nine months before the record,'' said Shadows, ''I told him that I want my voice to sound different from everybody else, but I wanted those characteristics in my voice...It was one of those things that we just wanted to go all the way with it.''

After the release of the album rumors spread tha Shadows had lost his ability to scream due to throat surgery he had needed after Warped Tour 2003. Produced Andrew Murdock put down these rumors by saying '' When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet... Matt handed me the CD, and he said to me , 'This record's screaming. The record we want to make... is going to be half-screaming and half singing. I don't want to scream anymore... the record after that is going to be all singing.'''

Videography

City of Evil features most of the songs that Avenged Sevenfold has made videos for. On May 4, 2005, they released a promotional video for "Burn It Down", which was done in the same way as "Unholy Confessions" from Waking the fallen (live footage with dubbed music). On July 28, 2005, their first professional video for a song on the album, "Bat Country", was released. It was directed by Marc Klasfeld. On February 6, 2006, "Beast and the Harlot" was released. This was a few weeks after it had been leaked on YouTube. It was directed by Tony Petrossian. Most recently, on June 30, 2006, the video for "Seize the Day" was released on Avenged Sevenfold's MySpace. The video was directed by Wayne Isham.

Reception

The album debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 selling over 30,000 copies. Rolling Stone praised the guitar work, giving the album three out of a possible five stars. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic rated the album three-and-a-half stars out of five and commented''... Avenged sevenfold gets all the pieces right, and sound like they're having more fun here than in the scattershot approach of the first couple records''. British magazine Metal Hammer gave the album an eight out of ten rating with Katie Parsons concluding ''They have done it their way, they're having fun and who the hell can blame them?''.

In addition, ''Bat Country'' was one of the breakout singles of 2005, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, No. 6 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, and No. 1 on MTV's Total Request Live. The album was ranked No. 63 on Guitar World magazine'S ''100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time''. Additionally, the band won Best New Artist at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, beating out Rihanna, Panic! at the Disco, James Blunt, Angels & Airwaves and Chris Brown.

Band Member

M.Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums

Production
 

• Produced by Murdock and Avenged Sevenfold, with additional production by Fred Archambeault and Scott Gilman
• Mixed by Andy Wallace
• Pro Tools by John O'Mahony, assisted by Steve Sisco
• Mastered by Eddie Schreyer
• Additional vocal production by Synyster Gates and M.Shadows
• Orchestration by Scott Gilman, Synyster Gates, and M.Shadows
• Drum Tech - Mike Fasana
• Guitar Tech - Stephen Ferrara-Grand

Additional Musicians
 

• Brian Haner, Sr. - additional guitars , pedal steel guitar, acoustic guitar solo left on '' Sidewinder''
• Synyster Gates - Piano on the '' Beast and the Harlot'' , ''Sidewinder''
• The Rev - Piano on ''Seize the Day''
• Synyster Gates - Additional Vocals on ''Seize the Day''
• Zacky Vengeance, Synyster Gates, Johnny Christ, The Rev - Additional Vocals on ''Strenght of the World''
  

Orchesta

• Violinist - Samuel Fischer (Soloist), Mark Roberston, Songa-Lee Kitto, Sam Formicola, Bruce Dukov, Alan Grunfeld, Larry Greenfield, Liane Mautner
• Violist - David Walther, Matthew Funes, Alma Fernandez
• Cellists - Victor Lawrence (soloist), David Low, David Mergen

Choir

• Choir leader - Jeannine Wagner
• Choir performers - Zachary Biggs, Colton Beyer-Johnson, Josiah Yiu, Nathan Cruz, Stephen Cruz, C.J Cruz, Sean Sullivan, Alan Hong, Nico Walsh, Sally Stevens

Single

Burn It Down (June 12, 2005)
Bat Country (September 26, 2005)
Beast and The Harlot (March 6, 2006)
Seize The Day (July 7, 2006) 

 
                             Burn It Down Single

"Burn It Down" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, the song was released as the first single from their third album City of Evil.

As opposed to their other released videos from City of Evil, such as "Bat Country" which features a performance as well as a scenario running with the song, "Burn It Down" simply features the bands live performance of the song, however the audio itself is not live but the album track synced over the live video with the exceptions of the first and last few seconds. The song features a mix of guitar technique highlighted by the dueling arpeggios at the beginning of the song and the famous heavy metal technique the gallop in the first verse. The song is lyrically taking perspective from someone who has been betrayed time and time again, and will take no more ("Don't need you fuck camaraderie") and vows revenge ("Hatred fuels my blood"). The song "Beast and the Harlot", which is the previous song on the album, segues into Burn it Down.

Burn It Down was also featured in the Saw III soundtrack.

Band Member

M.Shadows - Lead Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums, Backing Vocals

                                                        Burn It Down Vinyl
 

                                 Bat Country Single

"Bat Country" is the title of a song by American metal band Avenged Sevenfold. The song was released in August 2005 as the second single from their third album, City of Evil. Avenged Sevenfold won 'Best New Artist' at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards for "Bat Country" and on October 1, 2009, the single was certified gold by the RIAA.

Background And Content

The song's main influence comes from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the title itself also comes from a line from the book in which Raoul Duke, the alter-ego pseudonym of Thompson himself, is on his way to Las Vegas while being affected by various drugs, and thus hallucinates, seeing huge bats and manta rays in the sky. With this, he gasps to his companion and attorney, Dr. Gonzo, "We can't stop here. This is bat country."

 The following quote, also included at the beginning of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is referred twice throughout the song (at the beginning and the bridge before the last chorus) and is shown at the beginning of the music video.

"He who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man." - Dr. Johnson

 Also referenced in the song, is a lyric derived from the final words spoken about Dr. Gonzo at the end of the film adaptation. The lyric is used at the end of the second breakdown of the song, as the final lyric of the song.

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." - Raoul Duke

In Popular Culture

The song has been used in several video games including EA Sports' NHL 06, Madden NFL 06, SSX on Tour, Saints Row 2, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as downloadable content for Rock Band and Rock Band 2, the iPhone application Tap Tap Revenge 3 and on the newer version Tap Tap Revenge 4. The song is featured on the soundtrack to the extreme mountain bike film New World Disorder 7: Flying High Again.

The song appeared on an episode of the FOX TV series Bones entitled "The Superhero in the Alley". It is also appeared briefly in the film comedy Big Momma's House 2.

Music Video

The music video resembles parts of the movie Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. The video for this song shows various symbolic images and references to the above-mentioned Thompson book. The song centers around the band performing in a hotel room. There are also cuts to a scene in which the band is driving down a barren highway in a bat-winged Cadillac convertible, surrounded by a cloud of bats (who are being swatted by Zacky and The Rev). While in the car they see Johnny Christ on the side of the road trying to get a ride, and they pick him up. During the "soft" section, the band appears at a strip club, surrounded by snake-tongued strippers. Also, it's implied that the video is partially a hallucination.

If one were to examine closely, the words on M. Shadows' shirt appear to change between "Why Disneyland" and "If you have Amsterdam". The shirt actually says "Why Disneyland if you have Amsterdam?" at one point in the song. It changes back afterward. During Synyster Gates' and Zacky Vengeance's guitar solo/duo, the bats that fly into the sky are sometimes not there. The regular people sometimes appear to have a disfigured face. During the video's commentary by Avenged Sevenfold on their All Excess DVD, the band says that the bats hallucination was actually due to a lack of funds. However, whether or not they were being serious or joking is not clarified.

The music video, which was filmed around Las Vegas, still receives considerable airplay on many channels. As Shadows says, the band members live close to Las Vegas. Synyster Gates commented at 2:47, 'You put all of us in the car, and that's basically what you have.'

 Charts And Sales

Peak Position

 Certifications

Band Member

M.Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar
zacky Vengeance - Guitar
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums

Production

• Produced by Andrew Murdock
• Music Video directed by Marc Klasfeld
• Artwork by Cam Rackam
  
                                                Bat Country Single 

                                Beast and the Harlot Single

"Beast and the Harlot" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, the song was released as a single taken from their third album City of Evil. The song peaked at #19 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart, #47 on the UK Singles Chart., and #1 on the UK Rock Chart in 12 March 2006.

The actual song is about the fall of Babylon from the Book of Revelation (particularly chapter seventeen), from which many quotes are taken, such as "Seven headed beast, ten horns raise from his head", "hatred strips her and leaves her naked", and other references. The Harlot referred to in the song is Great Babylon, quoted in the song, "Fallen now is Babylon the great." On Avenged Sevenfold's All Excess DVD, Tony Petrossian, who directed the video, says that M. Shadows' lyrics for this song about the fall of Babylon is comparing Babylon to Hollywood, showing many Hollywood clichés such as the young, innocent boys being corrupted and losing their souls. In the music video the Harlot was played by actress Elizabeth Melendez.

Overview

The song is one of the first songs recorded with singer M. Shadows' different vocal style avoiding unclean vocals as well as a more hard rock sound as opposed to their previous work, with heavy and fast riffs and a relatively normal song structure (with the exception of the guitar solo, which comes after the first chorus rather than the second, atypical of a three verse song).

The song's rapid main riff was voted as the 14th greatest riff ever by the guitar magazine Total Guitar in March 2007. Total Guitar wrote: "The main riff to Beast and the Harlot is a great piece of dropped-D riffing with Zacky and Synyster cleverly placing the second part of the riff across the beat to create an aggressive syncopated feel, once again avoiding all the usual metal clichés."

The song is featured in the soundtrack of the video games Burnout Revenge, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Smash Hits and Rock Band 3. The version in Guitar Hero II is a cover version, while Smash Hits and Rock Band 3 feature the master recording. The song was also featured in The Real World Road Rules reunion. The cover art for the single of the song was done by Avenged Sevenfold's close friend Cam Rackam.

Inspiration

Shadows and the songwriting crew drew heavily from Biblical literature, history, and old literature, including, as previously mentioned, segments of the Book of Revelation, as well as Dante's Divine Comedy of Hell. Historically, the sexually deviant queen of Babylon provided the basis for the song, as well as the recurring theme of sexual temptation in the music video.

The seven headed beast with 10 horns, which is referred to many times in the song, is the anti-Christ. Since Babylon collapsed, ("fallen now is Babylon the great") presumably because of its moral deficiencies, it can be assumed that Dante and Shadows were correct.

The black tar which represents the departed soul in the corrupted victims in the video is derived from Dante's 5th Malebolge in Hell. The demons wreck the sinners (in that case, those who betrayed the church) with hooked spears.

Band Member

M.Shadows - Lead Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass, Backing Vocals
The Rev - Drums, Backing Vocals

Production

• Produced by Andrew Murdock
• Artwork by Cam Rackam

                           Seize The Day Single

 "Seize the Day" is a song by Avenged Sevenfold, the song is released as the fourth single from their third album City of Evil. "Seize the Day" has been released on July 27, 2010 as a downloadable track in Rock Band 2 along with "Nightmare" and "Scream".

Music Video

Directed by Wayne Isham, the video depicts a couple, of which the man is the frontman and vocalist of Avenged Sevenfold, Matt "M. Shadows" Sanders, and his wife (real life girlfriend at the time) Valary DiBenedetto, in love and expecting a child. Matt's friends (the rest of the band) come to his house and invite him to go out with them, which is later revealed to be a robbery. They go and rob a liquor store. In the process, Matt gets caught by the police while the others drive off, leaving him behind. Matt goes to jail and his wife comes to visit him. They get into a fight. While driving home, she is killed in a traffic accident. A funeral scene follows, and her casket is lowered into the ground. Synyster Gates is shown playing the song's guitar solo on top of her casket, but is also in the crowd. In this scene, a lady can be seen holding an infant, presumably Matt's prematurely born child saved during his mother's death. After the funeral, Matt is in jail suffering and remembering all the good memories he has of his wife. At the end of the video, Matt is at her grave, and the rest of the band comes over to him along with a small boy. Matt picks up the boy and they all walk away.

The video tells a story, similar to the Guns N' Roses' video 'November Rain'. M. Shadows said, "It's not us driving around in cool cars and just chilling, you know? It has a story and Guns N' Roses did those videos the best. It wasn't about looking cool and being flashy, it was about being real and showing the scenario and being true to the video."

"We wanted to do a more emotional video this time", Shadows explained. "We have a lot of strippers and stuff like that in our other videos, so we wanted to be much more serious. It's about taking the people you love and holding them close. You make some mistakes in life and that can all be taken away from you in two minutes, so you have to think twice about your actions. It's about seizing the day and keeping those you love close and not messing up."

Rumors circulated that the boy at the end of the video was actually Shadows' and Valary DiBennedetto's, but the boy in the video was Wayne Isham's son.

Band Member

M.Shadows - Lead Vocals
Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Johnny Christ - Bass
The Rev - Drums, Piano, Backing Vocals

Production

• Produced by Andrew Murdock
• Music video directed by Wayne Isham
• Artwork by Cam Rackam