While it’s a slow news day I thought you guys would like to check out this Examiner piece by Billie Shoemate on “Why The World Needs Avenged Sevenfold.” You can read the entire thing, that focuses on the 2007 self-titled effort, here.
Bands are now writing songs that are radio friendly, not too flashy, and stick to the cookie cutter, de-tuned formula that was old 5 years ago. In these mundane times for Metal, with too much emphasis on the popular and commercially feasible, the metal world has found its new savior in the form of Avenged Sevenfold.
Avenged Sevenfold is wearing the boots, leaving a death bat logo right on the rear end of the music industry, hopefully leaving it there for many years to come as this amazing band shows metal how it should be done.
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Loved this article so much. This is exactly why I want to become a music journalist.
Comment by Theresa June 19, 2010 @ 7:01 pmThanks for sharing this! :)
Amen to those comments!
Comment by Aaron7x June 19, 2010 @ 7:02 pmit seems like i always see so much negative when it comes 2 A7X that its really nice 2 see sumthin positive on the deathbat boys! lol
Comment by Rhonda June 20, 2010 @ 7:15 pmthats cool they said “welcome to the family” at the end
Comment by Anonymous June 19, 2010 @ 7:03 pmi know i found tht really creepy and awesome at the same time
Comment by jordan June 19, 2010 @ 8:50 pmOh Yeah! A7X forever!
Comment by Thaís of Brazil June 19, 2010 @ 7:03 pmThis is all very true!
Comment by Alex June 19, 2010 @ 7:04 pmWhat a good article…
SO glad there is still SOME sense left in this world. <3 Horns up to the guy that wrote this. \m/
Comment by Kayla June 19, 2010 @ 7:11 pmi like how he said that city of evil was full of cookie cutter screams haha
Comment by Jaie June 19, 2010 @ 7:14 pmthe best article ive ever read
Comment by paul June 19, 2010 @ 7:17 pmAwesome shit right there!
Comment by Zoey June 19, 2010 @ 7:41 pmAvenged Sevenfold is definitely one of the most talented and unique bands out there. Their sound is just incredible, and they’re not afraid of change, adopting new styles from different genres and adding that depth to their music that you just don’t see in bands, past or present. As a long time fan I sure hope they stay together continuing the A7X name. Nightmare sounds like it may be their best work yet.
Comment by [NE]Fobby[GEN] June 19, 2010 @ 7:43 pmagreed.
Comment by Mandyyy June 19, 2010 @ 7:54 pmPerfectly put!
Comment by Alyssa June 19, 2010 @ 8:21 pmI love people like you
Comment by Courtney June 19, 2010 @ 10:06 pmtotally agreed!
Comment by jax June 20, 2010 @ 5:33 amAmen, dude. Amen. Thanks so much for sharing! Wish there were more people like you.
Comment by Natasha June 20, 2010 @ 5:47 pmFreakin’ rad! :D
Comment by Punk :D June 19, 2010 @ 8:11 pmlol i agreed with a lot of it but he was hating on WTF a lot, and that’s my favorite album to this day, and he really didn’t like Sounding the 7th but still a good article =) the world does NEED them for sure
Comment by Liz June 19, 2010 @ 9:54 pmI love this article because:
Comment by Courtney June 19, 2010 @ 10:05 pmFirst, I hate it when jackasses say that avenged sevenfold are posers and retarded because they aren’t metal anymore. And I don’t know why people have to hate on a7x.
And second, I love anything that has to do with my boys <33333
Agreed 100%
Comment by JC June 19, 2010 @ 11:40 pmMarvelous. Thanks for posting it. :)
Comment by Sarah June 20, 2010 @ 12:37 amYeah i wish i could have bought a7x stocks, back in 2003 when i become a sevenfold nut, most of us on here would have millions haha. But i always have preached exactly what this guy writes about to every one i know who likes music. and now i am happy i have alot of other fans on here that feel the same way.
Comment by Mike Kolb June 20, 2010 @ 3:57 amYeah, haha I’m right there with ya. I owe NHL 2004 for having Chapter Four on its soundtrack and introducing me to the greatest band ever haha.
Comment by Drew June 20, 2010 @ 12:57 pmsame! ahha
Comment by Aaron7x June 20, 2010 @ 2:08 pmSTST and WTF were “unimpressive”? City of evil was “the norm”?
Hmm…
Comment by max June 20, 2010 @ 4:18 amyeah that was the only part i didn’t like….but hey, not everyone can be hardcore fans that love the old stuff as well as the new =) im happy for anyone who’s out there promoting them for the great music they’re producing right now
Comment by Liz June 20, 2010 @ 12:38 pmHaha, WTF.
Comment by Myki June 20, 2010 @ 4:13 pmxD
While I do agree that the world needs Avenged Sevenfold, the guy who wrote this really doesn’t know what hes talking about when it comes to the band.
For him to call Waking the Fallen “unimpressive”, and City of Evil “the epitome of cookie cutter metal complete with the screams, detuned guitars, and drums that sounded like pie pans.” then go on to praise the self-titled like he did, makes me lose all respect for anything he has to say about Avenged Sevenfold.
I mean, what the hell!? Waking the Fallen = Unimpressive? That album was amazing, and the guys were what? Like 20 years old? Whats even more amazing, The Rev himself said, (in an interview that DBN posted recently), that he and the rest of the band HELD BACK on that album. They were trying to simplify it.
His comments about CoE really kill his credibility though. Complete with screams and detuned guitars? First of all, City of Evil was the album where they STOPPED screaming. Secondly, Ninety percent of ALL Avenged Sevenfold songs, including ALL songs on CoE are tuned in Drop D. Songs on the self-titled like Almost Easy and Scream are actually “detuned” even further than Drop D.
Anyone who knows anything about Avenged Sevenfold and/or guitars would know these things! He has no clue what hes talking about. He’s making **** up as he goes along. How can seven-minute plus, fully orchestrated masterpieces like, Strength of the World and The Wicked End, be considered “the epitome of cookie cutter metal”? Needless to say, the drums on CoE were amazing just like they always are.
And then to praise Self-Titled so much when many long term fans consider the album to be worse than CoE and WtF. Self-Titled had shorter songs, less impressive compositions and an overall more mainstream sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love Self-Titled, but I also think both WtF and CoE are better albums.
If anything this article is insulting. It disregards and discredits Avenged Sevenfold’s older material, while over-praising Self-Titled (IMO). He’s making it seem like the band was nothing, like they didn’t know what they were doing before Self-Titled, which couldn’t be further from the truth. These guys are great, talented musicians and have been making great music since the very beginning.
Sorry, but I hated this article. The only good thing about it is the title.
Comment by TheGrimHreeper June 20, 2010 @ 4:49 amcouldn’t have said it any better.
Comment by Ed June 20, 2010 @ 9:04 amThis was the only thing I hated about the article. Yeah, I admire the guy for praising A7x’s experimenting on the Self-Titled, but CoE was a much better album. So was WtF. I mean, how can anyone hate WtF? I Wont See You Tonight, Part 1, is a really powerful piece. And there’s not one song on CoE that I can choose a favorite from. This guy certainly didn’t know what he was talking about when it came to CoE because 1) M Shadows didn’t scream at all, like you said, and 2) saying that the drums sounded like pie pans is like comparing the Rev’s drum skills to a five-year-old’s.
Comment by Gabby June 20, 2010 @ 7:18 pmYep. You hit it on the spot (and saved me about ten minutes, since I now don’t have to write up the post you just did ;) ). WtF and CoE are two of the most impressive metal albums of all time, and they simply blow away all of the other modern metal bands. S/T was mediocre, and while they do get props for experimenting, I think they took it a little overboard on that one.
Comment by Drew June 20, 2010 @ 11:56 amyour soo right
Comment by emilyA7X June 20, 2010 @ 12:55 pmAgreed..City of Evil is by far the most metal thing they’ve done, and Waking the Fallen happens to be my favorite album of all time…regardless of how old they were when they made it.
Comment by Brady June 20, 2010 @ 1:50 pmthank you for this, you saved me a lot of angry typing =). Waking the Fallen, in my opinion is the greatest album ive ever heard, from any band. And while I dont enjoy sounding the seventh trumpet as much it was still very imprerssive, especially considering how young they were. City of Evil is just a bloody work of art. And the self-titled is a wonderful album but Johnny Fucking Christ this guy sounds like he masturbates to this album.. thats rediculous, Waking the Fallen is way better for that purpose =p
Comment by David C June 20, 2010 @ 3:50 pmI agree here. Self-titled was the album that fell short for me, didn’t have much staying power though there are a few songs on it that I do enjoy. I play WTF and COE more then I play anything else. Looking forward to see how Nightmare fares though I can already tell it’ll be much better then the previous effort.
Comment by deathbatnews June 20, 2010 @ 3:53 pmI agree with most of what you said, but I disagree about Self-titled. I honestly think S/T was better than City of Evil. They slowed down the album, they experimented a lot with new types of sounds and genre, and the mere variety of S/T gives it a lot of re-playability. It was also the album with the most amount of progressive elements.
Comment by [NE]Fobby[GEN] June 21, 2010 @ 12:40 amEh, to each their own. I’m not about to try and convince anyone that CoE was better than S/T. It’s all a matter of opinion.
I also don’t care if this guy thinks S/T is better than CoE/WtF. But it pisses me off how he pretty much bashes Avenged Sevenfold’s previous work, and basically says that S/T is the first good thing they’ve done. Any good Avenged Sevenfold fan would disagree.
And sorry, but S/T does not have the most amount progressive elements. That would be CoE.
Comment by TheGrimHreeper June 21, 2010 @ 8:07 amCOE was mostly just thrash and metal, and why I preferred S/T over COE is because S/T had a lot more variety in its music. Each song had its own unique style and feel. In COE however, most of the songs are simply thrash-oriented and similar to each other (Burn it Down, Betrayed, Blinded in Chains, Sidewinder etc.) with a similar feel and a less emotional undertone in comparison to all the other albums. I’m not saying it’s bad, COE is one of my favourite albums of the decade, but I like something with more variety and emotion.
As for progressive elements, nearly all songs on S/T (except maybe Scream) have been influenced by prog in some way. COE’s prog influence only shows in a couple songs, like Strength of the World, The Wicked End
Comment by [NE]Fobby[GEN] June 21, 2010 @ 11:20 amI know what you mean by CoE being thrashy and metal. I will admit that CoE has a less emotional undertone compared to the other albums. However, CoE has just as much variety to it as S/T does, just with a thrash/metal, sound/theme to the album. Strength of the World has a western feel to it. Sidewinder has a very Spanish, desert feel to it. The Wicked End is very dark and apocalyptic, while Betrayed is just depressing. Even single songs on CoE have a lot of variety to them. For example, compare the first 5 minutes of Blinded In Chains to the final minute.
S/T’s variety is a more, country song here, A Little Piece of Heaven there, type of thing. Certain songs definitely stand out among the others, but the rest have a similar sound and can be lumped together in the same way CoE’s tracks can be.
Besides variety can be a bad thing too. For example, on the S/T they threw in Dear God, a country song. It is a good song, but its just so random. Honestly, I would have preferred it if they had just stuck to what they do best and gave us a nice 6 minute rock/metal good ole Avenged Sevenfold song. Maybe add some country elements in it or something.
Avenged Sevenfold can write pretty much any type of music that they want, but I’ve always loved the way they make it their own. Epic and awesome with their own little twist on it. Hell, they could probably write a Hip Hop song but I would still rather prefer their regular type stuff that made me fall in love with them in the first place. Maybe you like that random kind of variety in music, and I respect your opinion if you do, but personally, I like the way they did variety on CoE/WtF.
I’m not sure you know what progressive means.. Let me explain.
Progressive songs avoid the common verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus song structure. Critical Acclaim, Almost Easy, Scream, Afterlife, Brompton Cocktail and Lost all follow this generic song structure. The instrumental side of progressive rock usually has an adventurous and fantasy feel to it. Once again, this applies more to CoE, as S/T had more of a generic rock, mainstream feel to it. Progressive lyrics are usually based on stories, fantasy and fiction, (Beast and the Harlot, Sidewinder, The Wicked End, Strength of the World). Most of the Lyrics on S/T are based on reality and non-fiction, (Critical Acclaim, Almost Easy, Unbound, Brompton Cocktail, Lost, Dear God).
Progressive rock songs tend to have extended interludes and instrumental passages (the final 2 minutes of Sidewinder and the amazing solo/harmony/solo, then whoas of M.I.A.). They also usually feature instruments and arrangements not commonly found in rock music such as orchestras and choirs (The Wicked End). All of these qualities tend to add length to progressive rock songs and albums, and what do you know? CoE and WtF had both longer songs and were both longer albums that S/T. S/T definitely had all of these progressive elements but not nearly as much CoE and WtF did.
I’m sorry, but you’re just wrong here. City of Evil AND Waking the Fallen are both more progressive albums than S/T is period. Just another reason why I prefer them over S/T.
Comment by TheGrimHreeper June 21, 2010 @ 10:17 pm1. Waking the Fallen was not unimpressive
Comment by pee pee sabathia June 20, 2010 @ 6:28 am2. City of Evil had no screams on it
3. It’s great that there’s a writer out there that gives them so much respect, but do some research and realize that City of Evil was so far from “cookie cutter metal”
coe did have like 3 screams on it lol. just yeaaaaaahhhsssss. and idk if you can count the mauuuuuuuuu at the beginning of bat country lol
Comment by Anonymous June 21, 2010 @ 12:34 pmi like what this article had to say but it sounds like the author didn’t even listen to city of evil. in no way did that album have cookie monster vocals and simplistic songs build for radio. If anything i’d say city of evil brought metal back more-so than self titles did
Comment by Icarus Falling June 20, 2010 @ 8:13 ami dont even consider the self titled album metal in my honest opinion. dont get me wrong i liked it and all but it just doesn’t compare to the raw emotion in waking the fallen and the thrash driven city of evil
Comment by Aaron7x June 20, 2010 @ 11:28 amThe ST isn’t metal. My fav metal bands include, Pig Destroyer, High On FIre, Metallica, Children O Bodom & the list goes on. A7X’s last effort was more hard rock/pop, it’s no where near metal, not even close.
Comment by The truth June 20, 2010 @ 4:03 pmWell it’s not pop either.
Comment by Danniel June 20, 2010 @ 7:46 pmI hate it when people call some music ”pop” if it’s not exactly ‘metal’.
That’s your own feelings towards the word “pop” youre talking about.
I happen to like “pop music” and assign many genre’s with that designation, including metal. A7X’s ST album wasnt metal, it has hard rock downtuned with some very pop(ish) moments, get over it.
Comment by Ed June 20, 2010 @ 9:28 pmI completely agree with this. And as nightmare is out now, we finally see these guys incorporating some progressive elements. But they still always have the pop catchy stuff, no matter when you’ve seen them. Same goes for another favorite of mine, but I won’t mention it because I don’t wanna show fanboyism.
Comment by Anonymous February 3, 2012 @ 6:29 am[...] Why The World Needs Avenged Sevenfold. While it’s a slow news day I thought you guys would like to check out this Examiner piece by Billie Shoemate on [...] [...]
Pingback by Top Posts — WordPress.com June 20, 2010 @ 5:08 pmI personally think City of Evil is one of the best Albums of all time, From start to finish its amazing, a COMPLETE work of art. The Self titled I also really liked, it showed they had balls to do what they wanted not what everyone else wanted. Musicality speaking its a very unique and twisted album.
Waking the Fallen was an awesome album but I rank it 3rd on my list. I dont dislike it at all, In fact I love it…Its so dark and deep.
1. City of Evil
2. Self Titled
3. Waking the Fallen
personal opinion :)
Comment by Bryan C June 23, 2010 @ 3:58 pm