Avenged Sevenfold
Early years
The band was formed in 1999. Avenged
Sevenfold's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were eighteen years old. It was
originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, the introductory
track "To End The Rapture" was re-recorded with Gates playing, and the album was re-released on Hopeless Records. Their follow-up
album, entitled Waking the Fallen, was also released on Hopeless Records and was awarded a positive rating in Rolling Stone
magazine. Shortly after its release, Avenged Sevenfold were signed to Warner Bros. Records.
Mainstream success
City of Evil, the third album which was
released on 7 June 2005, strayed from metalcore,
and M. Shadows chose to abandon the screaming from the first two albums. Although Shadows acknowledges throat and vocal cord
damage, and the following surgery to help correct the issues, he says that the change in vocal style was not a result. In
their new DVD "All Excess", Mudrock, producer of Avenged's second and third albums, said prior to Waking the Fallen, Shadows
had stated that he wanted a CD with half-screaming, then one with no screaming, which was achieved in City of Evil. Shadows
maintains that he's able to scream even better than before since the surgery and training with vocal coach Ron Anderson, who
worked with various artists, from Axl Rose, to Kylie Minogue, and Chris Cornell.
Recent events
In
2006 A7X completed a worldwide tour, including the US, England, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After canceling Fall and Winter 2006 tour dates, the band announced that they were planning their fourth studio album,
a self-titled album. M. Shadows has stated that it would not be a City of Evil Part 2 or Waking the Fallen Part 2, but he
says it will attract fans of both original albums while still being a surprise. They played their first tour dates of 2007
on an Asian tour with stops in Indonesia, Singapore and Japan. To "tide fans over" until the release of the new album, Avenged Sevenfold released their first DVD,
All Excess, on 17 July 2007. The DVD includes
a documentary and live footage dating back to 1999 along with music videos and the making of the Seize the Day music video.
The self titled album was released out on October
30, 2007 to early success, debuting at #4 on the Billboard 200 with approximately
94,000 copies sold. Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" along with its music video, were released prior to the
album. An animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven" and was going to be included on the MVI, but due to the song's
subject matter (i.e. necrophilia), Warner Brothers released it to registered MVI users over the age of 18 in December of 2007.
The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Avenged Sevenfold has
confirmed that their fourth single is the country rock style song "Dear God". They are currently headlining the Taste of Chaos
tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot. On the tour, they are recording a live DVD, entitled
Road to Realization, which will also include the rest of their unreleased studio songs from the
most recent album.
Musical characteristics
Band name and lyrical content
The band's name is a reference to the Book of Genesis
in the Bible, where Cain is sentenced to live in exile for murdering his brother. God marked him so that none would kill him
on account of his sin; the man who dared to kill Cain would suffer "vengeance seven times over" (KJV). The title of Avenged
Sevenfold's song "Chapter Four" references the fourth chapter of Genesis, in which the story of Cain and Abel takes place.
The song's subject also appears to be this story. "Beast and the Harlot", yet another song derived from the Bible, comes from
the book of Revelation only it is written in the first person and refers to the punishment of Babylon the Great, world empire
and seat of false religion. Another biblical reference occurs in the song "The Wicked End". In this song, several times it
is said "dust the apple off, savor each bite, and deep inside you know Adam was right." making reference to Adam eating the
forbidden fruit. Although the band's title and members' stage names make references to religion, Shadows stated in an interview
that they are not a religious band. "Anyone that reads the lyrics and really knew anything about us, they would know we're
not promoting either," he said. "That's one thing about this band that I love is that we never really shove any kind of, like,
political or religious beliefs on people. We just, the music's there to entertain and maybe thought-provoking on both sides,
but we don't try to, like, really shove anything down anyone's throat. There's too many bands that do that nowadays, I think."
The band has a few songs that are somewhat political in nature like "Critical Acclaim" and "Blinded In Chains".
Genre
Avenged Sevenfold's material ranges across many
genres, often leaving the concept of genres altogether (especially in their most recent album). For example, Avenged Sevenfold's
debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely of a metalcore sound, however consisted of several deviations
to this genre, most notably in "Streets" which adopts a Punk style, and "Warmness on the Soul", which consists of mainly piano,
and could be considered soft rock. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, again, consists of several deviations to less consistent
genres and styles, most notably in "Dear God", which adopts a country style, and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which includes
elements of broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of
the lead and rhythm guitar. The band has, though, changed considerably since its first album, which was characterized as very
heavy, to being more of a hard rock type band.
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