Avenged Sevenfold

For the self-titled album, see Avenged Sevenfold (album).

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal, hard rock, and metalcore band from Huntington Beach, California.

Biography

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, But he 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, scheduled for release on 30 October, 2007. This album is currently for sale. M. Shadows has stated that it is not 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. Avenged Sevenfold has stated that the mixing of the new album was finished by early August 2007. They played their first tour dates of 2007, an Asian tour with stops in Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan. On 9 August 2007, the track listing of the new album was released via the band's MySpace, and on 17 August, the band released a clip of the opening track, "Critical Acclaim", along with the announcement that it would be released via iTunes as the first single on 28 August. The song was also put up in full to be streamed on their MySpace, as well. The music video for the first single off the new album, "Almost Easy", was added to the Kerrang TV playlist in the UK on the 27 September.

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. It is a region-free DVD and is approximately 156 minutes long. Before the actual release of the DVD, there were several theatrical premiers around the United States on 16 July 2007.

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 the crime of 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 have "vengeance taken upon him sevenfold." The title of Avenged Sevenfold's song "Chapter Four" references Genesis 4:15, the chapter of the Bible 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 the song, several times it is said "dust the apple off, savor each bite, and deep inside you know Adam was right." making reference to Eve 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 read 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 have since decided to include political lyrics on the song Critical Acclaim.

Genre

While they are often categorized as metal or hard rock, Avenged Sevenfold's material ranges between many genres, often leaving the concept of genres altogether (especially in their most recent album). For example, in their first album, which was almost completely metalcore, they deviated from that genre in the song "Streets", which is more of skate punk than anything else. Also, in their newest album, the song "Dear God" is a country song, and "A Little Piece of Heaven" on the same recent album has some 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. Avenged Sevenfold does not believe in restricting themselves to a certain specific genre; instead, they let their creativity take their music wherever it leads.

Band members

Current members

• M. Shadows - lead vocals, piano, guitars (1999-present)
• Synyster Gates - lead guitars, piano, backing vocals (2001-present)
• Zacky Vengeance - rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1999-present)
• Johnny Christ - bass guitars, backing vocals (2002-present)
• The Reverend Tholomew Plague - drums, piano, backing & occasional lead vocals (1999-present)

Former members

• Justin Sane - bass guitar, piano (1999-2001, not to be confused with Justin Sane of Anti-Flag)
• Dameon Ash - bass guitar (2001-2002)

Discography

Studio albums

1. Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001) (re-released in 2002)
2. Waking the Fallen (2003)
3. City of Evil (2005)
4. Avenged Sevenfold (2007)

EPs

1. Warmness on the Soul (2001)

Demo Recordings

For information, see Early Avenged Sevenfold releases.

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions					Album
		US Hot 100	US Mainstream Rock	US Modern Rock	UK Singles Chart	UK Rock Chart
2001	"Warmness on the Soul"	-	-	-	-	-	Sounding the Seventh Trumpet
2003	"Unholy Confessions"	-	-	-	-	-	Waking the Fallen
2005	"Burn It Down"	-	-	-	#92	#22	City of Evil
2005	"Bat Country"	#60	#2	#6	#84	#24	City of Evil
2006	"Beast and the Harlot"	-	#19	#40	#44	-	City of Evil
2006	"Seize the Day"	-	#17	-	-	-	City of Evil
2007	"Critical Acclaim"	-	-	-	-	-	Avenged Sevenfold
2007	"Almost Easy"	-	#7	#15	#67	#1	Avenged Sevenfold
2007	"Afterlife"	-	-	-	-	-	Avenged Sevenfold

Videography

Date	Title	Notes	Link
March 2001	Warmness on the Soul	Professional video	(Video)
March 6, 2004	Unholy Confessions	Live video with dubbed music	(Video)
June 2005	Burn it Down	Live video with dubbed music
July 28, 2005	Bat Country	Professional video directed by Marc Klasfeld	(video from Bedlam Society)
February 6, 2006	Beast and the Harlot	Professional video directed by Tony Petrossian
June 30, 2006	Seize the Day	Professional video directed by Wayne Isham
July 17, 2007	All Excess	DVD featuring a documentary, live performances, music videos, and outtakes.
September 25, 2007	Almost Easy	Professional video directed by P.R. Brown	(video from MTV2)

Compilations

Date	Title	Label	Song/s
2002	Plea for Peace/Take Action! Vol. 2	Subcity Records	"Turn the Other Way"
2003	Take Action! Vol. 3	Subcity Records	"Chapter Four"
2003	Warped Tour 2003 CD	SideOne Dummy Records	Darkness Surrounding
2003	Metal=Life CD/DVD	Subcity Records	"Unholy Confessions" & Video
2003	Operation: Punk Rock Freedom	Hopeless Records / Subcity Records	"Chapter Four" & "Darkness Surrounding"
2004	Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 4	Hopeless Records / Subcity Records	"Second Heartbeat" & "Darkness Surrounding"
2005	Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 5	Hopeless Records / Subcity Records	"Chapter Four" & "Eternal Rest (Live)" (feat. "Unholy Confessions" video on Enhanced CD)
2005	Masters of Horror Soundtrack		"Beast and the Harlot" (live)
2006	Kerrang! - High Voltage: A Brief History of Rock[1]		"Walk" (Pantera cover)
2006	Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 6	Hopeless Records / Subcity Records	"Darkness Surrounding" & "Unholy Confessions" (feat. "Unholy Confessions" video and "We Come Out at Night" live at Warped Tour 2003 video on included DVD)
2006	Kerrang! - Kerrang! Awards 2006		"Beast And The Harlot"

Guest Features in other artist's songs

• "Savior, Saint, Salvation" - Bleeding Through Featuring M. Shadows
• "The River" - Good Charlotte Featuring M. Shadows and Synyster Gates
• "Buffalo Stampede" - Cowboy Troy Featuring M. Shadows
• "Falling Away From Me" (LIVE) - Korn featuring M. Shadows who temporarily replaced Jonathan Davis (due to medical attention)
• "Like Always" - A Permanent Holiday featuring M. Shadows

External links

• Official website
• Template:MySpace