Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold (also known as A7X) is a metalcore band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The title Avenged Sevenfold is taken from the biblical story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:15(NIV), which reads, "But the Lord said to him, Therefore whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold'"

The band was formed while its members were still in high school. They came out with a demo called Warmness on The Soul before their first full length album , which included the heavy metal version of "To End The Rapture". Their first full length album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the members of A7X were just 18 years old; it was immediately acclaimed by the hardcore community. Their next album entitled Waking the Fallen was well received and generally considered a successful sophomore effort as evidenced by a praising reference in Rolling Stone magazine. Recently M. Shadows' vocal stylings have changed more to focus on melodic singing than on hardcore screaming and growling. This is due to Shadows' throat surgery due to internal bleeding. Their latest release was City Of Evil on June 7, 2005 and strays away from metalcore and may be a new start for the band as just a Metal band.

Although the bands title and members' sobriquets make obvious reference to religion, Shadow's, Zacky's and Synyster's lyrics bear no resemblance to any religious preaching. All members of A7X were kicked out of Catholic school, but the only midly religious member is The Reverend or so Synyster Gates says.The predominant lyrical themes are despair, loneliness and Apocalypse. The band's use of grandiose guitar solos has restarted a trend of groups signing up talented lead guitarists in the hope of achieving the same sort of cult-like fan following as A7X. All five band members show tremendous ability with their respective instruments, and M. Shadows's vocal skills and good looks prompted Rolling Stone magazine to compare him to an amalgam of Elvis and Axl Rose.

Discography

• 2001 Warmness on the Soul EP (Good Life)
• 2001 Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (Good Life)
• 2002 Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (Hopeless)
• 2003 Waking the Fallen (Hopeless)
• 2005 City of Evil (Warner Brothers)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock
2005	"Bat Country"	#87	#13	#7	City of Evil

Videography

• March 2001 - Warmness On The Soul - Sounding the Seventh Trumpet
• March 6, 2004 - Unholy Confessions (Live video w/ dubbed music) - Waking the Fallen
• May 4, 2005 - Bat Country (Live video w/ dubbed music) - City of Evil
• May 23, 2005 - Burn It Down (Live video w/ dubbed music) - City of Evil
• July 28, 2005 - Bat Country - ( Professional Video) City of Evil
• Coming soon, 2005 - Beast and the Harlot- (Regular music video...Not live.) - City of Evil

Band Members

• M. Shadows - Lead Vocals
• Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar
• Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm Guitar
• Johnny Christ - Bass
• The Rev (Formally, The Reverend Tholomew Plague) - Drums

Former Members

• Dameon Ash - Bass
• Justin Sane - Bass
• Mike Wench - Bass