Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold
Basic Information
Name	Avenged Sevenfold (A7X)
Years Active	1999–present
Others
Members	M. Shadows Zacky Vengeance Synyster Gates Johnny Christ Brooks Wackerman Matt Wendt Justin Sane Dameon Ash The Rev† Arin Ilejay Mike Portnoy

Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, Avenged

Sevenfold has since sold over 2.5 millon records

The band themselves have received much credit for their worldwide mainstream success and were most notably proclaimed as one of the leaders and key bands in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal

Biography

Early years

The band was formed in 1999 by childhood friends Matt Sanders, Zacky Baker, Jimmy Sullivan, and Matt Wendt . 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".

In early 2008 they headlined the Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot. On the tour, they recorded a live DVD, entitled "Live In the LBC/Diamonds in the Rough", which also included the rest of their unreleased studio songs from the most recent album.

Nightmare and death of The Rev. (2009 onward)

In January 2009, M. Shadows confirmed that the band is 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.In April 16, they performed a version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. M. Shadows has also been confirmed to be a featured vocalist on Slash's forthcoming solo album Slash & Friends. M. Shadows and the rest of the band has expressed interest in making a follow-up to their self-titled record. They announced that they plan to start writing in June 2009 and recording in October 2009. M. Shadows also said in an interview with Loveline that the next record would be a more classic metal, more rock-oriented record, since the self-titled record was very experimental. He also said it would feature more progressive, longer songs and would be the "biggest Avenged Sevenfold record ever." Additionally, he said they were possibly thinking about a concept record. On July 15, 2009, their website and MySpace profile were updated with a statement from M. Shadows implying that work on the next album has started, but they are still "throwing around ideas". The update was on the same day that Waking the Fallen went Gold. In an interview, M. Shadows has revealed that after the band will complete their tour with a final performance at the Sonisphere Festival on August 2, they will get in the studio to write and record a new studio album, a follow-up to their self-titled album. On November 5, 2009, Zacky Vengeance posted a message on the official website stating that they had returned from their tour and immediately started focusing on forming a production team in order to start recording the album. "We will continue finalizing our songs until we feel every note does both you as well as us justice. We are also in the final stages of solidifying our production team, studios and engineers so that the second the axe falls and the album is written we will spend day and night in the studio until it is complete. This album will definitely take you on a very dark journey..." On December 28, 2009, drummer The Rev was found dead at his home at the age of 28. In a statement by the band, they expressed their grief over The Rev's loss and asked that his family's privacy be respected: “ It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world's best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy's family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time. ”

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" (A7X). 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.

Band members

Current members

• M. Shadows - lead vocals (1999 - present)
• Synyster Gates - lead guitars, piano, backing vocals (2000 - present)
• Zacky Vengeance - rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1999 - present)
• Johnny Christ - bass, backing vocals (2002 - present)
• Brooks Wackerman - Drums (2015 - present)

Former members

Matt Wendt – bass (1999–2000)

Justin Sane – bass, piano (2000–2001)

Dameon Ash – bass (2001–2002)

The Rev – drums, piano, backing vocals (1999–2009) (deceased)

Mike Portnoy - studio/touring drums (2010)

Arin Ilejay- drums and percussion (2011 - 2015)

Discography

Studio albums

• 2001: Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (re-released in 2002)
• 2003: Waking the Fallen
• 2005: City of Evil (Gold)
• 2007: Avenged Sevenfold
• 2008: Live in the LBC/Diamonds in the Rough
• 2010: Nightmare
• 2012: Carry On (Single) (featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops II)
• 2013: Hail to the King
• 2016: The Stage
• 2023: Life is But a Dream...

EPs

• 2001: Warmness on the Soul

Demo Recordings

For information, see Early Avenged Sevenfold releases.

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions					Album
		Billboard Hot 100|US Hot 100	Mainstream Rock Tracks chart|US Mainstream Rock	Modern Rock Tracks|US Modern Rock	UK Singles Char]	UK Rock Chart
2001	"Warmness on the Soul"	-	-	-	-	-	Sounding the Seventh Trumpet
2004	"Unholy Confessions"	-	-	-	-	-	Waking the Fallen
2005	Burn It Down"	-	-	-	92	22	City of Evil
	"Bat Country"	60	2	6	84	12
2006	"Beast and the Harlot"	-	19	40	44	33
	Seize the Day"	-	17	-	-	-
2007	"Critical Acclaim"	-	-	-	-	-	Avenged Sevenfold (album)|Avenged Sevenfold
	"Almost Easy"	106	3	6	67	1
2008	Afterlife"	-	17	32	-	3
	"Dear God"	-	-	-	-	-		2010	"Nightmare"

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 Chuck Wilson	(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.
July 1, 2008	Dear God	Band made	(video

External Links

http://avengedsevenfold.com/