With Avenged Sevenfold about to unleash album number five, Rock Sound had an advance listen to the new record and here’s our initial reactions…
NOTE: this isn’t our considered review. That’s coming later…
‘NIGHTMARE’
“It’s your ******** nightmare!” screams M. Shadows with some genuine menace in his voice. Immediately what’s clear here is that this is much, much heavier than anything in recent years by A7X. There are more than a few moments reminiscent of ‘Master Of Puppets’-era Metallica – especially the laugh about two minutes into the song. This is a bloody good opener, it definitely woke us up.
‘WELCOME TO THE FAMILY’
This track opens with a lovely big riff. It’s very catchy but sounds much more like a track from the band’s 07 self-titled effort. Certainly less brutal than the opener, there’s some great technical skill at play here, with every member showing off how well they can play their instrument. However, on first listen we can’t tell whether it’s a case of a guitar solos for the sake of it, as they don’t really seem to add anything to the overall sound. It’s hard to square such aggressive riffage with the really soft vocals, as M. Shadows sings “We all have emptiness inside, we all have answers to find”. They’re bordering on Placebo terrain with the rhyming couplets there…
‘DANGER LINE’
With a double kick drum, a screeching guitar line and lower vocal growls, oh yes, the aggression is back! Slightly confessional on the lyric front with “My daughter loves her daddy” and “I never meant to hurt the ones I love / tell my baby girl it’s alright, but no one said this world was fair”. Nice sentiment, but there’s a bit of a spoken epitaph feel to it. Unfortunately, all that’s followed up by whistling. Yes, that’s right, someone whistles the melody! Make of that what you will…
‘BURIED ALIVE’
There’s a quiet build up on this one and symphonic elements add a nice, soft touch to it. It’s hard to know what’s going to take place next… Oh, wait, it’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ with drums and a cheesy guitar line kicking in. Oh well, almost. This is clearly meant to be ‘the ballad’. References to being consumed by darkness and hopelessness are prevalent, but also anchored around living in the present moment. There’s a build up and a yell to end the track.
‘NATURAL BORN KILLER’
This track has the most metal opening so far, getting a bit thrash in its build-up – until, a cowbell. It’s annoying because the band push forward aggressively, but just as ‘Natural Born Killer’ reaches a crucial moment they p***y out and fall back on their play-it-safe melodies, or in this instance, the addition of a novelty cowbell. As the lyrics “So say your prayers because I [ain’t] leaving here without you” kick in, you have to wonder what the words mean beneath the cliché? The band clearly have the bad experiences from which to draw, but seem scared to articulate their true feelings, opting instead to sing in clichés. There are more loud guitar solos and it starts to get a bit predictable with the juxtaposition of up-tempo guitar lines and miserable lyricism.
‘SO FAR AWAY’
Another slow-building, ballad-esque opening: “How do I live without the ones I love? Facing time always on my mind. I have so much to say, but you’re so far away.” Finally there’s something a little bit genuine in this. This track is the most heartfelt so far, but just as you think the song should end, out comes the acoustic guitar and a repeated build up launching straight into a ‘November Rain’-type guitar solo. Wow, Axl would be crying his eyes out right now.
‘GOD HATES US’
Quiet guitars lead into a colossal crashing of drums and a tune that is anthemic. Inspiring some serious fist pumping, this will be great for live shows. There’s a lot of hate here, mostly directed at God. There’s also possibly the worst beatdown known to man, but a widdly guitar solo redeems it, kind of.
‘VICTIM’
Opening with bells, it’s very similar to Metallica (again). There’s also a woman present, who warbles along to the tune. Time is mentioned, there’s a sense that things feel a bit transient – this song epitomising the numbing aftershock effect that loss has. There’s more of a dream-like quality to the track and we reckon it’s the best so far. It fades out after seven-and-a-half minutes with “I’m missing you”, as the woman starts to warble again.
‘TONIGHT THE WORLD DIES’
This is another song about regret. There are clean vocals but they’re roughly cut, think Black Stone Cherry. What becomes apparent is that this is an album created out of pain and loss, but there’s a need to struggle through the pain which seems to be made possible by all the people M. Shadows loves in his life.
‘FICTION’
This sounds a lot like something from Phantom Of The Opera. There’s a big piano introduction that’s quite gothic and a bit like Kellermensch. “All this hurt can finally pass!” Shadows shouts, as though trying to resolve the pain of earlier tracks. Should grief be poured out and concluded in the space of 10 songs? It seems a bit disingenuous and makes this the worst song so far.
‘SAVE ME’
Quiet bass and ‘angL’-era Ihsahn theatrics kick in. Loud and heavy, the vocals strangely veer between Dani Filth and the Backstreet Boys, but this is much more in-fitting with the last two A7X albums. The closing line is poignant though: “Tonight we all die young!”
This is not an easily accessible album on first listen, it’s more like one you'll need to devote an entire week to playing and slowly coming to terms with.
(It's not exactly kind on the guys is it?)
NOTE: this isn’t our considered review. That’s coming later…
‘NIGHTMARE’
“It’s your ******** nightmare!” screams M. Shadows with some genuine menace in his voice. Immediately what’s clear here is that this is much, much heavier than anything in recent years by A7X. There are more than a few moments reminiscent of ‘Master Of Puppets’-era Metallica – especially the laugh about two minutes into the song. This is a bloody good opener, it definitely woke us up.
‘WELCOME TO THE FAMILY’
This track opens with a lovely big riff. It’s very catchy but sounds much more like a track from the band’s 07 self-titled effort. Certainly less brutal than the opener, there’s some great technical skill at play here, with every member showing off how well they can play their instrument. However, on first listen we can’t tell whether it’s a case of a guitar solos for the sake of it, as they don’t really seem to add anything to the overall sound. It’s hard to square such aggressive riffage with the really soft vocals, as M. Shadows sings “We all have emptiness inside, we all have answers to find”. They’re bordering on Placebo terrain with the rhyming couplets there…
‘DANGER LINE’
With a double kick drum, a screeching guitar line and lower vocal growls, oh yes, the aggression is back! Slightly confessional on the lyric front with “My daughter loves her daddy” and “I never meant to hurt the ones I love / tell my baby girl it’s alright, but no one said this world was fair”. Nice sentiment, but there’s a bit of a spoken epitaph feel to it. Unfortunately, all that’s followed up by whistling. Yes, that’s right, someone whistles the melody! Make of that what you will…
‘BURIED ALIVE’
There’s a quiet build up on this one and symphonic elements add a nice, soft touch to it. It’s hard to know what’s going to take place next… Oh, wait, it’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ with drums and a cheesy guitar line kicking in. Oh well, almost. This is clearly meant to be ‘the ballad’. References to being consumed by darkness and hopelessness are prevalent, but also anchored around living in the present moment. There’s a build up and a yell to end the track.
‘NATURAL BORN KILLER’
This track has the most metal opening so far, getting a bit thrash in its build-up – until, a cowbell. It’s annoying because the band push forward aggressively, but just as ‘Natural Born Killer’ reaches a crucial moment they p***y out and fall back on their play-it-safe melodies, or in this instance, the addition of a novelty cowbell. As the lyrics “So say your prayers because I [ain’t] leaving here without you” kick in, you have to wonder what the words mean beneath the cliché? The band clearly have the bad experiences from which to draw, but seem scared to articulate their true feelings, opting instead to sing in clichés. There are more loud guitar solos and it starts to get a bit predictable with the juxtaposition of up-tempo guitar lines and miserable lyricism.
‘SO FAR AWAY’
Another slow-building, ballad-esque opening: “How do I live without the ones I love? Facing time always on my mind. I have so much to say, but you’re so far away.” Finally there’s something a little bit genuine in this. This track is the most heartfelt so far, but just as you think the song should end, out comes the acoustic guitar and a repeated build up launching straight into a ‘November Rain’-type guitar solo. Wow, Axl would be crying his eyes out right now.
‘GOD HATES US’
Quiet guitars lead into a colossal crashing of drums and a tune that is anthemic. Inspiring some serious fist pumping, this will be great for live shows. There’s a lot of hate here, mostly directed at God. There’s also possibly the worst beatdown known to man, but a widdly guitar solo redeems it, kind of.
‘VICTIM’
Opening with bells, it’s very similar to Metallica (again). There’s also a woman present, who warbles along to the tune. Time is mentioned, there’s a sense that things feel a bit transient – this song epitomising the numbing aftershock effect that loss has. There’s more of a dream-like quality to the track and we reckon it’s the best so far. It fades out after seven-and-a-half minutes with “I’m missing you”, as the woman starts to warble again.
‘TONIGHT THE WORLD DIES’
This is another song about regret. There are clean vocals but they’re roughly cut, think Black Stone Cherry. What becomes apparent is that this is an album created out of pain and loss, but there’s a need to struggle through the pain which seems to be made possible by all the people M. Shadows loves in his life.
‘FICTION’
This sounds a lot like something from Phantom Of The Opera. There’s a big piano introduction that’s quite gothic and a bit like Kellermensch. “All this hurt can finally pass!” Shadows shouts, as though trying to resolve the pain of earlier tracks. Should grief be poured out and concluded in the space of 10 songs? It seems a bit disingenuous and makes this the worst song so far.
‘SAVE ME’
Quiet bass and ‘angL’-era Ihsahn theatrics kick in. Loud and heavy, the vocals strangely veer between Dani Filth and the Backstreet Boys, but this is much more in-fitting with the last two A7X albums. The closing line is poignant though: “Tonight we all die young!”
This is not an easily accessible album on first listen, it’s more like one you'll need to devote an entire week to playing and slowly coming to terms with.
(It's not exactly kind on the guys is it?)
