This is a flashback review of Avenged Sevenfold self titled 4th album. I say flashback but for me it is still quite a fresh album as I only discovered Avenged Sevenfold last year (2017). This album was to be the last one with drummer "The Rev" touring with them as he sadly passed away during recording of their next album "Nightmare". After a departure in sound from their first few albums, on the third album "City of evil". Where they swapped the screaming and really heavy metal sounds to still being metal but a lot more listenable and accessible songs. This album saw Avenged move more into the hard rock category as the songs, although still heavy are even more accessaible than those on "City of Evil". While "City of evil" was a solid record and got them more recognition. This is the album that would be the launch pad for Avenged to become rock heavyweights. And somehow I still managed to avoid having heard a single song by them till 10 years after this release! I'm making up for lost time now though....
The album starts off with great intent and really lays down that they are heading in a new direction while keeping true to their heavier past. They do this by using an organ on the opening moments of first track "Critical Aclaim". It nicely sets the mood to the album. Then the guitars come in and then we are well and truely off with the ferocius drumming. I have to admit it took me a while to like/get into this song but with each listen I appreciate it more and more. I like the balance between M Shadow's vocals and The Rev's vocals. The Rev features on vocals on quite a few tracks on the album which is great and adds a great deal to the album. But at the same time he doesn't steal too much air time away from Shadow's duties.
The two biggest sounding songs on the album though for me are Almost Easy and Afterlife. And I would go as far as saying these are the tracks which really got people to stand up and take notice of them. They are just really good. proper rocks songs. Big chorus and great guitar work. The guitar particulary on these seem so difficult to play and there are many small solos on these tracks. But I think what Sevenfold have in their favour is that sometimes complexity in songs can make them difficult for the listener to fully appreciate them or sometimes mess the songs up. But with Avenged they have the complex guitar parts but they just work with the songs. And I think that is one of the reasons Avenged Sevenfold are an arena sized band now.
Two tracks on the album which see Avenged experiment a bit with their music and try something a little different are Little bit of heaven and Dear God. These are the last 2 tracks on the album respectively. Little bit of heaven is like a heavy rock/metal musical. The lyrics are not for the faint hearted and if you see the animated video you'll get a graphic representation of those lyrics. But the actual song is so fun. Full of ups and downs twists and turns and is the longest track on the album at eight minutes. Dear God (and another track which I will go on to talk about) on the other hand is the kick back track on the album and has a kind of rock/country feel to it. It is a lot slower pace and is different to anything they have done before this album.
My favourite track on the album though is right in the middle of the album and that track is Gunslinger. When I see this song live they always pay tribute to the armed forces. When I say live I mean on videos as not had the privledge of seeing these guys live yet. The acousitc guitar and vocals start off and then it kicks in. It is just such a well constructed song and the vocals are just awesome. There are many other tracks on this album which I haven't talked about but are great songs and there are no tracks I would skip.
Overall this album is everything a good rock album should be. From start to finish it's just awesome. I would however say that "Nightmare" is still my favourite Avenged album but this is a very close second. What I would say though for people who have never heard of Avenged Sevenfold before is that this is the first album you should listen to of theirs as it is definetley their most accessible album and I think the one with their most hits. But don't disregard "City of Evil", "Hail to the King" and "The Stage". These albums are all great to get into too once you've listened to this one.
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