| Avenged Sevenfold Waking the Fallen |
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 | Tracklist:
1. Waking The Fallen
2. Unholy Confessions
3. Chapter Four
4. Remenissions
5. Desecrate Through Reverence
6. Eternal Rest
7. Second Heartbeat
8. Radiant Eclipse
9. I Won't See You Tonight Part 1
10. I Won't See You Tonight Part 2
11. Clairvoyant Disease
12. And All Things Will End
| Ranking: #124 for 2003 | |
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On 58 Lists
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16 of 19 thought this review was well written
Although this review has been done before...many times...I wanted to put my view forward, as this is one of my favourite albums ever. Also, I'm bored, and this gives me something other to do than Spanish courseword :)
M Shadows - Vocals
Matt had not burst the blood vessel in his throat at this point, his clean singing was much more powerful and he could scream. He had a superb clean voice and a powerful scream, quite high pitched. He can hit high notes superbly on this album.
Synester Gates - Lead Guitar
Synester, at this point had not settled into his role quite so much as on 'City Of Evil'. However, as 'Second Heartbeat' demonstrates, his talent is clear. He sweep picks a lot in his solos, something that pleases me immensly :D.
Johnny Christ - Bass
Johnny isn't heard too clearly hear. You can hear him play the odd fill now and again, and what you can hear is good, fits well with the twin guitar assault.
Zacky Vengeance - Zacky plays much of the same riffs as Synester, ofter harmonised, as shown in 'Chapter 4'. Zacky didn't show off his talent by harmonising solos as in 'City Of Evil', but he is still a superb guitarist. He also does the backing vocals, as well as Synester.
The Rev - The Rev is a good drummer, playing nice beats, such as the 'Chapter 4' intro and pretty much all of 'Second Heartbeat'. He keeps time like he is suppossed to, and breaks out well without going totally over the top.
Again, I won't do a track by track of the whole album as that'll take a while as I like to go into detail.
The album kicks off with intro track 'Waking The Fallen'. Clean singing, drop D guitars playing single notes, occasional screams and a simple beat add together for a fairly atmospheric introduction. The song leads straight into lead single 'Unholy Confessions', probably their best know song aside from 'Bat County'. Kicks off with THAT riff, before heading off into a harmonised version of it. Nice double pedaling from The Rev at points, Matts blend of screaming and singing is perfect. Has a nice breakdown, it's easy to see why this was the first single. The bass pretty much follows the guitar here, which is no bad thing. Has a false ending, sounds pretty cool, good live too.
'Chapter 4' opens up with powerchords on guitar and a great drum intro by The Rev, my favourite piece of drumming by him ever. Soon cuts into a very catchy harmonised riff, before going into Matt sceaming over Synester and Zacky singing, sounds very swish. The guitars really steal the show after The Rev has had his moment, they are constantly harmonising. This song is written about Cain and Abel from the bible, so the lyrics follow the story. The chorus here is very catchy, quite punkish, showing A7X's other influences. There is a solo here, performed by Synester, not as audible as I would like as Matt sings over it, however I'm fairly sure that its sweep picking. It sounds great anyway. Fades out on Matt singing cleanly.
'Eternal Rest' heads straight into a face melting solo by Synester, totally taking away any doubt that he 'isnt great'. The rest of the intro is quick, fast and heavy, with Matt screaming. Soon heads into a heavy but catchy riff, nice simple beat by The Rev with the occasional bit of double pedaling here and there. All the riffs on offer here ae very nice, the backing vocals fit in well with Matts screaming. Johnny Christ is heard briefly harmonising with the guitarists, showing that he can keep up with such talented players. The outro here is very nice and soft, makes a nice change from the heaviness. One guitarist plays in clean, sounds very nice. Clean singing of "eternal rest, in time". An excellent song.
'Second Heartbeat' has a great lead line, pretty damn catchy. The bass adds some nice fills throughout, the drumming stays very solid the whole way through. The backing vocals are very punk-ish, in a good way. Very catchy. Again, the guitars steal the show with Synesters closing solo, as it is totally insane. Sweep picking across 6 strings a good solo does make :D. I'm easily pleased...
'I Wont See You Tonight Part 1' is a brilliant song. Clean singing, powerful solos, piano breaks, good lyrics. It's 9 minutes long, and so is fairly epic. The outro is metal poignancy at its best :)
'Part 2' carries straight on, a very heavy song. Another excellent solo.
'And All Things Will End' begins with a clean intro that kicks off into a nice heavy riff, but surprisingly not screaming. It sounds very nice anyway. The chorus has some nice lead guitar work, good lead vocals and backing vocals similar to 'Second Heartbeat'. It goes back into a clean break, with some nice bass playing and some very good singing. After a while it gets heavy again, with The Rev getting back on his double kick pedal. The song ends with a glorious 2 minute long solo over some epic sounding backing, the song stops with the sounds of the drums slowed down and fading out. A wonderful way to end a wonderful album.
Pros
+Superb guitar work from Synester and Zacky
+Excellent vocals
+Well written songs
Cons
-Bass very quiet
-'Radient Eclipse' not up to standards of other songs
-...thats about it
4.5 / 5
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| Recent reviews by this author | | |
Album Rating: 3.5
Great review, albeit not exactly necessary. This album isnt as great in my opinion as it used to be, I sort of grew out of it. Still, I prefer the vocals (clean and harsh) on here to their new album.
Digging: A Forest of Stars - The Corpse of Rebirth | | |
Good job, you've done three reviews in one day.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I think the album's just TOO long. It drags.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Good review. This is, IMO, their best cd.
Good user name.
Jom, nice avatar.
Digging: A Wilhelm Scream - A Wilhelm Scream | | | Album Rating: 1.5
Not a bad review, you need to clean up your grammar and spelling though. Personally I despise A7X, I find them immensely boring and unoriginal. And City of Evil was a terrible attempt at bringing back the awesomeness that was the '80s.
Digging: The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen | | | Album Rating: 2.5
City of Evil blows. this cd is good, though i still deleted it off my comp after a listen or two. just so much better music out there.
| | | Album Rating: 4
ive liked all their albums tbh, id probably give them all a 4/5, but theyre not something i can listen to repeatedly or very often, cuz i get fed up A7X quickly...
Digging: Dresden Dolls - Yes Virginia | | | Album Rating: 4
The 80's was not awesome if you are reffering to the crap in your user name.
Also, name one band who actually sounds like Sevenfold. Atreyu might do to an extent, but they suck and so do their lyrics. This album has a perfectly rounded metal sound for me, just enough screams, cleans, solo's and speed.
Great album. Gotta love the riffing.
Good review too.
Digging: Sylosis - Conclusion Of An Age | | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
I love this album. The choruses on this album are just amazing. Like Radiant Eclipse, It starts out kinda slow but the chorus is mind blowing.
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This album makes me cry too, but for a different reason altogether...
Ha...just kidding...but I had to, I had to...
Digging: Thrice - Beggars
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
I just noticed something, you spelled Synyster Gates wrong, and M. Shadows is the only one who sings on the entire records. And I think that Radiant Eclipse is one of the best songs on the album.
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
I have to skip like a minute past the intro of Radiant Eclipse, the beginning was unnecessary. Good song though for the rest.
Did M Shadows really dub over all those parts in this album? When playing live i see Zacky Vengeance doing backup vocals
Digging: Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect | | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
Yeah he did, he sang all of the vocals on the album, he overdubed and harmonized a lot. But live Zacky and Synyster and The Rev help him with the clean vocals some screaming and the harmonies.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I think the album's just TOO long. It drags. So 80s Metallica and Tool drags too? :rolleyes:This Message Edited On 03.04.06
Digging: Devin Townsend Project - Addicted | | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
Maybe he doesn't like them.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
i love this album. i listen to it all the time. i admire the riffs, drumming, and vocals. "Clairvoyant Disease" is one of my all-time favorite songs. the harmonies on this album are amazing. g-d i love this disc.
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In the 3 years i've had this cd i prob havent gone a whole week without listening to it at least once all the way thru. If i could only listen to one cd for the rest of my life this is the one. I told Zacky Vengeance to his face after their show in atl that waking the fallen is the greatest album ever written....thats all that needs to be said
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My copy of Waking the Fallen cracked! I set it on the floor for like 2 seconds and forgot it was there and stepped on it! It's still playable, but it's getting worse. First it was fine, then Waking the Fallen (song) wouldn't play, now the plague has reached Unholy Confessions. Next, Chapter Four will be knocked out.
Dammit, why couldn't this have happened to my Staind CD or something crappy like that? 
This is indeed a sad day.
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
That sucks, are you gonna get a new one.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Yeah. I'm not too big a fan of dishing out $13-15 for an album I already own, but this is my favorite album from one of my favorite bands, so it's worth it. I'm just gonna enjoy Chapter Four while I can, since that's such an awesome song.
STST will just have to hold me over A7X wise until I feel like going to the store again. Hell, maybe I'll give CoE another shot.
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