Review Summary: What have they done?
Have you ever heard something so bad that you think to yourself, “Man, these guys must've been on some strong drugs when they made this”? I mean, drugs could be the only explanation, right? Nobody in their right mind would create such a mess on purpose. Those were my exact thoughts when I heard the new Avenged Sevenfold EP,
Statica. I've long been an A7X supporter. I love everything this band has done outside of the self-titled and I always thought that they got way more flack than they truly deserved. Well, let the storm of fecalmatter roll through because this might be the worst EP ever made in the history of music.
First off, the vocals are auto tuned to an absolutely diabolical level. I'd love to know what was going through M. Shadows’ head when he decided to throw these garbage effects on to his voice. I know he isn't quite the vocalist that he used to be, but for the love of God, he can actually still sing and none of that ability is put on display here. I didn't realize T-Pain was now doing vocals for Avenged Sevenfold. Then again, T-Pain would probably make this atrocity sound better than it does. It takes absolutely zero talent to put these kinds of effects on your voice. Someone that can't sing for anything could've been put on this EP and the results would've been the same. Shame on you, M. Shadows, for taking your actual talent and throwing it in the garbage bin.
Should we even talk about the instrumentals? The vocals are enough to warrant a low rating, but the robotic nature of the instruments brings it down even further. I get that the band was trying to “experiment” with a different sound, but the sterile industrial bits add absolutely nothing and the idea of being avant-garde went out the window with the last album.
Life is But a Dream had some riffs, it had some actual musical talent being shown off at a high level. This is devoid of anything even close to that. What happened to the days when this band used to give us tasty solos and headbangable riffage? Once again, I know they were experimenting, but this experiment blew up in their auto tuned faces on an epic scale.
There are zero redeemable qualities to this EP. I'd love to know the band's mindset while recording this abysmal excuse of a project. Maybe they were just trying to have some fun. It may have been fun for them, but for everyone that decides to listen to this, it is an embarrassment to the highest degree. I have trouble believing that these guys took this seriously and I would almost feel better if they didn't because if they thought any element of this was worthwhile, then they might as well hang it up now and never come back. Let's all drop to our knees and give thanks that this is only 18 minutes long because any more of this garbage would have fans running into oncoming traffic head-on. What would The Rev think of this trash? We'll never know, but I do know one thing,
Statica is one of the worst pieces of music ever put to record.