Review Summary: It's like drinking a 40 of Jack Daniels. Starts off pretty hard and painful, then you begin enjoy every minute of it and in the end you're wishing you hadn't done it. Before long you come back to it and repeat the cycle again. Soon enough it becomes a hab
After reading every other review contributed so far, I feel this album is not getting any honest reviews. Listening to this album since it's release a few times a day; in an attempt to give it chance, I'm going to make a bold statement. This is one of Avenged Sevenfold's better albums. Yes, they have deviated from their usual track content which tends to be: dualing guitars, wild (and sometimes cheesy) harmonies, and frantic guitar solos. Some of these elements are still contained but many new ones have also been introduced. Strings, collaborations, new vocals (courtesy of The Rev) and many newly themed songs. Something brand new though in the process of creating this album is that everyone had a take in all the tracks. The Rev wrote piano parts, guitar parts, and in some cases whole songs. Shadows wrote piano parts, vocals and guitar parts. I would say this album was the brainchild of Shadows and the Rev. Onward with the review!
The album consists of 10 songs, and it's total length spans just over 40 minutes long. The album starts off with "Critical Acclaim." Oh yeah, standard A7X; dualing guitars. Then a pretty simple riff (written by Shadows), the kind you would expect to drive down the street with your car window open. Critical acclaim has an antheming feel to it. The Rev steps up to plate on this album and contributes to the vocals, and he does a fantastic job. Shadow's vocal styling have not changed yet but he does sound damned smug in this track. The Rev screams the chorus and without him this song wouldn't have a chance in hell of being enjoyed. Then a cliche spoken interlude courtesy of Shadows. After a few minutes of aggressive, angry music, the songs slows down and it achieves a blissful sort of state. The song grooves and floats for a bit, then the dualing guitars come in again. The Rev's vocal performance is the highlight in this song.
The second song "Almost Easy" (in it's early stages) was written by the Rev. Solos were contributed by Gates. The drum beat in this song is absolutely fantastic and heavily-ride based. Again, this song is very aggressive and pumping, but it is a little lackluster. Mediocre vocal performance by Shadows. Drumming is the highlight of this track.
The third song goes back to their City of Evil roots; focused on Vampires. The cool thing about this track is that it's tempo is at 140 (Heart Beat anyone?). The main riff is a simple, chromatic scale but it does the job. Their is some fantastic guitar work in this song. The song had a euphoric feel to it. The lyrics are very dark and have a vampire/werewolf oriented theme:
"Caught up in this madness too blind to see
Woke animal feelings in me
Took over my sense and I lost control
I'll taste your blood tonight"
Afterlife, is the next song and it's about a person dying and realizing there's so much that they hadn't finished on earth, and they have to "escape the afterlife." The first half of the song is decent but nothing special. It's the second half that really shines. In the bridge the strings return and The Rev contributes an awesome set of background vocals just before the solo and they fade into the solo. The solo is a little lackluster. Following the solo, there's a section of only the Rev laughing, and this sounds very creepy. It made my hair's stand on end the first time I heard it.
...and here it comes. A song so ridiculously bad, that even an entire bottle of Jagermeister couldn't make it good. I hate the first half of this song so much, that it takes this album from a 4.5 to a 3.5. The lyrics are bad, the guitar work is crappy, and there's no Rev to save it.
The next song begs the question: "Ever been on a magic carpet ride?" That's what this song is, there's an awesome piano track played by one of their collaborators. It has a western feel to it, something from the 1930's. There's also a synthesizer in the background that can only be heard at the end of the chorus. The guitar work in the song is pretty good and compliments the piano quite nicely. The lyrics are quite good too:
"This ride that takes me through life
Leads me into darkness but emerges into light
No one can ever slow me down
I'll stay unbound"
The bridge consists of Synester's signature sweeped arpeggios and a choir backing up Shadows' vocals. Personally, the choir is a little excessive. Then again there's a new set of vocals; little boys (A7X meets Wacko Jacko?). They're singing vocals that are way too mature for them.
"There's nothing here to take for granted
with each breath that we take
the hands of time strip youth from our bodies,
we fade,
memories remain,
as time goes on"
From here on the album is a ride. Every song is awesome and completely unique. The next 3 tracks are "Brompton Cocktail", "Lost", and "A Little Piece of Heaven". Brompton Cocktail has a very tool-esque feel to it; very heavy on the ambience in the intro and heavy on percussion. There's the drum track, maracas and shakers. The vocals are also very well done in this song. The main riff is very heavy, agressive, and pumping. The lyrics are about someone who is dying and needs a Brompton Cocktail to stay alive (Brompton cocktail is an elixir made from morphine or heroin, cocaine, and highly-pure ethyl alcohol). Overall, the song has badass written all over it and it's definately one of the highlights of the album. Since, I haven't mentioned him in the last little while; the Rev wrote this! and apparently, Zacky and Gates had a hard time playing the main riff.
The next track called "Lost" starts off with dualing guitars playing harmonies, then the drums and bass kick in. The one part of this song that really throws listeners off is the chorus. They used an auto-tuner for Shadow's voice (Blame it on Zacky). I like it. Apparently the rest of you disagree (who cares if he sounds like a robot?). The vocals are nothing special other than the auto-tuner.
It's finally reached the critical point of this album. The controversy begins with "A Little Piece of Heaven" which is the brainchild of The Rev. The song has many movements, tons of dynamics, strings, brass, woodwinds...The whole enchilada. Shadow's and the Rev pull off amazing vocal performances and yes, it has a Danny Elfman feel to it. Wondering why? The same orchestra was used for this song and they wrote their parts. There is also a very Tim Burton reminiscent story behind this song. Again, they added female vocals; screams, giggles and singing. The Rev's vocal performance left me in awe, he did opera, he screamed, he sung, he did it all! If anything, this song is in it's own category apart from the rest of the album, it's what I would call musical perfection. I can't really put into words how great this song is, just check it, you'll either love it or hate it. As for the background story. A man kills his love and she comes back to life and kills him, together they get married in death and go on a killing rampage. The guitar work compliments the song very well but this is a very vocal and lyrically driven song. Also, with the number of tracks they have going in the song, it's insignificant. In the final chorus, the Rev and Shadows sing together in harmony ending an epic piece of music. Definately one of Avenged Sevenfold's greatest songs. The lyrics are ridiculously twisted, which tells me, the Rev is one messed up S.O.B...
"Must have stabbed her fifty f*cking times,
I can't believe it,
Ripped her heart out right before her eyes,
Eyes over easy, eat it eat it eat it
She was never this good in bed
Even when she was sleepin'
Now she's just so perfect I've
Never been quite so ***ing deep in
It goes on and on and on,
I can keep you lookin' young and preserved forever,
With a fountain to spray on your youth whenever"
He is talking about getting-it-on with a corpse...(shudders).
As far as I'm concerned this was a fantastic album except for "Gunslinger" and I would like to end the review right here. Wait, what? There's another song. Sh*t, I thought that was my Rascal Flatts album. Ok, i lied, I'm under the impression that "Dear God", doesn't exist in this universe. Maybe in some parallel one where A7X are country stars. It's a good song, by all means, vocally, instrumentally and lyrically. It simply does not belong on this album. First time I heard this I asked myself "What the F*ck were they thinking?" Banjo and Slide Guitar? These were all played by outside musicians. The song comes together quite nicely and ends with a decent solo. Definately not what I would have chosen to end the album with.
NOW, I can end my review. The album is a 40 minute ride worth taking, but it's like drinking a 40 of Jack Daniels. Starts off pretty hard and painful, then it doesn't affect you, and in the end you're wishing you hadn't done it. Before long you come back to it and repeat the cycle again.
Recommended Tracks: Brompton Cocktail, Lost, A Little Piece of Heaven
