Review Summary: Avenged Sevenfold is the kind of downfall album that happens to many a band. It's not necessarily bad, but overall is more of a guilty pleasure than anything.
Avenged Sevenfold is the kind of album that happens to many a band. It could more or less be compared to what happened with
Metallica. Avenged Sevenfold attempts to leave the Metalcore sound of
Sounding The Seventh Trumpet &
Waking The Fallen even more & the Heavy Metal sound they established with
City Of Evil for a more modern rock/alternative metal sound. It's a move that fans of Avenged Sevenfold will be torn by, & a move that will make the Avenged Sevenfold haters loath them even more.
The album starts off near promising with a 22-second organ intro & classic Avenged Sevenfold guitars when
Critical Acclaim, one of the more memorable (& explicit) tracks, begins. About 56 seconds through the track, it's obvious that this isn't the Avenged Sevenfold that has been on their previous releases. The verse centers around a nasally spoken vocal style that is displayed throughout the album, but is most prominently used here. The track continues with a guitar solo & final chorus clocking in the song at around 5:15, leaving you thinking a variety of things (depending mainly on your opinion of the band), but mainly something along the lines of "well, that was...interesting". And that thought pretty much sums up the album: "interesting", from the modern rock, political,
Critical Acclaim to the more Heavy Metal styled
Brompton Cocktail, which is the closest to the
City Of Evil sound on here, to the rock, with an electronica styled chorus, song
Lost, to the epic, orchestral-rock ballad
A Little Piece Of Heaven, to, finally, the ender, the soft country-rock ballad
Dear God; it's all interesting. But, unfortunately, that is also the downside to the tracks. They are interesting, but don't have enough lasting composure.
The guitars on this album have a similar problem. Alot of riffs sound sound too much like what Avenged Sevenfold has done before (try comparing the intro of
Afterlife to almost any of their previous work). The guitar solos seem as though the band just threw them in to show they can do them, they don't have the 'emotion' guitar solos should have. Most of the solos are really just 'Synyster' & Zacky showing off. The solos are almost reminiscent of
Dragonforce, almost no 'emotion', just speed (if you don't understand, compare the guitar solo in
Afterlife or
Scream to
Seize The Day from
City Of Evil). The whole guitar instrumentation feels like it has fallen a whole step down, settling for recycled riffs & guitar solos that center just on speed. Sure, they're hard to play, but sometimes simplicity can be be the best complexity.
On
City Of Evil the drums & bass were probably highlights of the album. 'The Rev' pummeled through the tracks & Johnny provided numerous bass solos, that showed how much they had both improved over the course of time between
Waking The Fallen The Fallen &
City Of Evil. Here, the bass & drums, just like the guitars, take a step down from their part in this album compared to the predecessor. But, if
City Of Evil were never made, the drums & bass are a definite step up & are above average compared to much modern music. 'The Rev' isn't as fast as he was, but he keeps the beat near flawlessly, while Johnny might not have numerous bass solos he is definitely audible and does his part as a bassist exceptionally well.
Lyrics are probably the most important of any band with vocals. Despite the sudden drop in lyrical meaning, critics always judge an album off its lyrics. Lyrics are the words the artist must believe in. They must be 'deep' and, preferably, non-generic. On top of the actual music the band plays, the lyrics help decide the bands audience. If you write about how the world is depressing, you're most likely to get an audience that feels the same & is happy that someone 'famous' knows what they're going through. So how does this apply to Avenged Sevenfold on this album? Well, to say the least, it'd be hard for one person to feel the same way about all the songs on here. There are so many different lyrical settings here, yet fortunately they're all pretty solid. They're all pretty straight-forward & I would say they're not as 'deep' as previous lyrical work, but they're still pretty solid.
Critical Acclaim is a political song about hypocrites who just sit back & watch war,
Scream is basically about sexual predators, &
Dear God is a more generic song about asking God to "hold her when I'm not around. When I'm much too far away". The seemingly Christian-minded themes Avenged Sevenfold has become known for because of songs like
Beast & The Harlot,
Warmness On The Soul,
Chapter Four, & the album title [b]Sounding The Seventh Trumpet{/b], are still apparent in
Brompton Cocktail & more or less in
Dear God &
Afterlife.
Avenged Sevenfold was produced by the band themselves & for a first it's not that bad. The album is constantly overproduced, yet it feels a bit bland. They add in effects, yet instead of making it better, it feels boring & unnecessary. The band is able to make the songs pull together, but it feels like it's constantly missing something. They would've been better off to let someone help them, but then they wouldn't have the freedom to make the songs the way the are; which is, surprisingly, the way the band likes them.
If there's one redeeming part of this album, I'd have to say it would be the vocals. When not doing that nasally spoken vocal style, laughing, or screaming, Matt really provides some of the better vocals I've heard lately. He sings in a vocal style similar to the one on
City Of Evil, but it's alot clearer & alot less 'nasally'. Some are going to disagree with me, but I think his singing voice is at his best here. It's far better than it was back when
Sounding The Seventh Trumpet came out & stronger than it was with
City Of Evil, since he had just had vocal surgery. 'The Rev' provides excellent back-up vocals in tracks like
Critical Acclaim &
Afterlife. Some of the tracks like
Unbound (The Wild Ride also include female guest vocals, which are more or less a redeeming factor.
Avenged Sevenfold is an album that, while mainly sticking to rock, attempts mix many a genres including electronica,alternative metal,country, & orchestra. The band talked about this album like it was on equal ground with Metallica's Black Album, & that it would be new & innovative like
Korn when they first came out. I'm sorry to disappoint, but it's not. There are some almost very original things on here, but not to the point to where it's 'innovative'.
Stand-Out Tracks
Critical Acclaim
Afterlife
Brompton Cocktail
Recommended If You Like
Bullet For My Valentine
Guns N Roses
Metallica
and fans of
Rascal Flatts should love
Dear God
