Review Summary: Pretty good hard rock/metal album although there are some ripoffs here and there (not to be confused with doing something similar).
The band said in an interview that they'd go for a Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin sound off this album. Well, the album doesn't really sound exactly that way. This album has a variety of things. It has some Metallica's black album moments, Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden moments, typical Avenged Sevenfold moments, Guns 'N Roses moments and some Symphony of Destruction moments with also a few 1970s rock ballad moments. M. Shadows still continues his James Hetfield vocals, except for a few songs like Doing Time and Acid Rain where he sounds like how he did off maybe City of Evil with that Axl arose influence. The solos on this album aren't squeaky and all duel-friendly like they used to and in fact have some pentatonic scales used in it with some Dorian melodies. Many people say the band isn't metal, since the band aren't really that metal. This album is halfway metal. Another good thing is in the album you can easily hear the bass.
Hail to the King - It begins off with a guitar shred which reminds me of the one off of Iron Maiden's Wasted Years, then the drums pop in and the verses come. Matt Shadows' vocals including their melodies are quite identical to the ones off the verses to Enter Sandman by Metallica. The drumming is also really simplistic in this song. The chorus then comes to where the song reminds me of songs like Rainbow in the Dark by Dio or something. This is just a heavy metal song which you could call "butt-metal" which is for bands with Nickelback or Led Zeppelin lyrics and catchy choruses. But I don't really see this song that way at all.
Heretic - Another metal song. The song sounds like it was influenced a ton by Megadeth. However, the verses to the song have bass lines which sound identical to the bass lines to the verses of Megadeth's song Symphony of Destruction.
Coming Home - The intro sounds almost like a speed up version of the intro to Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson. Overall, it actually instead sounds like an Iron Maiden song. Matt Shadows sounds a lot like he's trying to be Bruce Dickinson and Synyster and Zacky sound like Adrian Smith, Janick Gers and Dave Murray off this song. Another cool thing is you can hear the bass extremely easily. The band basically improved with whole bass thing and this song is proof. The song sounds like an unreleased track by Iron Maiden.
Acid Rain - Definitely nowhere even close to being metal. It is just a piano rock ballad with a guitar solo that reminds me of Jimmy Page (except he has more skill than Synyster) or any other 70s rock guitarist. If you like 70s rock ballads, you'll enjoy this.
Crimson Day - It sounds a little like Nothing Else Matters by Metallica. It's another soft ballad which is really soft and melodic.
Doing Time - It's a hard rock song which sounds a whole ton like Guns 'N Roses, except M Shadows does sound like he is trying to be Axl Rose but as well as Glen Danzig. I hear a lot of influence from the song by Danzig called "Mother".
This Means War - Oh boy, we get to the controversy of this album. This song may have a similar riff to Sad But True, but it is an actually ripoff of the song. The vocals to this song especially in the verses and undeniably identical to the ones off Sad But True by Metallica. Pretty much it's a groove metal-tinged track which basically copies Metallica. It is still good though.
Requiem - It's a good song, but the worst on the album. It sounds a little bit like the band's self-titled album with all the symphonic rock sounds in this song. It first has Latin vocals used and symphonies then comes in Matt Shadows' vocals and some drop d tuned guitars. It sounds like another typical A7X hard rock song with only some symphony.
St. James - Must be about The Rev to be honest. The song first sounds like an audio clip, then on the 21st second of the song, the vocals pop in and the melodies of the vocals literally sound identical to the melodies of the main riff to "The Kids Aren't Alright" by The Offspring. It's just a hard rock song where the band leans a little to a punky side.
