Chapter III: The Big Time
Avenged Sevenfold are perhaps the band that I have the most "love-hate" relationship with when it comes to metal music. They have great records (Waking the Fallen, this album); they have absolute trash (self-titled, Hail to the King). Many of the band members are very skillful at their instruments, and yet they frequently choose to waste their talents on lazy songwriting and recycling musical themes from past greats like Metallica and Iron Maiden. Even vocalist M. Shadows is in the same position; sometimes his vocal performances are solid and varied, and at other times they're absolutely grating or completely boring. However, many people will say that the band's better work lies in their early releases, namely their first three. Aside from Nightmare, which was pretty solid (if inconsistent) in its own right, I can get behind that. Where does City of Evil fit into all of this?
Well, it's pretty much in the bittersweet zone between the lengthy harmony-driven metal tunes of Waking the Fallen and the uninspired and boring moments of the self-titled record. You could view it as a transitional record in that right, but admittedly that would be selling it short at the same time. Essentially, the album's quality heavily depends on which side of it is being heard. Tracks 1-6 are on the more conventional side, whereas tracks 7-11 give off a more ambitious and "epic" character. The latter is definitely the strongest of the two, clearly more inspired by classic bands like Iron Maiden and even putting some progressive metal touches here and there, most obviously displayed by the longer length of these tracks. Highlight "The Wicked End" even manages to throw in a choir around its halfway mark, leading to one of the most emotionally resonant climaxes of the band's career. "Sidewinder" experiments with classical guitar soloing courtesy of guitarist Synyster Gates' father, while "Strength of the World" uses an acoustic intro and outro that utilizes an orchestra and prominent crescendos in drummer The Rev's percussion work to create something more dynamically varied. Even while the songs have a tendency to drag due to their length and occasional lack of ideas (ESPECIALLY with "Betrayed"), the attempts to keep things fresh and varied are welcomed, particularly for a group who are generally known for their derivative nature.
The first half is definitely a more mixed bag compared to the second half, focusing more on shorter and catchier tunes. There's one particular problem with these songs that needs to be addressed now: M. Shadows needs to shut his mouth and let the musicians shine a bit. I'm not kidding; he overdubs over himself almost constantly, drowning out the exceptionally solid and enjoyable instrumental work. While it's more understandable with the album's sole ballad "Seize the Day," it would have been nice for the metal songs to focus more on the instrumentation itself. The reason this wasn't brought up with the second half of the album is because it isn't as frequent of a problem there. It would also be less of a problem if M. Shadows' vocals were better, but this happens to be his worst performance in Avenged Sevenfold's discography. He basically has two vocal settings here: nasally whining (see: the chorus of "Strength of the World") and constipated high shouting (see: many songs, but particularly the climax of "The Wicked End). It probably seems ridiculous to single out this aspect of the album so much, but it really gets distracting. However, if you can get past that, there's still plenty to enjoy from a songwriting standpoint. "Beast and the Harlot" is a strong opener with a neat guitar solo in the middle that emphasizes harmonized chromatic runs effectively, while "Bat Country" and "Burn It Down" are faster cuts that display the band's technical skills and particularly The Rev's flashy drum work. For that matter, the entire band upped their game from a technical standpoint from the previous album Waking the Fallen. Whereas that album was more cohesive and consistent, City of Evil is more technically accomplished and varied.
City of Evil is not the best Avenged Sevenfold album, but it's certainly among their best. While a bit overlong and placing too much emphasis on vocals, it's still very solid if you go in with the right mindset. If you can't get past the annoying vocal work, this probably won't do much for you; however, if you can, there's plenty of great musicianship and ambitious (particularly in the second half) songwriting to enjoy. At least this isn't nearly as bad as their self-titled... speaking of which...
To be continued...
