I know there are already reviews of this album expressing that people think this is a classic but I've been wanting to review it for a while, and now is as good a time as any. Please don't sh
it in the thread about that, or about them appearing on MTV. Thanks in advance.
Now for the review.
Waking the Fallen starts off with the intro track,
Waking the Fallen. A short intro 1:42, some palm muted guitar and Shadows singing. Immediately after
Unholy Confessions kicks in. A hammer on pull off riff starts out the song, and it's insanely catchy. Shadows changes from screams and clean vocals throughout the song. A breakdown ends this song, and leads directly into
Chapter Four. An intro riff occurs which leads into another small riff, following that we hear a cool harmonized riff. This actually features a solo too! However short it may be. The drumming is definitely the high point of this song, The Rev's fills really stand out.
Remenissions starts out with a tremolo picked guitar pattern followed by Shadows double tracked scream. Shad's double tracking is most prominent on this song. The clean singing is often overdubbed with screams reminiscent of the intro to
Chapter Four. A cool melodic part with only acoustic guitars and Shadows singing occurs about 1/5 the way through this song. Some harmonizing is done, not to much, and the outro is rhythm chords with an acoustic guitar solo played over it.
Desecrate Through Reverence starts off pretty slow, it's quickly speeded up by a trade off riff played between the guitars and drums. The verse is nothing special, a cool sounding harmonized pinch harmonic occurs, but other than that it's nothing to good. Shadows screams are obviously double tracked throughout both verses. An average song in my opinion. The only reason I don't consider it filler is the chorus and last 50 or so seconds of it. Both very strong, and the outro is some of the finest work A7X has ever produced. Lyrics aren't a really big part of A7X for me, but when he sings
Far away, you keep on trying...
Holding me down, breaking away,
trying to distance my life.
Not one in the crowd, but one with the answer
the one that could change your mind
But it's not true, I don't need you
Don't waste your time, and don't waste mine
I'm not your friend, I won't soothe your soul
And in the end you're all dead to me....
it sounds so incredibly powerful.
Eternal Rest marks the beginning of the second half of Waking the Fallen, a very different second half at that.With that being said
Eternal Rest starts off with a blistering guitar solo with squeals and bends galore. Shadows screams are doubled, not that he is screaming the same thing twice, but he ends one line when the next begins. Shadows however does do two tracks off screaming for a few sections of the song. A cool melodic part sneaks in about halfway through the song, with the lyrics
Hear the haunting words
lost children with no heart are crying
and your the lost mother their calling
I hear them crying at night
outside when the planets are falling
They want to feel and know you hear them .
Second Heartbeat kicks off next with a single note palm muted a tremolo picked. The lick right after the intro is extremely catchy, and serves as the basis of this song. The chorus is also one of my favorite from them, it's incredibly catchy.
Second Heartbeat also features and incredible solo, that starts out with eighth notes but quickly turns into mind blowing sixteenth notes. Next on
Waking the Fallen is
Radiant Eclipse. Most people's least favorite song on this album. I however think it's great, it's not as catchy as previous tracks but the chorus is amongst the strongest these guys have produced. It starts off rather slow with an arpegiated chord played through an electric. After the fading intro
I Won't See You Tonight Part 1 hits. It begins with some light piano playing, and then kicks in the guitar, with an all down picked rhythm, and some bends for effect. The guitar and drums really take back seat to the vocals, for most of the verse they are played clean, with a few moments played distorted. Shadows doesn't harmonize his vocals for the most part, his voice sounds a bit raspy during most of it. Synyster Gates plays lead for the most part of the song when electric, he doesn't do shred, but he emphasizes his bends and vibratos a lot more. A little past halfway the piano enters again, and soon violin along with other orchestral instruments kick in. Shadows voice is on the edge of cracking the rest of the song, think Anders of In Flames, excluding the woahs at the end. Some static starts up with about 2o seconds left, and then feedback and a pounding rhythm
I Won't See You Tonight Part 2 kicks in. Immediately you are greeted with screaming and a chugga chugga guitar riff. His first clean vocals sound again, like his voice is about to crack. Unlike IWSYTP1 this song is filled with screaming. There is a short solo about halfway through, and it seems as though two guitars are being played, which leads me to believe both Zacky and Synyster are playing (and I don't mean that it's harmonized). The chorus from IWSYTP1 is played, and the first half of the song is pretty much repeated.
Clairvoyant Disease starts off with a somber feeling much like
Desecrate Through Reverence. The verse consists of a clean passage followed by some electric guitar, much like
I Won't See You Tonight Part 1. Overall this song is average, nothing very special, the only thing saving this from not being filler is the middle few minutes, it sounds so passionate, much like the outro of
Desecrate Through Reverence (which is ironically barely above filler as well). An acoustic guitar plays the intro pretty much with Shadows singing woahs again.
And All Things Will End. The closing track on
Waking the Fallen,
And All Things Will End starts out the exact opposite as
Clairvoyant Disease, very uplifting and happy. Again, nothing to special, excluding the awesome lead in the chorus. After the chorus is repeated a second time the song stops. It's not over, in the background an acoustic guitar plays, with Shadows softly singing over it with some orchestral instruments over it. The pace of the song slows down dramatically, for a while. A cool sweep picked part occurs right before the third chorus. An amazing solo consumes the last few minutes of
And All Things Will End, it sounds pretty hard and rather cool, until the end when it seems he is just trying to play every note as fast as possible with some squeals put in. Some awkward drums play in the background, and
Waking the Fallen comes to a close.
Pros
- Great instrumentation, all the members are excellent musicians
- Long, yet doesn't drag on for the most part
- The overall mood of this album doesn't change, even during the brightest moments of And All Things Will End this album maintains its dark appeal
- Unique, not bland like a lo of recent metal releases, Waking the Fallen has it's own flavor to it
Cons
- M. Shadow's screams are sometimes painful to hear, it's obvious he is not a trained screamer
- Some places the song seems do drag, I know I said it doesn't for the most part but songs like Desecrate Through Reverence and Clairvoyant Disease make you want to change the track
Avenged Sevenfold is
The Rev - Drums
M. Shadows - Vocals
Synyster Gates - Guitar
Zacky Vengeance - Guitar
Johnny Christ - Bass
