The Avenged Sevenfold Thread (merged)

[SomeoneLikeHim]

Where are you guys finding the stream on itunes? Not showing up for me.

I couldn't see it either, I think you may need the newest version of iTunes. It is on the Avenged Sevenfold band page on iTunes (where you can select album etc.).

Thanks, I found it now.

[ZKX-2099]

That solo in Heretic... 

[emtee]

Enjoying this WAY more than I thought. The straight forward approach works for me and I also like the maturing vocals.

[ZKX-2099]

Mother fucker... Planets has removed my ability to close my mouth.

[chrisbDTM]

i can see this album appealing to metal fans who previously hated A7X. if they can get over that hate first and listen with an open mind

[RuRoRul]

i can see this album appealing to metal fans who previously hated A7X. if they can get over that hate first and listen with an open mind

I can totally see that happening.

[ariich]

Had a listen to the album, and it's not bad. Agreed with the general sentiment that the second half is much better than the first. I think I'll need to give it a couple more listens once it comes out to form more of an opinion, but on the whole I think I find it a bit less exciting and unique than the last few albums. Definitely feels like they've lost a lot of their energy.

[chrisbDTM]

i think i just need to ignore the drums from now on. no idea why they are sooo incredibly boring,.....

[Heretic]

you're a drummer, right? I bet that's rough haha the drums realllllly are very simple.

still, not a bad album, just not up to par with CoE and WtF.

[Lowdz]

you're a drummer, right? I bet that's rough haha the drums realllllly are very simple.

still, not a bad album, just not up to par with CoE and WtF.

So is this drummer better than this and he's been told to keep it real simple? Or is he a mate of theirs who was given 18 months to learn to play the drums so he could join the gang?
I quite like what I've heard but there's no drive to it because of the boringly simple drums. They aren't even deceptively simple.

[chrisbDTM]

it has to be intentional, because he still has to play the older material live

[emtee]

Initially he wanted to play the traditional proggy over-the-top style but the band sat him down and said that was not what they
wanted on this album. They wanted simplicity and groove. This was 100% the bands choice to have him play this way.

[fllnsprrw]

where are you guys listening to the new album? I don't want to download it illegally. is it streaming somewhere?

[RuRoRul]

It is streaming on iTunes until it's released.

Anyone else find Heretic reminding them of Dancing Dead? (Which is a song I really like).

[adamack]

Listening to the album now, and I'm on "Coming Home." I've been looking forward to this album every single day since Nightmare came out. It's been such a long wait.

I must honestly say that, so far, I am a bit disappointed. I love every AS album. Nightmare has grown to become my fav, because it is attached with the most emotional time of my life. So it brings with it a nostalgia that will be difficult to ever overthrow. I never thought that I would like it more than Self-Titled or City Of Evil, but I do.

I am, however, one of those people who needs to listen to an album at least 4-5 times to really start to love it. I just don't hear too much so far that I will latch onto.

Nightmare was so different. Songs like "Save Me", "Fiction", "Danger Line"...I just loved the arrangements, and the melodic emotion in the whole album. The album had everything....a taste of great ballads (So Far Away for ex.), a straight up in-your-face hard metal song (God Hates Us), a long, epic song (Save Me), and so much more. Hail To The King just seems to stay at one pace, with the exception of Crimson Day (which I personally love).

As some have said, I think if I were to sum it up, it seems like the band has lost its uniqueness with this album. I am personally more akin to the one-of-a-kind vocal/instrumental melodies and phrases that AS has been known for...it is what makes them AS.

So far, Hail To The King is definitely not what I was hoping...it's been rather boring thus far. Thank GOD for the DT album coming out!

[adamack]

All finished. Some notes:

Acid Rain and Crimson Day will most likely end up being my favs on this album. 2 of the slower/softer songs on the album..go figure.

Planets was cool, I liked it a fair amount. It may end up being one of my favs.

Really like the intro and opening guitar riff in Shepherd of Fire...simple but great groove. Very Metallica-esque...in a good way. Rest of the song is just ehhh.

The one part in Heretic was cool I guess. The instrumental part right before the bridge.

Nothing else memorable after the first listen. This album lacks something, and that makes me incredibly upset as I had been waiting for 3 years.

Damn it to hell.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Listening to  the itunes stream. So far, this is pretty awesome. Will definitely be buying this album on Tuesday. Been a fan since I took a chance on City of Evil in 2005. Can't wait to see them live for the first time in October! 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

HOLY SHIT REQUIEM!!!!! 

[Mosh]

Requiem was way too cheesy and predictable for me. It got better toward the end though.

[ZKX-2099]

Album of the year.

Dream Theater can still change that though.

[Dimitrius]

Not a big fan of the album. A few good songs, but none that stand out.

[chrisbDTM]

Not a big fan of the album. A few good songs, but none that stand out.

yea i agree with this. few cool riffs here and there, but nothing really awesome

[Mosh]

So with all the hype surrounding this album, I decided to revisit Nightmare. It's still awesome, such a dark vibe and some really chilling stuff. It actually made me like the new album even less, because I realized that all the stuff that made me love Nightmare and even the S/T are all absent from this album. If they want to go another direction, that's fine, but it isn't really something that interests me.

[Dark Castle]

I'm really enjoying the album, but really hope the drums don't stay this simple. I'm worried they're willing to sacrifice great drumming all in the name of keeping "Rev" up in the overly lofty heights he's been put in.

[adace]

https://www.metalsucks.net/2013/08/21/footnotes-a-handy-catalog-of-every-song-from-which-avenged-sevenfolds-hail-to-the-king-borrows/

Not trying to offend those who like the album, just throwing this out there.

[OsMosis2259]

Much better than what I was expecting after hearing the single!
Drums... even though they are simple, they got that punch that I wished DT had with Mangini. The kick and the snare especially sound awesome.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Requiem and Planets & Acid Rain are my early favorites.

[Heretic]

yeah this album really isn't staying with me, I like a lot of things about it at times but after more listens despite parts being catchy and me remembering the lyrics/melody, it's not as exciting for me to come back and listen like songs like Sidewinder or I Won't See You Tonight pt.1 are.

disappointing but still not bad, I'd say there's still a lot of good on the album, but it is somewhat uninspired and lacks the energy that they have had previously.

or maybe it's the fact that I've gotten into so much more music since I first found these guys that's dampening my viewpoint, idk. it's just somewhat sad to hear a band that once wrote a song like Strength of the World write a song like Doing Time. I'm not going to call it regression, because they still have the talent... they've just chosen to utilize it in a different way which has been very polarizing.

[SystematicThought]

I'm worried they're willing to sacrifice great drumming all in the name of keeping "Rev" up in the overly lofty heights he's been put in.

Kinda sounds like Arin was trying to imitate The Rev's style and they told him to tone it down (in some interviews, it sounds like they were contemplating just doing the drums themselves)

[Dimitrius]

If everything they've said in interviews is true, that they purposely wanted a more straightforward album with not a lot of flair, then HttK is not a good album to judge Arin by.

[chrisbDTM]

the drums can be interesting in a straight forward way. i'll never understand why they were intentionally dumbed down. any middle schooler with his first double bass pedal can play this album

honestly, it makes Arin look bad and opens him up to dumb comparisons and criticism. ZOMG HE ISN'T A GOD LIKE THE REV

[Kotowboy]

Cannot un-hear Sad But True.

[ariich]

I think after the first 4 tracks the band's influences become less obvious, but god damn the amount of blatant Metallica, Iron Maiden and G'n'R in those opening songs is almost annoying.

[Heretic]

Unfortunately I disagree there-- Coming Home is a Iron Maiden Brave New World-influenced song, and Acid Rain just feels really similar to November Rain despite not borrowing any of the music. Heretic is apparently really similar to Megadeth in parts (I don't listen to Megadeth so idk about that) and Crimson Day is sort-of similar to Nothing Else Matters.

That's where I find disappointment in this album-- the songs wear their influences on their sleeves... on City of Evil, you could tell that the band was influenced by certain metal bands but none of the songs felt like any of the songs written by their influences. Even the S/T and Nightmare had a high number of songs that just sounded like a7x (yes, Buried Alive was very Metallica-y, but it still felt inspired.) Here, however, almost everyone is able to say (and are saying around the internet) "oh hey, that sounds almost exactly like Sad But True" or "hmm, Doing Time is such a Use Your Illusion song!"

It's disappointing because these guys are original in their own right and have the ability to write such outstanding songs that do not need to be homages. I Won't See You Tonight pt. 1, Strength of the World, Sidewinder, Save Me, the list goes on. Those songs don't sound like other bands, and they are fantastic compositions. After listening to this album repeatedly I'm like, "yes a7x, we get it, you love the Black Album."

Don't get me wrong, I like the album, and there are songs that despite being influenced heavily are awesome (Coming Home, namely). Requiem and Planets are good in their own right, too, so there's that. It's just somewhat of a letdown for me, but I wasn't expecting another CoE after hearing the single. It's not a bad album, of course, but sometimes I wish these guys would've kept Portnoy and went in the Save Me direction. You can make heavy, rocking, even grooving metal without dumbing down the drums and being derivative.

[RuRoRul]

Coming Home and Heretic sound pretty much like pure Avenged Sevenfold to me - remember lots of people complained that City Of Evil itself was too derivative, so if you go by everything that has ever been criticised as sounding like something else then you may as well write off all Avenged Sevenfold albums (and many other albums, too).

I am not too bothered about how obvious the influences are on some of the songs, and I think people sometimes put a bit too much emphasis on it (especially since the band have said they tried to make an album in that style). If they had decided to write a few songs in the style of Dream Theater, for instance, you wouldn't hear me complaining. It's just that I don't really like that style nearly as much as I like the regular Avenged Sevenfold style. They have obviously made a conscious effort to strip things down with regards to the drums, the harmonies etc. to place a lot of emphasis just on the riffs, probably because they realised they love a lot of classic songs that are like that. But I really find it a lot more dull that way, which is why the songs that are most like that (Hail To The King, This Means War), along with Doing Time (obviously a song done in the style of Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver type fast paced rock, which again isn't really my thing) are the weakest and most boring on the album for me. I like Shepherd Of Fire better, the solo and vocal melodies are more exciting and more like what I'd expect from Avenged Sevenfold so that one works despite the simplistic style for me.

But the songs like Heretic, Coming Home, Requiem, Planets which aren't doing the deliberately simple, stripped back classic metal approach so much are much better. I didn't really have high expectations for the album after hearing the single and the description the band gave of the type of album they were going for, so half an album of solid songs, nothing really terrible, and handful of songs worth mentioning among Avenged Sevenfold's best (Coming Home especially) goes down pretty well with me.

Pseudo-Edit: Just heard St. James out there too, although I probably won't listen to it properly until the album is released and I get the Deluxe Edition. It is a tribute to the Rev, pretty upbeat and more like something you'd find on Nightmare or A7X.