Avenged Sevenfold

 

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The band was formed in 1999. Avenged Sevenfold's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were eighteen years old. It was originally released on their first label, Goodlife Recordings. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates (real name Brian Haner Jr.) joined the band, the introductory track "To End The Rapture" was re-recorded with Gates playing, and the album was re-released on Hopeless Records. Their follow-up album, entitled Waking the Fallen, was also released on Hopeless Records and was awarded a positive rating in Rolling Stone magazine. Shortly after its release, Avenged Sevenfold were signed to Warner Bros. Records.

City of Evil, the third album which was released on June 7, 2005, strayed from metalcore, and instead headed a little more towards heavy metal and added a harder rock sound with influences ranging from various bands. During the recording of City of Evil, M. Shadows' vocal styling changed to focus more on melodic singing rather than hardcore screaming. Some cite the change in vocal style as consequence of vocal chord damage (that resulted in subsequent surgery) during a tour supporting Waking the Fallen. Despite obvious obstacles, Shadows admits the injury hurt him very much and he will try not to scream as much in his music. The band's name is a reference to the book of Genesis in the Bible where Cain is sentenced to live in exile for the crime of murdering his brother. God marked him so that none would kill him on account of his sin; the man who dared to kill Cain would have "vengeance taken upon him sevenfold." The title of Avenged Sevenfold's song "Chapter Four" references Genesis 4:15, the chapter of the Bible in which the story of Cain and Abel takes place. The song's subject also appears to be this story. "Beast and the Harlot", yet another song derived from the Bible, comes from the book of Revelation only it is written in the first person and refers to the punishment of Babylon the Great, world empire and seat of false religion. Another biblical reference occurs in the song "The Wicked End". In the song, several times it is said "dust the apple off, savor each bite, and deep inside you know Adam was right." making reference to Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Although the band's title and members' stage names make references to religion, Shadows stated in an interview that they are not a religious band. "Anyone that read the lyrics and really knew anything about us, they would know we're not promoting either", he said. "That's one thing about this band that I love is that we never really shove any kind of, like, political or religious beliefs on people. We just, the music's there to entertain and maybe thought-provoking on both sides, but we don't try to, like, really shove anything down anyone's throat. There's too many bands that do that nowadays, I think."^[1]

The song "Bat Country" is a reference to the book/movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The song is dedicated to the Author of the book, the late Hunter S. Thompson. Their song "Blinded In Chains" was used in the soundtrack for the video games Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Arena Football. "Bat Country" was used in the soundtracks for SSX on Tour, NHL 06 and Madden 06, following in the footsteps of "Chapter Four" which had also been on the soundtrack for NHL 2004, Madden 2004 and NASCAR Thunder 2004. The song "Beast and the Harlot" was in the soundtrack for Burnout Revenge. All the above games, not coincidentally, are produced by various divisions of Electronic Arts. "Beast and the Harlot" (Covered by an unnamed band) also appears in RedOctane's Guitar Hero II, released in November 7, 2006. The song "Burn it Down" is featured on the October 24, 2006 release of the Saw III soundtrack At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Avenged Sevenfold received the award for best new artist in a video. They took the award over several other artists like Angels and Airwaves and James Blunt. After canceling fall and winter 2006 tour dates, the band is planning their fourth album called Avenged Sevenfold. M. Shadows has stated that it will not be a City of Evil Part 2 or Waking the Fallen Part 2, but he says it will attract fans of both original albums. They say it will be somewhat of a surprise to their fans.^[2]

Avenged Sevenfold will release their first DVD, "All Excess," on July 17, 2007. The DVD includes a documentary and live footage dating back to 1999 along with music videos and the making of each music video. It will be an all regional DVD and will be approximately 110 minutes long. Before the actual release of the DVD, there will be several theatrical releases on July 16th, 2007.

By: Rasmus Teliö

A7X in Bangkok, Thailand 2007 (L-R: M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, Synyster Gates, The Rev, and Johnny Christ)
Background information
Also known as	A7X
Origin	Huntington Beach, California, USA
Genre(s)	Hard rock Thrash metal Metalcore (older material)
Years active	1999 - present
Label(s)	Good Life Recordings (2001-2002) Hopeless Records (2002-2004) Warner Bros. Records(2004-present)
Associated acts	Pinkly Smooth
Website	AvengedSevenfold.com
Members
M. Shadows Zacky Vengeance The Reverend Tholomew Plague Synyster Gates Johnny Christ
Former members
Dameon Ash Justin Sane

Singles