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Avenged Sevenfold “Avenged Sevenfold” Album Review

February 5, 2012 in Album RealViews, Music

01. Critical Acclaim It’s evident now that Avenged Sevenfold know how to kick you in the face with their album openers, as “Critical Acclaim” is another doozy of a headbanging opener. Shadows’ explosive scream over the rapid drums and explosive guitars make for a nice contrast for the Metallica-esque, organ-centric intro. The verses are chugfests that have a nice change-up for the second halves of the verses and it’s hard not to launch that fist in the air when Shadows’ dominantly sings “like me, motherfucker!”. However, it’s the chorus that’s the real standout. The Rev’s voice is in a higher register, adding diversity to the vocals on “Critical Acclaim”. The dueling format that the guitar solo is set in is fantastic but the bridge before it is a bore.

Grade: 90

02. Almost Easy Piano’s, huh? Well, the keys aren’t greatly used, they just add another layer for the song during certain parts, ultimately adding nothing to the listening experience. The highlight of the song are easily the segments where The Rev rapidly hits the double bass and multiple cymbals simultaneously. The solo is also a treat, with Zacky’s rhythm work sounding nice and furious under Synyster’s quick lead work. The chorus, while definitely catchy, isn’t all that great. “Almost Easy” is a good track that misses on a couple of marks to make it a great song.

Grade: 75

03. Scream If there is a song that the term “metal swag” can be applied to, it’s “Scream”. The grooves of the drums and the added bass bombs create an alluring atmosphere for Shadows’ catchy vocals. Three songs in and you can already tell that Avenged Sevenfold have gotten much better at creating catchier and more melodic hooks, making for better concert tracks. Another thing evident is the simplification of the musicianship. The blazing guitar solo is an exception to this, but it’s clear that the boys wanted to make a more stadium-friendly album rather than stroking their music boners for seven minutes each song. “Scream” is a good midtempo song and you got to love The Rev’s intricate drumming patterns, but the song seems to lack the special “oomph!” to make it a remarkable listen.

Grade: 78

04. Afterlife Perhaps the greatest song off of “Avenged Sevenfold”, “Afterlife” is perfect in its pacing. Every element, from the stirring intro violins to the neck-breaking riff of the verses, this song is a showcase for A7X, proving they can inject some astounding technical moments in a standard-structure song (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, etc.). The chorus is melodic excellence and guitar rif from the verses very memorable. The only lull in the song is the bridge, but that’d be nitpicking. The Rev’s hair-raising scream that leads into one of Gates’ best solos in his career is a hallmark A7X moment.

Grade: 93

05. Gunslinger The soft, Southern-tinged acoustic guitar and Shadows’ softer vocals during the beginning are probably the best part of this overwhelmingly mediocre song. When the rest of the band comes roaring in, it’s a somewhat dull affair, no matter how solid Shadows sounds. Everyone seems so tame during this song, even The Rev’s and Gates’ usually impressive technicality is watered down here. Thankfully, the vocal melody is just barely catchy enough for a listen or two and the solo, while incredibly simple in terms of Synyster’s abilities, is decent.

Grade: 52

06. Unbound (The Wild Ride) Escalating pianos layer the uninteresting verses and the chorus amounts to a forgettable tune. The lead guitar is solid but it’s nowhere near as good as it is in “Afterlife”. I would have loved this song much more if The Rev had more rolls or more change-ups but at least he had a decent tricky beat during the beginning of the bridge, which is easily the best portion of the song, especially with the brief appearances of a choir. I also dig the slowed down portion that sees an unnamed female vocalist sing some lines but, as is the case with the rest of the song, it’s ultimately forgettable.

Grade: 50

07. Brompton Cocktail Don’t you hate it when a song starts off promising and then just never adds upon the great intro? Shadows’ vocals are sometime saturated in some kind electronic vocoder, coming off as an unnecessary experiment. The sporadic violins are a great addition, but this song seems so lazily written overall. There’s no solo or riff worth mentioning here and the bridge, while it mixes the proceedings up, kind of sucks. Just another lengthy, dull, and sloppy track.

Grade: 50

08. Lost The overlapping guitars make for a fantastic intro, ending the dreadful slump of mediocrity. “Lost” isn’t a fantastic song, but it’s so good to hear a, well, good song after a surprisingly long drought. The chorus sees both Shadows and The Rev autotuned up but instead of sounding out of place, it actually makes for a more interesting listen, especially during the electronically-drenched bridge. The whole vibe of the song is more upbeat thanks to Gates’ lead work. It isn’t one of the album’s stronger songs, but it’s a solid entry.

Grade: 77

09. A Little Piece of Heaven While the guitars take a backseat on this track, they’re still an effective layer among the many layers present here. You have violins, trumpets, choirs, a female vocalist, and the best thing? They all add up to a wonderful experiment gone just right. Did I mention that the lyrics deal with a guy who kills his girlfriend so he can sex with her corpse whenever and then said corpse becomes zombified and kills him back…then they agree to kill everyone else? It’s a tongue-in-cheek song and the vocal melodies throughout are very, very catchy, the standout being The Rev singing one of the several hooks present. His higher registered voice offsets Shadows’ lower voice to great effect. “A Little Piece of Heaven” is dark, silly, and an ultimately fun and bouncy song.

Grade: 91

10. Dear God While I know there are many who won’t be fond of this song, I personally enjoyed the hell out of it. The sweet, country-esque acoustic guitars are the perfect backdrop to Shadows’ soothing vocals. His stronger delivery during the chorus is wholly convincing of the lyrics, truly portraying a man asking God to watch over the one he loves while he’s away. The song sort of sputters out and probably would have benefitted from a shorter run time, but Shadows’ captivating performance more than makes up for it. I also love the female vocalizations made in the later portions of the song. While “A Little Piece of Heaven” might have been a better closer for others, I think “Dear God” is more than perfect for the job.

Grade: 88

Avenged Sevenfold’s self-titled album is a complete disappointment, especially when putting it side-by-side to the astounding “City of Evil”. Now, saying it’s disappointing doesn’t mean it’s terrible, it just feels like their direction towards a more commercial sound has dumbed down things in terms of musical technicality. Yes, Gates’ has a couple of remarkable moments at lead, but those moments were present on almost every “City of Evil” song, sometimes multiple times in one song! There’s more of the typical metal, drop-D chugging here, creating a more accessible sound, but again, it’s hard not to miss those magical moments like the endings of “Sidewinder” or “Blinded In Chains”. Was the tradeoff of more catchy choruses worth losing those jaw-dropping moments?

Report Card
Instruments: 78
Production: 80
Lyrics: 65
Vocals: 86

Overall
77

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Avenged Sevenfold “City of Evil” Album Review

February 3, 2012 in Album RealViews, Music

01. Beast and the Harlot Hot damn – and I mean damn — could an opening track be any more perfect? Every pound of the double bass drums, the Zeus- lightning-quick guitaring, and the dominating vocals of Shadows all create such a relentless, bulldozer of a track. “Beast and the Harlot” is a stone-cold stunner and an absolute kick-ass number to kick off City of Evil.The way the guitars erupt in the intro over Shadows’ falsetto-like scream will send chills down your spine and adrenaline to your neck because yeah, you’re going to want to headbang like a veteran porn star giving a blowjob. The verses are fast and full of testosterone while the choruses get in touch with A7X’s melodic side, showcasing an improvement in song writing right off the bat (especially the key change in the last chorus). The drum solo and the absolutely blazing guitar solo is top notch and calling them “impressive” would be a disservice. “Beast and the Harlot” is as perfect as melodic metal can possibly get and it’s up for debate as to whether it’s the best song on the album — that should say enough about the quality of this album.

Grade: 100

02. Burn It Down To be fair, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to follow up “Beast and the Harlot”, but “Burn It Down” unfortunately goes down the forgettable route. It starts off great but it sputters out past the halfway mark. The screeching guitars and hectic drum rolls that bleed into the melodic, upbeat guitar harmonies in the intro are great. The verses are aggressive enough and the choruses are greatly layered and built up to perfectly. Shadows’ voice might grate on your ears during the bridge, depending on your tolerance for his not-so-great vocal moments, as he can get nasally quite frequently. “Burn It Down” is an okay song with some decent moments scattered throughout, but I just don’t see myself coming back to it too often.

Grade: 55

03. Blinded In Chains Much like the prior track, “Blinded In Chains” opens up with snare rolls and harmonic guitars but in a much, much more effective manner. The verses are dark and aggressive and the double-pedaling is a great addition to the second half of the verses. The chorus is brief and great in its delivery and build up. Every instrument tears it up, having moments to shine and all culminating to one hell of an outro that sees the song having a complete tonal shift and for the better. The atmosphere and dark mood bolster the fantastic outro, with its intricate drumming, perfectly strummed guitars, and Shadows’ eerie vocalizations. It’s worth sitting through the rest of “Blinded In Chains” (not like that’s a bad thing anyways) just for the jaw-dropping ending that comes out of nowhere that will have you on a testosterone high.

Grade: 88

04. Bat Country Ah, another home run from the boys! As you’ve noticed by now, Shadows has significantly decreased the use of his screams (a creative decision, not because of surgery as many are lead to believe) and it’s nice to hear it every now and then, no matter its brevity. The verses, thanks to the tremolo picking of Gates and Vengeance, move along at a fantastically brisk pace while the chorus switches things up, going for a more melodic structure rather than plowing through like in the verses. An eye-widening guitar solo is unleashed after the first chorus, showing the A7X men know how to keep their song structures mostly unpredictable. To add another layer to their lead single is a slowed down, incredibly catchy and hypnotic post-chorus section — a great addition.

Grade: 94

05. Trashed and Scattered This is a weird song to review because it has all the elements of a bloody good metal song I love, but the elements just don’t quite reach the “greater than the sum of their parts” status. The verses are lightning-quick with the guitarists shredding up a storm throughout and the choruses slows things down a tad with some rolling, toe-tapping bass. The Rev is absolutely clinical in his drumming aggression and cymbal finesse, making the track a much stronger one. Shadows’ hits some great, raspy high notes near the end. Maybe if the song was tighter and less meaty, it’d be better, but it’ll have to settle for just “good”.

Grade : 75


06. Seize the Day The first slow (and only) ballad of the album, you can leave it to the boys to make sure their chest-thumping bravado can still be felt in a softer song. Acoustic guitars lead the way over Shadows’ most soothing vocal performance on the album. The verses and chorus are extremely melodic, making it a fun song to sing along to. The raw emotion of possibly not seeing your significant half is greatly bolstered in the second chorus, bridge, and outro as The Rev (who sings the hair-raising high background vocals) and Shadows hit some chills-inducing notes that leave a lasting impression. The guitar solo is more on the simple side but with A7X, that’s not a bad thing because Gates works his magic in the melodic solo that amplifies the song, as does the beat change-up during the solo. This is one of City of Evil’s greatest songs and an A7X classic.

Grade: 96

07. Sidewinder Gates’ lead guitar over the chugs of Zacky combine to make a formidable intro and verses. The chorus is a good slowing of pace with The Rev playing around with cymbals. The number starts to lose some steam around the bridge but it’s a brief moments as, once again, The Rev’s cymbal play saves the day. The unquestionable standout of “Sidewinder” is, hands down, the Spanish-influenced acoustic outro segment that comes out of nowhere and hot damn doe it sound sexy. Gates and his father team up for a knockout of a blistering acoustic solo over another acoustic guitar. Shadows’ vocals sound great throughout the lengthy outro as does The Rev’s great adaptive drumming and congo play. It’s the best ending segment of any song on the album. Don’t let their tattooed punk-boy imagery fool you, these guys have a passion for music as it clearly, clearly shows in this beautiful segment.

Grade: 93

08. The Wicked End Christ finally gets a solo moment in the beginning over the eerie guitars of Gates and Vengeance. The verses are just as fast as any other song on here and when it comes to the chorus, the midtempo change-up is great as Shadows perfectly leads the way into it with his perfectly raspy delivery. Remember when I said the guys are music aficionados? Well, they show it again with the haunting and absolutely epic orchestral and choir bridge that comes after the sweeping guitar solo. It’s a quiet build-up that slowly erupts into Shadows hitting some of the highest notes he’s ever hit, creating this boner-inducing hell of a time. Gates has a brief solo after and the following verse after is a brutal affair. It’s incredible how diverse this album is and how many colors of music they’re willing to blend, hitting one home run after another.

Grade: 92

09. Strength of the World The intro is no doubt inspired by old school Western sensibilities with the plucked acoustic guitar providing the foundation for the beautiful orchestra segment before Gates and the boys come rocking in. While not as strong as the two prior tracks, it’s still another showcase for Avenged Sevenfold’s diversity and willingness to change things up, never settling for monotony. The differentiating factor here is the great blend of the cheesy (but in a good way) melodic guitar solo over the swelling symphony. The verses have the signature chugs and the chorus is good enough, adding in gang vocals to shout “strength of the world!” as Shadows sings a somewhat catchy melody over them.

Grade: 85

10. Betrayed Well, shit, guess it was too good to last, huh? “Betrayed” is easily the weakest song on the album and, in many ways, it’s pretty terrible. When held against the great songs on City of Evil, it just comes off as lazy and safe. I know the message is about the murder of a metal legend, but you would think that would motivate them to make it a greater track, right? The verses are decent but the hook comes off as incredibly mediocre. The only actual good part for me was a small segment where the guitars overlap each other in a pleasant way over The Rev’s hi-hats. While the actual musicianship isn’t terrible, it’s the way they don’t add up that sticks with you (not to mention it’s unnecessary length of six minutes), making for a boring and forgettable listen.

Grade: 50

11. M.I.A. This is it, the album closer! Shadows’ sleepy voice over the softly plucked guitar lead the song off before Shadows shows off his vocal might during the first verse. His voice can be spotty, sounding great in some parts and iffy in others but one thing’s for sure, it’s a unique voice. Gates’ solo is dizzying over The Rev’s horse-gallop-double-pedal pattern, showing us why he’s one of this generations truly greatest. The chorus is forgettable and if it weren’t for Shadows’ vocals, they’d be even more so. “M.I.A.” isn’t as strong as most of the other songs on here, but as a closer, it’s decent enough to get the job done.

Grade: 74

City of Evil is easily one of the best rock albums released since the turn of the century. There are an absurd amount of jaw-dropping, head-fucking-banging moments of pure testosterone-injected musicianship. Gates truly, truly stuns with his thunderous sweep picks and blistering solos as does The Rev with his absolutely earth-shattering drumming. His rolls, cymbal finesse, and knack for always changing things up assures that each song will be a treat for drummers. Shadows’ vocals are hit or miss, but thankfully it’s a lot more hit than miss here. A lot of A7X fans might dread the fact he ditched the screaming, but I for one was never all that impressed by his screams and much prefer his raspy vocals and occasional screams. City of Evil is a crowning achievement of metal musicianship, bringing a remarkably impressive diverse and eclectic listen. If you are at all interested in hearing how great metal musicians operate at their finest, look absolutely no further than City of Evil.

Report Card
Instruments: 100
Production: 88
Lyrics: 88
Vocals: 88

Overall
96   

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Avenged Sevenfold “Waking the Fallen” Album Review

January 27, 2012 in Album RealViews, Music


01. Waking the Fallen Despite its brevity, ambience and mood are what make this a very listenable opener. Right off the bat, you can already tell the production is miles above and beyond prior effort, “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet”. Of course, this just means it sounds like any rock album should sound — no self-produced, cringe-inducing face-palms here! Shadows’ vocals are the star of this show, sounding great with background screams and a strong clean vocal over simple but effective instruments.

Grade: 75

02. Unholy Confessions One of Avenged Sevenfold’s more recognizable songs, “Unholy Confessions” perfectly embodied the sound of A7X up to that point in 2003. The hammer-on/pull-off guitar intro is distinct (well, it was back then) and the power slides bring a decent, if not a little underwhelming, variety to the mix. The drumming is nothing awe-inspiring, but its very tight and hosts a tricky double-bass pattern near the end. The vocals on this song alone are so much more enjoyable than “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet” was altogether. Shadows does a good job of alternating between his signature scream and his, well, signature clean vocals. The chorus is catchy and the harmonies enjoyable. There’s not much to question when wondering why this was A7X’s first somewhat big hit.

Grade: 88

03. Chapter Four The Rev steals the show with his constantly busy drum work. Gates and Vengeance are more than serviceable with their drop-D chugs and Shadows presence is strong throughout with his screams being layered over his clean vocals. The verses are on the quicker side while the two part hook has a slower, operatic first half and then it’s back to the fast pacing for a good kick in the teeth. “Chapter Four” is constantly changing up its landscape, never letting you drive down one road for too long, allowing for a varied trip. I love the quick choir-like lead-in for the decent breakdown and the brief harmonic solo that’s reminiscent of those 80′s/90′s metal bands we love.

Grade: 91

04. Remenissions M. Shadows lets loose a guttural growl over the reliably pummeled drums over the frisky guitars before slowing just a tad bit down for a great, thick verse. The standout of “Remenissions” are the perfectly-placed double pedal bursts and the ever-changing guitar work by Gates and Vengeance. It’s hard for repetition to set in if most musical segments, if you will, never last longer than 30 seconds and thank God Avenged  Sevenfold knows how to mix things up. The song slows down to midtempo chugs then bursts into punk-rock-paced onslaughts that soar from one height to another. It’s a fantstically varied listen and you have to tip your hat off to the musicianship present here. Special shout out to the Hispanic-tinged segment of the track, a great mixture to the proceedings.

Grade: 93

05. Desecrate Through Reverence The intro is deceptively bland because hot damn the verses are fantastic, featuring one of Shadows more higher screams — not to mention the great drum roll that leads into the verses. The chorus doesn’t quite match the verses in terms of quality, but hey, it’s not that bad of a chorus, no matter how forgettable it is. The harmony layered solo is simple and not memorable, but again, it provides a nice layer of variety. “Desecrate” burns out around the halfway mark until the climactic ending; had it kept the pace up, it could have been another home run, but sometimes a double is good enough, right?

Grade: 75

06. Eternal Rest No build up here — it’s an attack on your hearing senses right from the get-go, courtesy of Gates impressive fret work. Shadows screams through the punk-style-drummed verses before another another chug fest is slammed down upon us to great effect. The aggression during the slowed-down chorus is strong and the build up back to the more punk style is natural but you just can’t wait for those thick guitars to come buzzing back again — it’s hard not to nod your head along to these parts, no matter how simple the strumming of the guitars are. The clean bridge kind of comes out of nowhere and isn’t  written to as good as it can be. Other than that small gripe, “Eternal Rest” is a mosher’s delight.

Grade: 85

The guitar work of these two lends a lot to the greatness of "Waking the Fallen"

07.  Second Heartbeat Ah, it was too good to be true for the greatness to continue, huh? By no means do I mean is this song terrible by saying that, it’s just not quite as impressive as the prior tracks. It’s still a good number but I can’t help but feel like nothing separates it from the rest of the pack, sounding like a weird, sometimes mundane potluck of all the other songs on the album. It has some cool moments that include some tremolo picking, but they’re far and few in between. The long six-minute running time doesn’t help it, either, as it just starts to sputter out despite some of The Rev’s great fills. At least Gates and co. have an absolutely killer, Megadeth-like closing moment, with Synyster absolutely lighting up that guitar neck.

Grade: 73

08. Radiant Eclipse I’m not really a fan of the whole “haunted guitar” intro, but I do dig the Arabic-like second half of the intro before burst into some more of that chugging I oh-so can’t get enough of. There are parts in the verses where The Rev plays with the ride cymbals offbeat to great effect. The chorus is a great listen as Shadows’ gruff clean vocals soar, showing that these guys can write some really good choruses.

Grade: 90

09. I Won’t See You Tonight (Part 1) Ah, nothing like the sweet, sweet sounds of a pleasing piano to ease you into a near nine minute track and a bombastic opening that sees Gates fulfilling the lead well. Christ can actually be heard on the bass on the verses on the track and the guitars during the chorus are nice and thick in their simple chord progression.  There’s a simple but good in a moody kind of way solo around the 3 and a half minute mark that adds some variety to the song. The last portion of the song is led by a soft piano that builds up to a rather disappointing “explosion”, that is, until Shadows comes soaring in. “See You Tonight” is good considering its long running time, but I can’t help but feel that not enough was done to make me want to come back to this song, no matter how great the atmosphere is — there’s just something missing.

Grade: 64

10. I Won’t See You Tonight (Part 2) Talk about a chaotic opening, screeching feedback and all. So the second part of the decent “I Won’t See You Tonight” pair is definitely less brooding and more in your face. Shadows undoubtedly sounds great when he yells “IIIIIIIIII!” in certain parts, providing a chest-thumping bravado to the mix because, despite the quicker pace, I found some parts of the song to be more dull than the first part of the pair. The second half of the guitar solo sees a much needed boost of distorted guitars before going back downhill with a bland bridge. The only real good thing about this song is the cool descending factor of the choruses and the latter half of the solo. Other than that, there’s not much here worth listening to.

Grade: 53

11. Clairvoyant Disease A7X slows things back down to a midtempo halt, with an interesting intro and a musically calming verse. Had it not been for Shadows transition from clean to rough vocals in the chorus, I would have written it off as a forgettable one, but his scream injects a necessary dose of testosterone to the hook. “Clairvoyant Disease” is host to multiple solos, the first sounding decent and being technically sound, the second being less technical but it better amplifies the song. The bridge is a bland stretch that goes on for too long and I’d go as far to say to cut it out and just leave the second guitar solo there. At least the brief, clean outro is a pleasant way to end the song.

Grade:  51

12. And All Things Will End Once again, the soft leads to the harder pastures of distortion in “And All Things Will End”. For a good portion of the song, it’s a slugfest of chug-a-chugs and while it keeps the momentum going, it’s startin to get tiring hearing it when it’s not executed as well as it could be (i.e., not as varied as it is in their other songs). The slower parts of the song considerably damage the song as I found myself running out of patience — nothing about the instruments or vocals spoke to me during this near two minute segment. Thankfully, the gear is shift back up to 6, well, more like 3 or 4 because the transition back into the quicker pace falls flat. “And All Things Will End” has too many filler segments that drag the song down and had they decided to cut the fat or at least add more flavor to these segments, then perhaps it’s 8 minute length could have been forgiven, but with its too many dull moments, it’s kept from being something worth coming back to — sorry Gates’ closing solo, but that was one hell of a clunky and boring closer to end on.

Grade:  40

“Waking the Fallen” is, without contention, an undeniably vast improvement over debut album “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet”, which was a horrible album in retrospect. Literally every aspect of Avenged Sevenfold’s metal game has been injected with steroids and put through the “300″ workout. The two standouts are drummer, The Rev, and vocalist, M.Shadows. The Rev is constantly providing a soundcape chock-full of variety and impressive technicality and, while Shadows’ voice can be nasally and occasionally grating, when he soars, it’s hard to think of an equal. Vengeance is as solid as a rhythm guitarist can get an Gates has several moments where he shines but he doesn’t quite show here why he’s one of today’s best guitarists. “Waking the Fallen” has an absolutely stellar first half that’s a good ass-kicking of a listen while the last quarter of the album sputters out and ultimately ends in a disappointing whimper.

Report Card
Instruments: 89
Production: 81
Lyrics: 75
Vocals: 85

Overall
77    

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