Avenged Sevenfold (often
abbreviated A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach,
California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of M. Shadows (vocalist),
Synyster Gates (lead guitarist), Zacky Vengeance (rhythm guitarist), and Johnny
Christ (bassist).
They are known for their
diverse rock sound and dramatic imagery in album covers and t-shirts. Avenged
Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh
Trumpet but their style had evolved by their third album and first major label
release, City of Evil into a hard rock/heavy metal sound. The band continued to
explore new sounds with their self-titled release and enjoyed continued
mainstream success before their drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan,
died in 2009. Despite his death, the band continued on with help of now-former
Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and released and toured in support of their
fifth album Nightmare in 2010 which debuted on the top spot of the Billboard
200, their first number one debut.
To date, Avenged Sevenfold has
released five studio albums, one live album/compilation/DVD, and eighteen
singles and sold more than four million albums worldwide.
History
Formation and Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (1999–2002)
The band was formed in 1999 in
Huntington Beach, California with original members M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance,
The Rev and Matt Wendt. M Shadows came up with the name as a reference to the
story of Cain and Abel from The Bible, which can be found in Genesis 4:24,
although they are not a religious band.Upon its formation, each member of the
band also took on a pseudonym which were already nicknames of theirs from high
school.
Before the release of their
debut album, the band recorded two demos in 1999 and 2000. Avenged Sevenfold's
debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members
were just eighteen years old and in high school. It was originally released on
their first label, Good Life Recordings in 2001. After lead guitarist Synyster
Gates joined the band, at the end of 1999 when he was 18 at the introductory
track "To End the Rapture" was re-recorded featuring a full band
element. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002.
The band started to receive recognition, performing with bands such as
Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall and playing on the Take Action Tour.
Line-up stability, chart success and "Waking The Fallen"
(2003–2004)
Having settled on their fourth
bassist, Johnny Christ, the group released their second studio album titled
Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Records in August 2003. The album featured a more
refined and mature sound production in comparison to their previous album. The
band received profiles in Billboard and The Boston Globe, and played in the
Vans Warped Tour. In 2004, Avenged Sevenfold toured again on the Vans Warped
Tour and recorded a video for their song "Unholy Confessions" which
went into rotation on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball. Shortly after the release of
Waking the Fallen, Avenged Sevenfold left Hopeless Records and were signed to
Warner Bros. Records.
"City of Evil" (2005–2006)
City of Evil, the band's third
album and major label debut, was released on June 7, 2005 and debuted at No.30
on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 30,000 copies in its first week of
release. It utilized a more classic
metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold's previous albums, which had been grouped
into the metalcore genre. The album is also notable for the absence of screamed
and growled vocals; M. Shadows worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson—whose
clients have included Axl Rose and Chris Cornell—for months before the album's
release to achieve a sound that had "grit while still having the
tone". The album received steller reviews from several magazines and
websites and is credited for propelling the band into international popularity.
After playing Ozzfest in 2006,
Avenged Sevenfold memorably beat out R&B Singers Rihanna and Chris Brown,
Panic! at the Disco, Angels & Airwaves and James Blunt for the title of
Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, thanks in part to their Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas-inspired song “Bat Country.”
They returned to the Vans
Warped Tour, this time headlining and then continued on their own "Cities
of Evil Tour" In addition, their lead single "Bat Country"
reached No.2 on Billboards Mainstream Rock Charts, No.6 on Billboards Modern
Rock Charts and the accompanying video made it to No.1 on MTV's Total Request
Live. Propelled by this success, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's
first gold record. It was later certified platinum in August 2009.
Self-titled album and death of
"The Rev" (2007–2009)
Avenged Sevenfold was invited
to join Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known hard rock
and heavy metal acts DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed and System
of a Down for the first time in 2006. That same year they also completed a
worldwide tour, including the US, The United Kingdom (as well as mainland
Europe), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After a sixteen month promotion of
City of Evil, the band announced that they were cancelling their Fall 2006 tour
to record new music. In the interim, the band released their first DVD titled
All Excess on July 17, 2007. All Excess, which debuted as the No.1 DVD in the
USA, included live performances and backstage footage that spanned the band's
eight year career. Two tribute albums, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat
Wings and Broken Strings and Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: The String
Tribute were also released in October 2007.
On October 20, 2007, Avenged
Sevenfold released their self-titled album, the band's fourth studio album. It
debuted at No.4 on the Billboard 200 with over 90,000 copies sold. Two singles,
"Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" were released prior to
the album's debut. In December 2007, an animated video was made for "A
Little Piece of Heaven." Due to the song's controversial subject matter,
however, Warner Brothers only released it to registered MVI users over the
internet. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in
January 2008. Their fourth single, "Dear God", was released on June
15, 2008. Although critical reception was generally mixed the self-titled album
went on to sell over 500,000 copies and was awarded "Album of the Year"
at the Kerrang! Awards.
Avenged Sevenfold headlined
the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall
and Idiot Pilot. They used the footage from their last show in Long Beach for
Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, a two-disc B-sides CD and live DVD
which was released on September 16, 2008. They also recorded numerous covers,
including Pantera's "Walk", Iron Maiden's "Flash of the
Blade" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".
In January 2009, M. Shadows
confirmed that the band was writing the follow-up to their self-titled fourth
album within the upcoming months. They also announced that they will be playing
at Rock on the Range, from May 16–17, 2009. On April 16, they performed a
version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash, at the Nokia
Theater in Los Angeles.
On December 28, 2009, drummer
James "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead at his home at the age of 28.
Autopsy results were inconclusive, but on June 9, 2010, the cause of death was
revealed to have been an "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined
effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol". In a
statement by the band, they expressed their grief over the passing of The Rev
and later posted a message from Sullivan's family which expressed their
gratitude to his fans for their support.
Nightmare (2010–present)
The band members admitted in a
number of interviews that they considered disbanding at this point of time.
However, on February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold stated that they had entered
the studio, along with now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, to drum
for the record, in place of the Rev.
The single
"Nightmare" was digitally released on May 18, 2010. A preview for the
song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after for
unknown reasons. Mixing for the album had been completed in New York City, and
Nightmare was finally released worldwide on July 27, 2010. It met with mixed to
positive reviews from music critics but was well received by the fans.
Nightmare beat sales projections easily, debuting at number one on the
Billboard 200 with sales of 163,000 units in its first week. After finishing
recording, in December, Portnoy and the band posted simultaneous statements on
their websites stating that he will not be their replacement for The Rev.
However, Portnoy did travel with the band overseas in December 2010 for three
shows in Iraq and Kuwait sponsored by the USO. They played for US Soldiers at
Camp Adder, Camp Beuhring, and Balad Air Base. On January 20, 2011, Avenged
Sevenfold announced via Facebook that former Confide drummer Arin Ilejay will
tour with them starting this year. Whether or not he will be joining the band
on a permanent basis has not been decided yet.
Avenged Sevenfold performed at
the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals on June 3–5, 2011 alongside other
bands such as Alter Bridge, System of a Down, and In Flames. On April 2011, the
band headlined the Golden God Awards held by Metal Hammer. The same night the band
won three awards for "Best Vocalist" (M. Shadows), "Epiphone
Best Guitarist(s)" (Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance) and
"Affliction’s Album of The Year: " for Nightmare, while Mike Portnoy
won the award for "Drum Workshop’s Best Drummer" for his work on the
album.
In May 2011, it was confirmed
that the band had written a new song to be included in the Escalation DLC pack
for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. The song is the first time
developers Treyarch have commissioned an outside band to contribute a song
since the franchise began. The song, titled "Not Ready to Die", was
released on iTunes on May 2, 2011.
Avenged Sevenfold headlined
the 2011 Uproar Festival with supporting acts Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet
For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, among others. In August 2011, vocalist M.
Shadows stated the band would finish the Uproar Festival, then go home to take
a break for six to seven months before starting a new record. He also roughly
stated that Arin Ilejay and the band are getting along great, but they have to
make sure he's comfortable writing music with them, but he hopes everything
works out. In November and December, 2011, the band went on their "Buried
Alive" tour with supporting acts Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, and
Black Veil Brides.
On April 11, 2012, Avenged
Sevenfold won the award for "Best Live Band" at the Revolver Golden
Gods awards. The band toured through Asia into April and early May, and played
at the Orion Music + More, Festival on June 23 and 24 in Atlantic City, New
Jersey alongside Metallica and Cage the Elephant among many others. On
September 24, 2012, Avenged Sevenfold released a new song, titled "Carry
On", which will be featured in the upcoming video game Call of Duty: Black
Ops II. Style and influences
The band has cited bands such
as Bad Religion, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Dream Theater, Metallica,
NOFX, Alice in Chains, Black Flag, Corrosion of Conformity, The Misfits,
Slayer, The Vandals, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, Deftones and AFI as their
artistic influences.
Avenged Sevenfold's material
spans multiple genres and has evolved over the band's entire career. Initially,
the band's debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely
of metalcore sound; however, there were several deviations to this genre, most
notably in "Streets" which adopts a punk style and "Warmness on
the Soul," which is a piano-oriented ballad. On Waking the Fallen, the
band displayed the contemporary metalcore style once more, but added more clean
vocals as well as more mature and intricate musical elements. In the band's DVD
All Excess, producer Andrew Murdock explained this transition: "When I met
the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had come out before they had
recorded Waking the Fallen, M. Shadows said to me 'This record is screaming.
The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming half-singing. I don't
want to scream anymore. And the record after that is going to be all
singing".
On City of Evil, Avenged
Sevenfold's third album, the band chose to abandon the metalcore genre,
developing a more hard rock style. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album,
again, consists of several deviations to less consistent genres and styles from
the album's main hard rock and heavy metal songs, most notably in "Dear
God", which adopts a country style and "A Little Piece of
Heaven", which is circled within the influence of Broadway show tunes,
using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of
the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. Nightmare contains further deviations,
including a piano ballad called "Fiction" and a brief return to their
metalcore roots on "God Hates Us" and "Not Ready to Die".
The band has changed considerably since their first album, in which during that
time they have been characterized as a heavy band with a screamed and growled
vocal style combined with clean vocals, chugging guitar riffs and breakdowns
that one can expect from the metalcore genre.
Band members
The band members occasionally
play instruments other than their primary instruments listed below.
Current members
M. Shadows – lead vocals,
organ, keyboard (1999–present)
Zacky Vengeance – rhythm
guitar, backing vocals (1999–present)
Synyster Gates – lead guitar,
backing vocals (2001–present)
Johnny Christ – bass, backing
vocals (2002–present)
Former members
Matt Wendt – bass (1999–2000)
The Rev – drums, piano, vocals
(1999–2009)
Justin Sane – bass (2000–2001)
Dameon Ash – bass (2001-2002)
Session and touring members
Arin Ilejay – drums
(2011–present)
Former session and touring members
Mike Portnoy – drums (2010)
Studio albums
Sounding the Seventh Trumpet
(2001)
Waking the Fallen (2003)
City of Evil (2005)
Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
Nightmare (2010)
