Review Summary: Avenged Sevenfold follow up a classic album with a hurriedly written, unfinished, boring, and overexperimental one. What a letdown.
Avenged Sevenfold is a five piece band from Orange County. They were one of the pioneers of metalcore, but, as you know, they decided to go in more of a Maiden-esque route with City of Evil, one of the best albums out there in mine and many other people's opinion. With the mounting anticipation, followed by "teasers" of the album by releasing Critical Acclaim and Almost Easy over ITunes, this was one of the most anticipated albums I've ever seen. And how does Avenged Sevenfold reward the fans for holding their breath and waiting impatiently for this album?
2 country ballads
2 songs that simply dont sound finished
1 song that sounded like they threw something together in 5 minutes
1 song that will wear out really quickly
The two singles, from mediocre to pretty good
Just one great song.
And "A Little Piece of Heaven", whatever that is.
M. Shadows doesn't seem to care how he sounds
Synester and Zacky ditch the most of the fantastic "City of Evil" riffs for a generic sound.
Ridiculous experimentation.
Great, huh? Way to keep your place on top of the moribund mainstream, A7X! Now, if that didn't describe it well ienough, here is a track by track review.
1. Critical Acclaim. The album starts with a relatively heavy track. It's got the beast and the harlot style beginning, and the guitarists shred well. And M.Shadows actually shows energy in this track! However, they try too hard to be catchy and there is very little substance to this song that should merit it more than a few listens. And I should add that lyrically, i believe it's meant to be a political song, but is so antagonistic that the "meaning" seems lost. 3/5
2. Almost Easy. The First Single off the album is better written, catchy without being detrimental, but the guitar lines (with the exception of the intro and solo) aren't very good and it falls into the same pitfalls as Critical Acclaim. 2/5
3. Scream. Ugg. Now they try to be cute with a decent guitar riff. But they repeat it to death throughout the verses and is only good as an intro. Compared with anything else about this song, that's a good thing. And the guitar lines written in the chorus are either horrible and generic. The solo isn't much better. Shadows is veryac annoying in this one, especially in any word that ends with -ing. And now he starts sounding bored and unenthusiastic. Lyrics? "Scream! Scream! Scream! Just like you would if I ravaged your body!" Enough said. Skip. 1/5
4. Afterlife. Now... Experimentation. Yay. An orchestral beginning and interlude that seems out of place. But they brought the phenomenal City of Evil riffs! If you can ignore the crap in parts of the verses, the riffs are great. Catchy song, well written for most of it, good solo, M.Shadows still sounds bored at times, but this a great song. 4/5
5. Gunslinger. Wow. A country ballad with great lyrics, but is still a country ballad at heart. Seriously. You can't help imagine cowboy hats and wild west saloons on this track from the people who brought us Bat Country and Unholy Confessions. About halfway through the track, if you get that far, the electrics come back in and finish this one well. Good riffs. Shadows singing with passion. Very well written song. Great lyrics. Sad I have to give it a 2/5.
6. Unbound (The Wild Ride). This song has plenty of good riffs and shredding. But the vocals are annoying again, and feels like a experiment. Keyboard riffs in the verses. A bad keyboardy interlude at the end of the track with a female singer. Gang-chorus backing vocals. And it ends boring. The guitar lines and lyrics are written well. It's sad that they had to waste them on a song that sounds like a big expiriment and not on an actual song, written to be good. 2/5
7. Brompton Cocktail. So we go from an unfinished track to one that never really has a starting point. It starts with reverb and samba drums, then more bad riffs. then the guitars all but die off and more orchestra. Is A7X becoming Nightwish? It seems very hurriedly and horridly written and inconsistent. Decent chorus, but in the end just feels like filler. 1/5
8. Lost. Good riffs throughout, little experimentation = good track. It's the fastest track, but feels like a ballad. Again, the songwriting feels hurried at times, but that's actually ignorable. The vocals are bad. but this track is really enjoyable. Great solos. Catchy. Well written for the most part. As with Afterlife and Gunslinger, the second part of the song truly shines. A buried gem that is clearly the the best on the album. 4.5/5
9. A Little piece of heaven... Could one song drag an album into oblivion? Absolutely. This hasn't been a good album anyway, but this track is an absolute abomination. Musically it sounds like creepy circus crap, no guitars from the part I listened to (couldn't listen to all of it), and silent choruses with the bored vocals are actually the highlight of this really long song. Why did they do this? Did A7X actually feel as though this was a good idea? Would anyone actually like this? Sorry for a bad song review, but there is nothing good to say about this one. 0/5
(It's been so long since I've listened to this one, sorry if the details on this are wrong.)
10. Dear God. Boring ballad. Basically the country beginning of Gunslinger with different lyrics, and bad songwriting. Again. Way to end the album on a high note, guys. 1/5
And as another summary since everyone else does it.
Positives:
-Good riffs at times.
-Good shredding at times.
-"Lost" and "Afterlife"
Negatives:
-Bored vocals
-Dreadful riffs at times
-Too much experimentation, country/classical and hardcore don't mix
-Most songs seem unfinished and hurriedly written
-High expectations after "City of Evil"
-"A Little Piece of Heaven" and "Scream"
