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Avenged Sevenfold's debut album, "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet" was recorded while they were just in high school and was released by their first label, Good Life Recordings. The album was definitely their heaviest music they've ever written, featuring little clean vocals, chugging guitars, and blistering drums (Wikipedia). Many people that are fans of A7X don't like this album that much because this was their only metalcore album and the band is more know for the sound they have now, but I actually loved this album from start to finish and kind of wish they stuck with this sound just a little longer, but the newer Avenged Sevenfold is what made them become one of my top favorite bands.
Two years after their first album came out, the band released their second album, "Waking the Fallen." The album featured more of a refined and mature sound production (Wikipedia). They definitely started to gain notice very quickly as they played the Vans Warped Tour and recorded their first music video for "Unholy Confessions," which appeared on MTV2's Headbangers Ball. The band's front man M. Shadows started to not scream as much because it hurt his voice, so there were more clean vocals on this record. This was the album were I thought the band started to get their sound, but it wasn't quite there yet.
Soon after the sophomore album was out, Avenged Sevenfold was signed to Warner Bros Records, which was a huge accomplishment. Soon after, the band released "City of Evil," which was the first album for M. Shadows to sing completely clean vocals and not scream at all. He worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson, who had also taught Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to get a sound that had "grit while still having the tone." (Wikipedia). I think this was definitely the album where Avenged Sevenfold had finally found their sound, mainly because of the vocals and dual guitar parts between Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance, really taking advantage of having two guitars and having harmonizing melodies. The band had a noticeably gained a large fan base as they beat out many talented musicians to win Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, (Wikipedia), even though they were hardly new anymore.
Avenged Sevenfold's later released their self-titled album, which is my favorite album ever released by them. The band grew bigger and bigger with every album they'd released, with this album debuting at No 4 on the Billboard 200 and selling over 90,000 copies (Wikipedia). The band released multiple music video for songs on the album, and was awarded album of the year at the Kerrang! Awards (Wikipedia). This album was more experimental in ways of style in featured elements of metal, symphonic rock, a little gothic rock, and even a little bit of a country feel.
Two weeks before the band was going to head into the studio to record their fifth album, "Nightmare," the band's drummer "The Rev" had died from an accidental drug overdose. The band almost split apart, but they still entered the studio with former Dream Theater drummer, Mike Portnoy. Even though The Rev wasn't on the album, his vocals and drumming were still featured as the songs "Nightmare" and "Fiction" were previously recorded. Mike Portnoy did not become the replacement for The Rev, but eventually Arin Ilejay (formerly of Confide) started touring with them filling in on drums. The sound on "Nightmare" was much more dark since the death of their drummer. You can definitely tell they were in an angry state as they applied heavy guitar riffs and strong and hateful lyrics.
Eventually the new drummer became a permanent member of the band and became comfortable writing music with them. As they were in the studio recording their next album, M. Shadows stated he would the album to "sound more blues-rock influenced and have a classic rock/metal sound like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin." (Wikipedia). The album "Hail to the King" was released in August of 2013 and was the band's first album to have no contributions from late drummer The Rev. It topped the Billboard 200 chart in the US and in many other countries. I honestly think that the new drummer Arin Ilejay could have done better with the drumming on this album because I've watched him play before and he really is an amazing drummer, and I don't believe he used his full drumming potential on the new album.
There's a link to every album in case you havn't listened to Avenged Sevenfold or just want to listen to them now.
I'd love to hear what you think about Avenged Sevenfold. Tell me in the comments below!
Monk3yMadn3zz. "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet - Avenged Sevenfold (Full Album) *HD*." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
ZargoZombie. "Waking The Fallen (Full Album)-Avenged Sevenfold." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
BarWeissA7X. "City Of Evil - Avenged Sevenfold (Full Album)." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
BarWeissA7X. "Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold (Full Album)." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
RockVideos9. "Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare (Full Album)." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Sullivan, Eddy. "Avenged Sevenfold Hail to the King ( FULL ALBUM)." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
"Avenged Sevenfold." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Burke, Ray. "Avenged Sevenfold: Tour News Plus a Ticket Competition." Louder Than War. Louder Than War, 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
"Avenged Sevenfold." Avenged Sevenfold. Avenged Sevenfold and Warner Bros Inc., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
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