Avenged Sevenfold – Self-Titled

How far out of the loop am I? When I think of Avenged Sevenfold I picture a metalcore band fronted by a guy with greased back hair and covered in tattoos. But as their Self-Titled released played through my speakers I realized I was so very wrong – they are no longer the metal heads like they were back in their Hopeless Records days. Yes, I listened to City Of Evil, but only sparingly (I doubt I made it all the way through the release), so I had no idea that A7X underwent such a drastic change and have left behind the metalcore phase of theirs and instead entered into a whole new genre, the genre so lovingly referred to as cock-rock.

Because in reality, Avenged Sevenfold is just that, a cheesy cock-rock record that sees the Huntington Beach group giving vivid nods to eighties rock stars like Guns’N’Roses and Motley Crue with a bit of a newer edge to them like The Heart Attacks. The songs are all heavy and good for some head banging but with little to no variety between the songs. With all the tracks lasting a minimum of five minutes, they tend to drag on as well. M. Shadows’ vocals are easily forgettable with no real signature style to them and the only thing that really gives Avenged Sevenfold any sort of individuality is the fact that the band isn’t afraid to experiment a little bit.

Unbound (The Wild Ride) is a slower, piano led song with some soothing female vocals ending it off. Dear God has a country flavor to it built on the opening of a pedal steel and self-pitying lyrics. The epic eight minute A Little Piece Of Heaven is extremely eclectic merging sounds that sound as if they were taken from segments of Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands or Nightmare Before Christmas merged with The Outline‘s Broadway & Hurst. While it could pretty much never be played live thanks to the mass amount of guest appearances and instruments added onto the track such as saxophones, trombone, trumpet, cello, choir, violin, piano, upright bass and more, it’s still one of the highlights of the album sonically. Sadly, the songs leading up to A Little Piece Of Heaven are so long and generic that it’s often hard to sit through them in order to get to the highlight of the album. Plus, once you finally get to the song, Shadows’ vocals are once again forgettable and feel flat compared to the instrumental backdrop on the track which hampers the song quite a bit.

Avenged Sevenfold are still desperately searching for a style to stick to. They’ve left the metalcore fade behind them and have started trying to create a more old school rock vibe with their sound. But as the album progresses they leave that behind and start experimenting a bit, something that only works thanks to it’s sheer audacity and would become quite painful if used on a complete album. As it is, Avenged Sevenfold has a few decent tracks, but nothing to keep me coming back. At least I now know they’re no longer a metal band, so that’s a plus.