Matthew Charles Sanders, better known by his stage name M. Shadows, is an American musician.
Best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter and founding member of the American heavy
metal band Avenged Sevenfold.
Early Life M.Shadows began singing at an early age, but
his interest in rock music grew as he became older and began to play the guitar.
He links his early musical experience with the piano as a major factor in developing
his skills with the guitar and his voice.
He attended Robert J. Frank, where he played for a brief stint in a punk band named "Successful
Failure".
Following this, Shadows formed Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 along with middle school friends Zacky
Vengeance, The Rev and Joshua Hernandez.
Stage name Shadows, like the other members of Avenged
Sevenfold, uses a stage name.
In an interview, Shadows says that he chose "M. Shadows" as his stage name because he
thought of himself as "the darker character in the group,".
The M is in place of his first name, Matthew, which he did not want to be in his stage name
because of the way it sounded.
He also added that he and the band took stage names because many other successful musicians
that they were influenced by had them.
Vocal style
Shadows possesses a baritone vocal range.
Shadows' vocal style has evolved significantly over the years.
On the band's first full-length record, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, he featured harsh, metalcore-style
growls with limited instances of clean vocals.
The release of Waking the Fallen in 2003 demonstrated his progression towards melodic vocal lines,
but still retained a strong screaming influence.
However, the most significant change came with the release of the band's major label
debut, City of Evil, in 2005, which featured minimal background screaming, stronger vocal
melodies, and increased emphasis on harmonies and melodic hooks.
This change resulted in newly established vocal contributions from each band member
during live performances, and remained prevalent on every record the band has released since
2005, with the exception of songs like "God Hates Us" on Nightmare, and 2011 single "Not
Ready To Die", which both returned to the signature screaming style of earlier releases
heard from 1999-2003.
Rumors were spread that Shadows had lost his ability to scream due to throat surgery needed
after Warped Tour 2003.
However, this was proven false.
Producer Andrew Murdock put down these rumors by saying: "When I met the band after Sounding
the Seventh Trumpet…
Matt handed me the CD, and he said to me, 'This record's screaming.
The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming and half-singing.
I don't want to scream anymore… the record after that is going to be all singing.'"
Aside from screaming during moments on songs such as "Beast and the Harlot", "Betrayed",
"Critical Acclaim", "Demons", and "Doing Time", M. Shadows returned to his half singing, half
screaming metalcore vocal approach on track 7 of Nightmare during "God Hates Us", projecting
a deeper growl not heard in previous albums.
Influences
Shadows draws his singing and performing style heavily from classic metal bands.
He cites Guns N' Roses as his biggest influence, commenting that "I love that band.
You can compare us all you want — they're a huge reason why I'm even in a band and even
write music."
Shadows also commented that he was heavily influenced by Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer,
Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Guitarist Scott Taylor, and Pantera.
Megadeth, Shadows says, are the reason why Avenged Sevenfold try to infuse a classic
metal sound into their music.
"Metalheads are so bitter, they're like, 'Why doesn't a super-extreme band have all the
success that Avenged Sevenfold is having?'," said Shadows in an interview, "It's 'cause
we have that traditional classic sound that bands like Metallica and Megadeth paved the
way for a while ago.
That sound crosses over and the extreme metals doesn't," he added.
Other projects Shadows has made guest appearances on numerous
albums by various artists.
He is featured on the Steel Panther album Feel the Steel and sings a verse of "Turn
Out the Lights."
He also produced The Confession's 2007 album, Requiem, which, according to an interview,
M. Shadows was one of the first steps which led to Avenged Sevenfold self-producing their
2007 self-titled album.
Shadows also sings In "The River" by Good Charlotte in the album "Good Morning Revival"
along with fellow band member Synyster Gates with his guitar solo.
In 2012 Shadows and fellow Avenged Sevenfold member Synyster Gates made a brief cameo in
the war game Call of Duty: Black Ops II in which they provided the voice over of.
Also, in June 2013, Matt competed in the sold out 128-team Call of Duty bracket at MLG Anaheim,
placing in the Top 48.
The April, 2013 release of the band Device's self-titled album featured his vocals throughout
track 9, "Haze".
Shadows also sang "Nothing To Say" in Slash's self-titled solo album.
Discography With Avenged Sevenfold
Sounding the Seventh Trumpet Waking the Fallen
City of Evil Avenged Sevenfold
Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough Nightmare
Hail to the King Guest appearances
Savior, Saint, Salvation by Bleeding Through Entombed We Collide by Death by Stereo
Buffalo Stampede by Cowboy Troy The River by Good Charlotte
Turn Out the Lights by Steel Panther Nothing to Say by Slash
Go Alone by Hell or Highwater Sandpaper by Fozzy
Landmine by Pitch Black Forecast Save Me by MGK
Haze by Device Song by Pitch Black Forecast
References
External links