Avenged Sevenfold is the fourth studio album by Avenged Sevenfold, released on October
26, 2007 by Warner Bros. Records. The album, originally slated for an October 16 release,
was delayed by two weeks in order to provide more time to complete bonus material and production
for the record, including the making of the animated music video for the song "A Little
Piece of Heaven". The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200. On September 23, 2008,
the album was certified Gold by the RIAA. The album has also been released on vinyl.
The band supported the album with a tour, beginning a day before the release of the
album and ending in 2009. Avenged Sevenfold is the last full-length
studio album produced by the band before The Rev's death which occurred on December 28,
2009, just two weeks before the band was to commence recording their follow-up album Nightmare.
His vocals are recorded in all of the songs on the album.
Although critical reception to the album was mixed compared to previous releases, Avenged
Sevenfold won the Kerrang! award for Best Album in 2008. In addition, the album was
included in Kerrang's "666 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
As of April 2014, it has sold over 960,161 copies in the United States.
Pre-release Avenged Sevenfold revealed the track listing
for the album on their YouTube profile on August 9, 2007, as well as their text messaging
service, A7X Mobile. The band has also posted a teaser on a recent YouTube blog featuring
an excerpt of vocalist M. Shadows screaming in the studio.
On August 17, 2007, a clip was posted with about 2 minutes of their first track on the
new album, "Critical Acclaim" on the band's YouTube. The single was later uploaded in
its entirety on YouTube and released on the iTunes Store on August 28.
In the weeks leading up to the album's release, a series of ten video clips, called "webisodes",
were recorded featuring "Wolfie the Fox". The first webisode was released on August
24, 2007; a 3:41 clip that was posted on the band's YouTube channel. The clip consists
of a pre-recorded phone message from "Wolfie the Fox" and a few scenes of their process
of making "Critical Acclaim". Each of the subsequent webisodes was similar in content.
The clips featured a short mock-interview between M. Shadows and Wolfie the Fox, various
band members during the making of various tracks for Avenged Sevenfold, and other background
videos. About eleven days before the album's release, the Wolfie Trailer was posted on
YouTube. In it, Wolfie sings "Critical Acclaim" and talks about the MVI version of the new
album. The webisodes can all be viewed on the band's MySpace and YouTube pages.
By September 9, 2007, news leaked of the completion of a music video for the song "Almost Easy".
It was directed by P.R. Brown, known for his collaborations with Mötley Crüe and Marilyn
Manson, among many others. On September 12, 2007, the release date of the single "Almost
Easy" was announced and was released six days later on September 18 to purchase via digital
download. The month of October was a busy one for the
upcoming album. On October 3, Kerrang! released an article in which M. Shadows and Synyster
Gates were interviewed about the new album. This day also saw the release of a live performance
of "Almost Easy" at the Warped Tour 2007. Originally the band intended to release this
footage if viewers watched the official music video for the track on YouTube 150,000 times.
Though the goal fell short at 120,000 the band still released the footage. Another live
video, featuring the third track "Scream" performed in Liverpool, England was posted
on YouTube on October 11. The song was also heard during a commercial for the Scream Awards
on Spike TV. M. Shadows can clearly be heard singing, "You know I make you wanna scream,"
which is an excerpt from the chorus. "Scream" was performed live at the 2007 Spike TV Scream
Awards on October 23. Also, LoveLine played the radio premiere of "Afterlife" and "Almost
Easy", which was guest hosted by M. Shadows and The Rev. Three days before, the Keyclub
revealed an animated music video for "A Little Piece of Heaven".
To promote their new album, Avenged Sevenfold started their US tour on October 29, headlining
in Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern. Their opening acts were Black Tide and Operator.
On October 30, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold was released in stores worldwide.
Music Style The album is more experimental than their
other material. It also shows less characteristics of metal heard on their other albums as it
moves away from the metal characteristics they have used before. It has been considered
as a hard rock album with elements of symphonic rock. It also has some elements from gothic
rock and country music. It also is considered experimental music.
Reception Upon release, Avenged Sevenfold was met with
mixed reviews. Metacritic accumulated an average score of 56 out of 100 based on thirteen reviews
on the website. Jason Lymangrover of Allmusic had given the
album a rating of three stars out of five and wrote "While their willingness to experiment
is admirable, despite the fact that they've gone overboard with their overdubs, the overabundance
of studio polish leaves one to wonder if it's not because the songs just aren't as strong
this time around". A more positive review came from Andrew Earles of A.V. Club who commented
"The catchy Stone Temple Pilots vibe of 'Scream' is enough to put the band back on the charts,
but that could happen with more than half of this album…And it probably will". He
graded the album a B. The album wasn't without its more hostile
responses. A much more negative review came from Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic summarising
"Avenged Sevenfold resemble a poor man's Hardcore Superstar" and rated the album one out of
five. Andrew Blackie of PopMatters rated the album two out of ten and dismissed it as being
"Unoriginal, overlong even at a ten track setlist, and riddled with banality..." He
even went far enough to add "...the disc is even being released the day before Halloween,
could it get more corny?" Despite the mixed reaction the album won the
Kerrang! Awards Best Album-award in 2008. The USC Trojans Marching Band performed the
song "Almost Easy" at the Rose Bowl halftime show on January 1, 2009.
Track listing All songs credited to Avenged Sevenfold. Actual
songwriters are listed below.
Singles MVI
The Making of Avenged Sevenfold The Making of Avenged Sevenfold
"A Little Piece of Heaven" "Crossroads" B-side
Studio tour Producer for a Day
Pre-encoded MP3s for all tracks Future Avenged Sevenfold updates
Making of "Afterlife" video "Afterlife" from the band's new CD/DVD
Personnel Avenged Sevenfold
The Rev – drums, backing vocals Synyster Gates – lead guitars, backing vocals
Oliver Wakeman - keyboards, backing vocals M. Shadows – vocals
Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Johnny Christ – bass Session musicians
Programming by Jay E on "Critical Acclaim" and "Scream"
Piano and Organ by Jamie Muhoberac on "Critical Acclaim", "Unbound", 'Lost", and "A Little
Piece of Heaven" Piano by Greg Kusten on "Almost Easy"
Upright bass by Miles Mosley on "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of
Heaven" Cello by Cameron Stone on "Afterlife", "Brompton
Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven" Violins by Caroline Campbell and Neel Hammond
on "Afterlife," "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
Viola by Andrew Duckles on "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
Background vocals by Zander Ayeroff and Annmarie Rizzo on "Unbound"
Percussion by Lenny Castro on "Brompton Cocktail" Choir: Beth Andersen, Monique Donnelly, Rob
Giles, Debbie Hall, Scottie Haskell, Luana Jackman, Bob Joyce, Rock Logan, Susie Stevens
Logan, Arnold McCuller, Gabriel Mann, and Ed Zajack on "Unbound" and "A Little Piece
of Heaven" Alto sax by Bill Liston and Brandon Fields
on "A Little Piece of Heaven" Clarinet by Bill Liston and Rusty Higgins
on "A Little Piece of Heaven" Tenor sax by Dave Boruff and Rusty Higgins
on "A Little Piece of Heaven" Bari sax by Joel Peskin on "A Little Piece
of Heaven" Trumpet by Wayne Bergeron and Dan Foreno on
"A Little Piece of Heaven" Trombone by Bruce Fowler and Alex Iies on
"A Little Piece of Heaven" Additional vocals by Juliette Commagere on
"A Little Piece of Heaven" Lap, pedal steel and banjo by Greg Leisz on
"Gunslinger" and "Dear God" Additional vocals by Shanna Crooks on "Gunslinger"
and "Dear God" Additional vocals by Jaime Ochoa on "Critical
Acclaim" Scream on "Scream" by Valary Sanders
Production Produced by Avenged Sevenfold
Engineered by Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman, assisted by Clifton Allen, Chris Steffen,
Robert DeLong, Aaron Walk, Mike Scielzi, and Josh Wilbur
Mixed by Andy Wallace Mastered by Brian Gardner
Drum tech by Mike Fasano Guitar tech by Walter Rice
Fan Producers for a Day by Daniel McLaughlin and Christopher Guinn
References ^ Katie Hasty. "Eagles Fly Past Britney To
Debut At No. 1", Billboard.com, November 7, 2007. Last accessed November 7, 2007
^ a b c "Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold". Chad Bowar.
^ a b c http:www.allmusic.comr1207323 ^ a b "Avenged Sevenfold - Self Titled". Music
Review. ^ "Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare". Blog Critics.
^ a b "Avenged Sevenfold". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
^ Earles, Andrew. "Avenged Sevenfold: Avenged Sevenfold | Music | Music Review". The A.V.
Club. Retrieved 2011-10-26. ^ [1]
^ Greenblatt, Leah. "Avenged Sevenfold Review | Music Reviews and News". EW.com. Retrieved
2011-10-26. ^ Kaz, Jim. "Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold
Review - Music Review at IGN". Music.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
^ Hoard, Christian. "Avenged Sevenfold | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
^ a b "Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold". Sputnikmusic. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
^ Earles, Andrew. "Avenged Sevenfold: Avenged Sevenfold | Music | Music Review". The A.V.
Club. Retrieved 2011-10-26. ^ Blackie, Andrew. "Avenged Sevenfold: Avenged
Sevenfold - PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
^ ""USC Trojan Marching Band to Perform Avenged Sevenfold's "Almost Easy" During Rose Bowl
Halftime Show"". ^ a b Billboard.com - Artist Chart History
- Avenged Sevenfold Billboard. Retrieved on 12-14-2008.
http:www.2kmusic.comwebvideoBNs0Wki-l_g/avenged-sevenfold-making-self-titled-album-full External links
Avenged Sevenfold at Metacritic