Nightmare is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released
on July 27, 2010 through Warner Bros. Records.
It was produced by Mike Elizondo and mixed in New York City by noted engineer Andy Wallace.
Nightmare is the first Avenged Sevenfold record without James "The Rev" Sullivan performing
drums on all the songs due to his death in December 2009; however he did write parts
that were used for the final recordings, making this the last album he would write on, The
Rev's vocals are still on the album as a tribute to him.
This is the only album to feature ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who performed
as the drummer for the album in his place, also played with the band for all their tours
through the end of 2010, due to his separation with Dream Theater.
They have since hired Arin Ilejay to drum in Rev's place.
The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA in the United States.
The album debuted at number 1 in the Billboard 200.
As of May 2014 the album has sold 818.000 copies in the United States.
Writing and recording In late 2009, two years after Avenged Sevenfold
released their self-titled album, and four years after they had issued their breakthrough
studio set, 2005's City of Evil, the band started working on their next record, their
"most personal and epic that will definitely take you on a very dark journey."
Around late 2009, the band worked on the album's production until the death of their drummer.
On December 28, 2009 the body of James "The Rev" Sullivan was discovered inside his home.
This incident made the band suspend work on the album for some time.
In the later months, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater agreed to finish recording the drumming
tracks for the album: After a couple of months, more notices about
the album became available; a short message from Zacky Vengeance was posted on the official
Avenged Sevenfold Twitter on April 17, 2010: "Tracking is complete.
There are no words that will ever describe the feeling of listening to this album while
driving home alone at 4 am."
Johnny Christ stated in an interview with Ultimate Guitar about the writing process
and subject matter of Nightmare: M. Shadows and Synyster Gates, in an interview
with The Pulse of Radio, confirmed The Rev's special appearance in the record.
According to the band members, he left a couple of vocals before his death, which they used
on the record.
With his drum fills and vocals intact, the record shows itself like the band's last record
with their drummer.
The same band members revealed some details about the new record in an interview to Hard
Drive radio: Release and promotion
The first single, "Nightmare", was released digitally on May 18, 2010.
A preview for the song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon
after for unknown reasons; however, on May 10, 2010, a 30-second audio uncensored sample
was again revealed, but this time at SoundCloud and on the band's official website.
The band also posted, the same day, a video of the song on their official YouTube channel
with animated lyrics, which received over 275,000 plays in 24 hours.
On June 3, 2010, the band revealed a "Limited Edition" of Nightmare for pre-order available
only on their website, which contains: Full Nightmare album on CD.
Expanded booklet featuring lyric sheets from the band and exclusive artwork.
Housed in a synthetic leather bound book with special silver plated Nightmare crest.
Limited 24″ x 36″ lithograph entitled Death Bat Anatomy, featuring original artwork
on special textured paper embossed with a silver colored Death Bat.
Instant download of the new single, Nightmare.
Since May 27, 2010, the band revealed the album cover piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle
over a period of eighteen days, revealing the complete cover on June 14, 2010, along
with the track listing.
On June 29, 2010, the band made available an iTunes pre-order of the album, which contains:
Full Nightmare digital album.
Bonus track: "Lost It All" Exclusive photos.
"Nightmare" music video.
Behind the scenes footage from "Nightmare" music video shoot.
Written treatment for "Nightmare" music video.
"Nightmare" lyric video.
Audio interview with album producer, Mike Elizondo.
Type-set lyrics with hand-written notes for bonus track, "Lost It All".
Sketches of album art concept.
The song "Buried Alive" was posted on the band's Facebook page on July 14, 2010, but
experienced loading issues due to a large number of users trying to access the video,
and was briefly taken down.
The problem was resolved on July 15, 2010, and was posted on YouTube as a lyric video
which also contained a small animation.
On July 21, 2010 the song "So Far Away" was released by KROQ radio exclusively for one
day.
On October 19, 2010, the single "Welcome to the Family" was released.
On April 5, 2011, "So Far Away" was released, followed by the music video.
In September 2011, the band announced plans for a music video for their next single, "Buried
Alive".
They tried to get Rob Zombie to direct the video, but he declined due to being focused
on another project.
Reception Critical reception
Upon its release, Nightmare received mostly positive reviews from music critics.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream
critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 7 professional reviews, which
indicates "generally favorable reviews".
In the August 2010 issue of Metal Hammer, Terry Bezer rated the album an eight out of
ten.
In his review he had praised the band members for their courage despite of the death of
The Rev and called it "the ultimate tribute to a fallen friend."
He also praised Mike Portnoy for his part in the album and found him a fitting stand-in
for The Rev. 411 Mania gave the record a lengthy but highly positive review by giving it a
score of 9.0/10.
As a conclusion they stated, "If you’re a fan of Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare is a
must-have for you.
This album is incredibly moving and is better than any tribute to the late Rev I could have
possibly imagined."
Kerrang!
gave the album 4 K's out of 5 concluding: "Where Avenged [Sevenfold] go from here is
still in the lap of the gods.
Whatever their future, though, Nightmare marks the point at which the Huntington Beach crew
put away childish things and became men.
Wherever he is now, their brother must be immensely proud."
About a month and a half before the record had released, Faye Lewis of Rock Sound, gave
the record a highly critical review, saying that the title track "Nightmare" was the only
highlight, which generated much criticism.
Rock Sound later issued an apology for the review and took it down from their site.
In their letter of apology they said: "Rock Sound recently published a track-by-track
guide to the forthcoming Avenged Sevenfold album.
We wish to apologize wholeheartedly for any misunderstanding in the article that caused
upset to both the band and their fans.
This was certainly not our intention and therefore we have removed the piece from the site."
Accolades Track listing
All songs credited to Avenged Sevenfold.
Actual songwriters are listed below.
Personnel Release history
CD References
External links Official website
Avenged Sevenfold on Myspace Avenged Sevenfold on Twitter
Warner Bros. Records