Avenged Sevenfold - Is Change Always Good?

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Have you ever tried to get back into an artist’s work after not following them for a while? Maybe you tried watching some newer episodes of a TV show or listened to a band’s new songs, only to find that it was totally different than how you remembered it being? That’s not too uncommon, as it turns out. In this case, however, the change was worth the wait.

I’ve been an avid listener of Avenged Sevenfold’s discography for years. I first heard their music through a crossover in an older Call of Duty game, but I found more of their songs while trying Spotify for the first time around 2017. It got me back into listening to metal.

It didn’t take long for me to notice the differences between their albums. The first few are rough and less polished, being a product of the (very early) 2000s. But they quickly refined their sound and became a staple of American metal, growing more popular by the late 2000s.

Concert photo of Avenged Sevenfold performing on a stage in 2009. The band members are illuminated by orange and purple lights.

Photo taken by Gino037 from Wikimedia Commons.

From City of Evil to Nightmare, they just couldn’t lose when it came to ratings. Then Hail to the King was released. It’s not a bad album, not at all. It’s packed with quality metal tracks, just like the albums before it. But, in my opinion, it just doesn’t do anything unique. Many of the songs sound sort of familiar, like the structure and lyrics have been heard elsewhere.  It simply took too much inspiration from metal songs that were already popular.

The band took notice of this, and they tried a new approach from there. In 2016 they made a big change and put out something new, The Stage. It’s experimental, with some tracks featuring acoustic guitars and brass instruments while others include unusual time signatures. The last song, “Exist,” is their longest studio track and has an outro spoken by Neil deGrasse Tyson. It wasn’t too similar to their old stuff, but it also wasn’t a total departure from how they’d always been. The first song in this album, also titled “The Stage,” took the throne as my favourite song for a long while.

Aside from another Call of Duty tie-in in 2018 and a few compilations, the band went silent for years. Then, in 2023, they finally released a new album called Life Is But a Dream. The excitement from their fanbase was through the roof, and I know I was cheering alongside them. By that point I’d gotten all caught up with their music, so to have something new was great. I gave it a listen when it dropped.

Cover art of Life is But a Dream by Avenged Sevenfold. It is a tan canvas that depicts a cloaked skeleton swinging a scythe, drawn in black to contrast the background.

Art by Wes Lang, courtesy of Warner Records Inc.

They’d always changed a few things about their music between albums, but this toys with the idea of absurdism and really sounds like nothing they’ve made before, which shocked me. It lacks consistency and it’s proud of that. It’s still metal, but the use of unusual instruments, audio effects, and rough transitions all creates an extremely interesting experience. It’s so weird, but it’s also so catchy and memorable that the weirdness ends up making it better. It’s refreshing to hear something that isn’t regurgitated guitar riffs and reused beats, which makes me glad they changed directions after Hail to the King. It’s hard to describe with words alone, so I’d like to encourage listening to it on YouTube, where they’ve made it available.

I even saw them perform many of the new songs live at their 2023 North American Tour, where they came to Ontario on July 24th. I noticed that the excitement in the crowd was far more noticeable when they played their older hits as opposed to tracks from Life Is But a Dream, so maybe it’s just not for everyone.

Nonetheless, I’m excited to see where they take it from here. They could do a return to form where they play it safe, or they could go further with their experimental streak and really make something special. Whatever the future holds for Avenged Sevenfold, whatever they change next, I’m sure it will be… creative. Good or bad, that’s up to the listener.

Hey, it’s Lucas. I’m a student from Canada who’s just a little too into heavy metal and video games. Thankfully, one of those is useful for this blog. I’m an avid fan of cats (yes, I will pet them if I can) and a bird lover, too. I love a good plot twist, so I especially love it when artists take an unexpected turn with their work. You can expect to hear about rock, metal, or punk when you read my posts. Remember: it’s not about the blog, but the blogger behind it.