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Band Name: Avenged Sevenfold
Album Name: Avenged Sevenfold Rating: 1 / 5 User Rating: 0 / 5 Label: Warner Brothers Buy Album: Amazon.com Rate Album: Rate |
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Tracklist 1. Critical Acclaim 2. Almost Easy 3. Scream 4. Afterlife 5. Gunslinger 6. Unbound (The Wild Ride) 7. Brompton Cocktail 8. Lost 9. A Little Piece Of Heaven 10. Dear God |
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Anyone who is familiar with Avenged Sevenfold from their early days will know just what a transformation this band have undergone. From the early punk/metal thrash of ‘Sounding The Seventh Trumpet' and the metalcore fuelled ‘Waking The Fallen', they have since evolved into an 80s style classic metal band which has, predictably, alienated their early (almost cult like) following and acquired a whole new mainstream audience. Their 2005 release ‘City Of Evil' confirmed this transformation. Gone was the screaming of their previous material to be replaced with vocalist M. Shadow's soulful singing and some rather ridiculous Axl Rose-style crooning. This self-titled CD carries on this formula and then some. First track ‘Critical Acclaim' starts off relatively interesting starts with its chugging riffs and discordant guitar squeals, but this doesn't last long and it quickly degenerates into an almost childish stomp riff with M. Shadows providing some even more childish whispering over it. The extra strong mature cheddar cheese ballads are aplenty and so are the spoken politically charged vocals that were done so much better by Serj Tankian in ‘System Of A Down' all them years ago. I could take every song here and verbally rip it to shreds piece by piece, but lets just say that this record is horrible. The guitars are stagnant, the drumming is repetitive and the vocals are sung with as much enthusiasm as a Mcdonalds burger flipper. It reeks of record label creative input and the output is an annoyingly rushed set of nothing songs. This was once a band that was at the forefront of metal and punk creativity but what is now a cringe-worthy joke. Countless times the record begs the question “Is this for real?” as they take every cliché of rock and roll and make it that much more cliché, sans the fun. If you want to hear this band at their triumphant best, go and pick up ‘Waking The Fallen'. If you want to hear a band that has deteriorated like no other, go and waste your hard earned cash on this insult. Review by: Nick Calafato Read Member Reviews |