Avenged Sevenfold: Hail To The King – new album

 

Well, surely you don’t need me to remind you AVENGED SEVENFOLD's new album, ‘Hail To The King’, is now available everywhere, August 27, 2013. The long-awaited follow-up to their 2010's ‘Nightmare’ was once again produced by Mike Elizondo and is the band's first album recorded with drummer Arin Ilejay who replaced James “The Rev” Sullivan. AVENGED SEVENFOLD have also released a clip for the title-track, directed by Syndrome, an award-winning design and live-action directing studio, you are invited to enjoy below. So, you know the drill: pester your local music retailer for ‘Hail The King’, or get it from iTunes or Amazon. For the limited edition which includes a treasure box, deluxe CD with a bonus track, exclusive canvas print of the album's art, a photo book as well as “Death Bat Challenge Key” and “Death Bat Skeleton Key”, I point you here (AVENGED SEVENFOLD's official store) - and hurry up because “once they are gone, no more will be made”. ‘Hail The King’ is out on Warner Bros.

 

Formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California when its members were still attending high school, AVENGED SEVENFOLD were quick to make an impression; vocalist M. Shadows, guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates, drummer the Reverend and bassist Johnny Christ issued their debut LP, ‘Sounding The Seventh Trumpet’, in 2001 on Good Life Recordings. With “unflagging aggression and precision (never mind the lyrical ennui or throat-scrape yowling; there's more to this music than generic cliché)” (Robert L. Doerschuk, AllMusic – more here) the band delivered their second full-length album, 2003's ‘Waking The Fallen’, through Hopeless Records. Their major label debut, 2005's ‘City Of Evil’, had entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at number 30, selling over 30,000 copies in its first week of U.S. release. AllMusic's Johnny Loftus rated the record as “totally metal, and refreshingly unmarred by attempts to fit too many jumbled genres in” (more here). The Best New Artist Award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards followed and on its heels came AVENGED SEVENFOLD's self-titled fourth album which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and which was certified Gold (500,000 units sold) in 2008 in the U.S. In 2009, drummer James Owen Sullivan (“The Rev”) was found dead at his home, aged 28. Released in 2010, ‘Nightmare’ was band's first album without drummer Sullivan yet he was noted as the album's contributor. Former DREAM THEATER, ADRENALINE MOB, THE WINERY DOGS etc. drummer Mark Portnoy recorded drums in his stead. Produced by Mike Elizondo and mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Andy Wallace, ‘Nightmare’ had conquered the American albums chart Billboard Top 200, where it reigned atop for five weeks and was certified Gold by RIAA (500,000 copies sold) in February 2011. The album has also won the band the Revolver Golden God Award “Album Of The Year”:

“Like their previous outings, the group incorporates a New Wave of British Heavy Metal influence throughout ‘Nightmare’ while paying tribute to '80s hair metal with guitar god appeal,” [commented AllMusic's Jason Lymangrover] “but playing retroactive music doesn’t seem to concern them, as long as they play it more skillfully than their forefathers. The group's influences may be worn on their sleeves, (check out the chugging METALLICA ‘One’ breakdown in ‘Buried Alive’, or the QUEENSRYCHE-style power-ballad ‘Victim’), but there is no denying that they have some of the best chops in the metal world.” [Read more here]

AVENGED SEVENFOLD features: M. Shadows – vocals, Synyster Gates - lead guitar, Zacky Vengeance - rhythm guitar, Johnny Christ – bass and Arin Ilejay - drums