Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage (October 28th 2016) Album

I was a pretty big Avenged fan through my teenage years and even my early 20s but they completely lost me with Hail to the King. First single dropped today and I wanted to see where everyone else is at with the band.

 

I didn't like the Hail to the King album, but I was a sucker for the chorus to that track.

 

I would never consider myself a huge fan. Waking The Fallen really wasn't my thing (unlike most people), but I did enjoy City Of Evil and was happy with my ignorance of the "bro rock" stigma they sort of developed over the years. I'm just typically drawn to the fact that they're all really talented musicians. I usually check out what they do but I'd never really go out of my way beyond an album stream or anything these days. Hail to the King bored me. This new song seems OK, but there isn't much that I haven't heard before going on here.

Edit: I'll add (since I sort of limited my enjoyment of the band to one album, which isn't the case) that I enjoyed a good portion of their self-titled album and Nightmare had some really memorable stuff on it as well. I love Portnoy, so it was an interesting collaboration.

 

New song actually got me a bit excited for this album to come out. I lost interest in the band after the self titled album came out, Nightmare was ok and Hail to the King was meh.

 

Haven't listened to the song yet but I think The Rev was one of the main reasons why they had their earlier sound. It seemed like after Nightmare they decided not to take anymore chances.

 

Agreed. The side project Pinkly Smooth with the Rev and Gates was awesome.

 

I'll have to check that out. This is the first I'm hearing about that.

 

Been a fan of every album but Hail to the King. This song is ok, like the instruments (always good) but not digging his vocals/melody on this song. Band has some classics I always end up going back to like Gunslinger, Buried Alive, Critical Acclaim, Brompton Cocktail and Remenissions.

 

I was obsessed with city of evil and self titled. Dropped off them after the Rev passed. Hoping they can find old glory with this

 

Since he recorded most (or all, I forget) of Nightmare did you dropping off before or did you listen to it? It had some killer songs on it.

 

He wrote for the album and had a lot if not all of his drum parts prepared but Portnoy had to play/record drums for the album.

 

I prob listened 10ish times. Just didn't really like it outside 2-3 songs

 

Oh, didn't know that he only had it prepped.

The only ones I probably go back to are Nightmare, Buried Alive, God Hates Us, Fiction and So Far Away. The rest of the tracks aren't bad, but I guess basic is how I would explain it?

EDIT: Standard maybe? I dunno.

 

Well, what a surprise. It's the first A7X album I enjoy front to back. I used to love their S/T at the time, though it had a few duds. Guess this is time to explore their discography.

 

Liking this more that I thought I would, God Damn and Creating God are really good tracks, esp back to back.

 

This is holding up better than I expected for me

 

Is anyone else really excited to see what their tour is going to consist of? I heard all about the Cirque du Soleil acrobats working with A7X so I'm guessing we're going to get an insane experience! Question though. Since it is a concept album, do they do the whole thing live and then end with a greatest hits set? The album clocks in about an hour 13 (so with pauses and interludes, it'll be an hour 25).

 

Maybe it's due to song length, but I have never seen them play a long set. 12-15 songs are their norm which includes drum/guitar solos. Sadly I think they will always be one of those bands who just play the staples....

 

I think it has a lot to do with M. Shadows and his voice.

 

I thought his voice was all good now, only affected him during the City of Evil phase? He still does songs live with screaming in them.

 

I think that was the height of his problems. He did the entire Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen cycles without taking care of his voice. I think he relied on The Rev a lot during those tours. Looking on City of Evil and the self/titled, The Rev did about 40% of the vocals on those albums. I think if he was still alive, I can see the band turning into an Alexisonfire situation where Shadows and The Rev would be George and Wade while both sharing Dallas's cleans (if that makes sense).

 

Listened to this through a couple times lately and I think it's a hell of an effort. Some great songs on here, but I don't really think I'd take any song off and throw it onto a mix. All the songs work in the order of the album. Not that it sounds like classic rock, but I love the style of the longer songs that just go crazy with instrumentals and guitar solos. Overall, what a nice piece of work.

I do think they should have released God Damn as a single instead of the Stage leading up. Its a non 8 minute long song and maybe one of the more faster paced ones.

 

you know, this album would be good if m shadows didnt have an unbearable voice now

 

M. Shadows has always been a terrible vocalist...I guess that might be better posted in the unpopular music opinions thread, but *shrug*

 

well yeah but on waking the fallen he at least screamed to outweigh the horrible singing and since city of evil its just gotten worse and worse and worse and now he's literally unlistenable