Avenged Sevenfold Band • Page 2

I feel the same way. Instrumentally it's very impressive, but it's like they forgot how to write a hook or a chorus. I won't say that the band is incapable of writing good stuff without The Rev though. If they could combine the arena rock of Hail To The King with this album, it would be decent. Not great, but decent.

 

Agreed. I am glad they did not release another Hail to the King or an even worse album.

 

I can't really say I actively enjoy of this band's material anymore but I really did not think Hail to the King was that bad. Yes it wore its influences on its sleeve super hard but it was kind of refreshing hearing them not be overindulgent for once, which has caused almost all their stuff to wear on me a lot over time.

 

I think Hail to the King is decent. I like Shepard of Fire, the title track, Doin' Time, and especially Coming Home. Coming Home might be one of my favorite songs they've ever written, and I'm sad they never play it live.

 

I'll give this a shot, even though I haven't liked anything they've released in 10 years.

 

This new album is definitely not for me. It's out there.

 

Yeah not really a fan of this. Most of the songs drag on way too long without being memorable... a real shortage of catchy hooks. Plus M. Shadows is the worst he's ever sounded.

 

synyster has been playing the same solos for over a decade

 

IDK, I like it. It's a grower.

 

I d

You're the first I've heard say this.

 

I've listened to this a few times now. It most closely reminds me of Planets and Acid Rain from HTTK, which I thought were among the most boring songs on that album. I feel like, as out-there as parts of the album are -- the AI concept, the horns, the NDT monologue over the last part of Exist -- a lot of it sounds surprisingly mundane. I was reading on Reddit that people think the solo in God Damn sounds "spacey", but to me, it just sounds like a generic chromatic Syn solo.

Say what you will about them, but Avenged Sevenfold is capable of writing songs that stand apart from each other. There's nothing else in their discography that sounds like Gunslinger, or A Little Piece of Heaven, or Sidewinder, or Save Me. Everything on The Stage strikes me as samey, not only in the context of the album itself, but of their whole discography. You could swap out most of the riffs and solos on this album and replace them with any other riff or solo from their career, and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The "experimental" part of the album seems really superficial. It's all stuff they've done better already; here, it's just that some of the songs are longer, and are written with what feels like an intentional disregard for hooks.

I dunno, I really want to like this, but several listens deep, I think it might just not be for me.

 

Coming Home is by far the best track on the record

 

Nailed it.

 

Does anyone else feel like they have to turn the volume up louder than normal for this album compared to almost any other album? Not sure if it's the production or something else entirely, but it is needed whether I listen to it on Apple Music (streaming) or via the CD in my car.

 

Yeah I noticed this too, seems it's mixed kind of softly.

 

Yup, big time. It's been like that on my computer, phone or in the car. Even when the songs came on XM...

 

I don't get it. How does no one catch that prior to release?

 

I remember a few years ago I read an interview in which Matt Shadows talked about how much he hates the loudness war, and how Hail to the King was purposefully mixed so that it sounded less loud than most albums nowadays. I guess they did the same with this one.

 

Hail To The King was utter garbage. This is much better. The drumming is incredible, it feels like he added his personality to the band, whilst still keeping an eye on the classic Rev drumming sound.

This doesn't quite compete with City of Evil, but it's a solid album. Love the return of all the gothic elements, it's why I loved their older material (mostly City of Evil & Nightmare). The Tim Burton/Danny Elfman parts are what really seperate them for me.

 

So this band dropped an album out of nowhere today?

The Stage

Album Review: AVENGED SEVENFOLD The Stage - Metal Injection

 

Like two months ago

 

Dude every post in this thread is about that album lol

 

Maybe it was the physical. It's been a long day.

Not a big AS fan.

 

I'm loving The Stage actually. The title track didn't have me hooked when it was first released, but the rest of the album did it for me.

 

The physical came out the same day as the digital, it was a pretty big feat. It's the first time in history an album has had a surprise release with physical copies as opposed to solely digital.