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Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold 2.jpg
Avenged Sevenfold in 2016. From left to right: M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, Johnny Christ, Synyster Gates, and Brooks Wackerman
Background information
Also known as A7X
Origin Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Genres
Years active 1999–present
Labels
Members
Past members
  • Matt Wendt
  • Justin Sane
  • Dameon Ash
  • The Rev
  • Arin Ilejay

Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, bassist Johnny Christ, and drummer Brooks Wackerman.

Avenged Sevenfold are known for their diverse rock sound and dramatic imagery in album covers and merchandise.

To date, Avenged Sevenfold have released seven studio albums, one live album/DVD, two compilation albums and eighteen singles and have sold over 8 million albums worldwide, and their records have received numerous certification awards, including five platinum album awards from their home country's institution (RIAA). They have also created four original songs for the Call of Duty: Black Ops series, all of which were compiled together in the 2018 EP Black Reign. The band were ranked No. 47 on Loudwire's list of Top 50 Metal Bands of All Time.

History

Avenged Sevenfold was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California by Matt Sanders, James Sullivan, Zachary Baker and Matt Wendt. The band emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and largely continued this sound through their second album Waking the Fallen. However, the band's style had evolved by their third album and first major label release, City of Evil, into a more traditional heavy metal style. The band continued to explore new sounds with its self-titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their founding drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, died in 2009. Despite his death, Avenged Sevenfold continued on with the help of ex-Dream Theater member Mike Portnoy, and released and toured in support of their fifth album Nightmare in 2010, which debuted atop the Billboard 200, their first number one debut.

In 2011, drummer Arin Ilejay joined the band on tours and recording. The band's sixth studio album Hail to the King, which was released in 2013, marked the only Avenged Sevenfold album featuring Ilejay. It would feature a heavy metal and hard rock style, with it being written as a tribute to their influences. Hail to the King charted as number 1 on the Billboard 200, the UK Albums chart, as well as the Finnish, Brazilian, Canadian, and Irish charts. Ilejay left the band in late 2014 and was replaced by former Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman, but the lineup change was not announced to the public until 2015. The band then surprise-released their seventh studio album The Stage in October 2016, which debuted as number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the US. The Stage is their first conceptual album and marked another stylistic change for the band, moving towards a progressive metal sound. The band released their eighth studio album, Life Is but a Dream..., a highly experimental record, in June 2023.

Musical style and influences

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Avenged Sevenfold in 2011

Members of Avenged Sevenfold cite In Flames, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Mr. Bungle, Elton John, Leonard Cohen, At the Gates, Helloween, Dream Theater, Pennywise, NOFX, Pantera, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, The Beatles, Anthrax, Testament, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones as influences.

Avenged Sevenfold's musical style has consistently evolved throughout the duration of the band's career. As a result, the band has been categorized under several genres of heavy and extreme music, primarily heavy metal, alternative metal, hard rock, and progressive metal (most notably in their album The Stage). The band's initial style in their first two albums has been primarily categorized as metalcore. The band's debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, while consisting almost entirely of a metalcore sound, has several deviations from this genre, most notably in "Streets", which shows a punk rock style, and "Warmness on the Soul", which is a piano ballad. On Waking the Fallen, the band displayed a metalcore style once more, but added more clean singing and leaned a bit more towards metal and bit less close to hardcore. In the band's DVD All Excess, producer Andrew Murdock explained this transition: "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had come out before they had recorded Waking the Fallen, M. Shadows said to me 'This record is screaming. The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore. And the record after that is going to be all singing'."

On Avenged Sevenfold's third album City of Evil, the band chose to outright abandon the metalcore genre, creating a sound consistent with hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive metal. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album experiments with an even wider array of musical genres than that from City of Evil, most notably in "Dear God", which shows a country style and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which is circled within the influence of Broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. Nightmare contains further deviations, including a piano ballad called "Fiction", progressive metal-oriented track "Save Me" and a heavy metal sound with extreme vocals and heavier instrumentation on "God Hates Us". The band's sixth studio album Hail to the King shows more of a classic metal sound and a riff-oriented approach. On their seventh album The Stage, the band explores further into progressive metal, blending it with elements of thrash metal. Their eighth album, Life Is but a Dream... shows the band taking on more of an avant-garde metal sound.

Avenged Sevenfold has been criticized for "not being metal enough". In response to this, vocalist M. Shadows said: "we play music for the sake of music, not so that we can be labeled a metal band. That's like telling us we aren't punk enough. Who cares?" Avenged Sevenfold is one of the notable acts of the new wave of American heavy metal.

Band members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums
  • Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001)
  • Waking the Fallen (2003)
  • City of Evil (2005)
  • Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
  • Nightmare (2010)
  • Hail to the King (2013)
  • The Stage (2016)
  • Life Is But a Dream... (2023)

Accolades

Year Nominated work Award Result
2005 Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Best Live Band Nominated
2006 Avenged Sevenfold MTV Music Awards: Best New Artist Won
Avenged Sevenfold Golden God Awards: Best International Band Won
Synyster Gates on City of Evil Total Guitar: Guitarist of the Year Won
Synyster Gates on City of Evil Dimebag Darrell "Young Shredder" Awards Won
Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Best Band on the Planet
Nominated
2008 Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Best International Band Nominated
Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Best Live Band Nominated
Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Album of the Year Won
2010 The Rev on Nightmare Golden God Awards: Best Drummer Won
Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Best International Band Nominated
2011 Mike Portnoy on Nightmare Golden God Awards: Best Drummer Won
Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance on Nightmare Golden God Awards: Best Guitarists Won
M. Shadows on Nightmare Golden God Awards: Best Vocalist Won
Nightmare Golden God Awards: Album of the Year Won
Best Live Band Golden God Awards: Best Live Band Nominated
Best Live Band Kerrang! Awards: Best Live Band Nominated
Avenged Sevenfold Loudwire Music Awards: Live Act of the Year Won
Nightmare Kerrang! Awards: Best Single Nominated
Nightmare Kerrang! Awards: Best Album Nominated
Avenged Sevenfold Kerrang! Awards: Best International Band Nominated
"Buried Alive" Revolver Magazine: Song of the Year Nominated
2012 Best Live Band Golden God Awards: Best Live Band Won
Most Dedicated Fans Golden God Awards: Most Dedicated Fans Won
2013 "Carry On" Golden God Awards: Song of the Year Nominated
"Hail to the King" Loudwire Music Awards: Best Rock Song Won
Hail to the King Loudwire Music Awards: Rock Album of the Year Nominated
Avenged Sevenfold Loudwire Music Awards: Rock Band of the Year Won
Avenged Sevenfold Loudwire Music Awards: Most Devoted Fans Nominated
2014 Most Dedicated Fans Golden God Awards: Most Dedicated Fans Won
Hail to the King Golden God Awards: Album of the Year Nominated
M. Shadows on Hail to the King Golden God Awards: Best Vocalist Nominated
Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance on Hail to the King Golden God Awards: Best Guitarists Won
Arin Ilejay on Hail to the King Golden God Awards: Best Drummer Won
Johnny Christ on Hail to the King Golden God Awards: Best Bassist Nominated
"Hail to the King" Golden God Awards: Song of the Year Nominated
Avenged Sevenfold Golden God Awards: Best International Band Won
2016 Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance on The Stage Total Guitar: Best Metal Guitarists in the World Won
2017 Avenged Sevenfold Golden God Awards: Best International Band Won
The Stage Loudwire Music Awards: Metal Album of the Year Won
2018 "The Stage" Grammy Awards: Best Rock Song Nominated

Images for kids


See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Avenged Sevenfold para niños

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