Avenged Sevenfold, 'Hail to the King' Review
Sunday, December 8, 2013 at 12:01AM Avenged Sevenfold. They started off as a hardcore band. At first all the vocals were screamed. Then their sound started to change, and with every new album, they seemed to find new fans, and lose ones who had hoped the new album would sound like the old one. Their last album, Nightmare, was perhaps their greatest triumph to date, pulled from the ashes of the untimely death of their drummer, the Rev.
After that tour, they regrouped to plan their future. They found a new drummer, and once again, they found a new sound. Directly influenced by all the bands we love, they set out to create a more "classic" sounding album, that didn't push the boundaries so far from the sounds they grew up with. They have succeeded. The first song, "Shepherd of Fire," starts slow, with a thunderous riff that just does not let up. The next song, "Hail to the King," is also the single, and starts with what sounds like a picking exercise (which incidentally, is what the intro to "Sweet Child O' Mine" was). Speaking of Guns n Roses, "Doing Time" channels that band so completely that the vocal sound exactly like Axl, and the solo sounds exactly like Slash. This is not a band scared to wear it's influence on it's sleeve, which only comes from having done so much that they have proven they have their own sound, and that they are able to inhabit another sound completely without it being a rip off. I wish that there was at least one song on Chinese Democracy as good as this one. The next song, "This Means War" is built off a b2 riff that is actually pretty different to "Sad But True," but certainly sounds the same. The rest of the song does not channel Metallica but that riff is really the thing that stands out when you hear it.
Avenged Sevenfold can still do quirky, and "Requiem" starts with a harmony vocal in Latin, which reprises later in the song. The rest of the song is a slow metal groove, reminiscent perhaps of Pantera, but to be honest, I wouldn't come to that conclusion if the rest of the CD didn't have me listening for influences for each song. "Crimson Day" is the ballad of the album, and if they had been around to release this in 1988, they could all have bought houses out of it, I reckon. "Heretic" is my favourite song of the CD. I've heard people compare it to "Symphony of Destruction," and while I can hear what they mean, I think they are drawing a long bow. It does stop and start, it does build and fall, but it's just a great hard rock song. "Coming Home" is something else again. There is no question that the band is channeling Iron Maiden, M Shadows even copying some of Bruce's vocal inflections at times. I admit I did a double take the first time I heard it, but, while Iron Maiden are a band still releasing great new music, I do think I prefer the fire of "Coming Home" to the more placid music on their last few CDs.
The last two songs are called "Planets" and "Acid Rain." I suspect they may have written these first, they certainly sound like "old" Avenged Sevenfold, and are a great way to wrap up the CD, with some more proggy music (but still heavy) that would not be out of place on their older albums. It feels like a foretaste, as if future CDs might mix it up a bit more, but from now on they intend to both do the complex stuff, and do simpler heavy metal music as well. I've read interviews where a few modern bands put their hands up to be the next "top shelf" bands of our genre. Avenged Sevenfold are the only band who I think have the ability to pull it off. Thankfully they are here, and for anyone who loves good heavy rock, no matter the age or look of the people making it, the future looks very bright indeed.
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