______________________________________________________________________Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Orange County, California, formed in 1999. The band has achieved mainstream success with their 2005 album City of Evil, which included singles such as "Burn It Down", "Bat Country," "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day." The band's success followed with their self-titled album, with singles such as "Critical Acclaim", "Almost Easy", "Afterlife", "Scream", and "Dear God".
History
Inception (1999-2004)
The band was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California with original members M Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev. and Matt Wendt. In the band's first few years, they released two demos in the years 1999 and 2000, entitled 1999 Demo and 2000 Demo. "These demos were to be used to help them get signed to a record label", so says M. Shadows[1], on the All Excess DVD. Avenged Sevenfold's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were just eighteen years old and in high school. It was originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings in 2001. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, the introductory track "To End The Rapture" was re-recorded with the re
moval of the piano track. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002. Having settled on their fourth bassist (Johnny Christ), a follow-up album, entitled Waking the Fallen was released on the same label in 2003. Shortly after its release, Avenged Sevenfold was signed to Warner Bros. Records.
City of Evil (2005–2007)
City of Evil, the band's third album, was released on June 7, 2005. Propelled by the success of the first single "Bat Country" and its accompanying music video, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's first gold record. City of Evil strayed away from the band's previous metalcore
sound and M. Shadows chose to abandon the screaming vocals from the first two albums. Although Shadows acknowledges that he sustained throat and vocal cord damage after Waking the Fallen and later required surgery to help correct the problem, he states that the change in vocal style was not a result of this issue. In their DVD All Excess, Mudrock, producer of Avenged's second and third albums, said prior to Waking the Fallen, Shadows had stated that he wanted a CD with half-screaming, then one with no screaming, which was achieved in City of Evil.
Avenged Sevenfold (2007-2008)
Av
enged Sevenfold's mainstream success got them an invitation to 2006's Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known hard rock and heavy metal acts DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed, and System of a Down. That same year they also completed a worldwide tour, including the US, The United Kingdom (as well as mainland Europe), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After canceling Fall and Winter 2006 tour dates, the band announced that they were planning their fourth studio album, a self-titled album. M. Shadows has stated that it would not be a City of Evil Part 2 or Waking the Fallen Part 2, but he says it will attract fans of both original albums while still being a surprise.[2] They played their first tour dates of 2007 on an Asian tour with stops in Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan. To "tide fans over" until the release of the new album, Avenged Sevenfold released their first DVD, All Excess, on July 17, 2007. All Exc
ess debuted as the #1 DVD in the USA which included a documentary and live footage dating back to 1999 along with music videos and the making of the Seize the Day music video.
Before the self titled album was released, two tribute albums, that were composed by various artists as Instrumental cover albums were released. On October 9, 2007, the cover albums entitled, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Wings and Broken Strings, and Strung Out on Avenged
Sevenfold: The String Tribute were released to the public by Vitamin Records & Copycat Records. The self titled album was then released out on October 30, 2007 to early success, debuting at #4 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 94,000 copies sold.[3] Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" along with its music video, were released prior to the album. An animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven" and was going to be included on the MVI, but due to the song's subject matter (i.e. Necrophilia), Warner Brothers released it to registered MVI users over the internet in December 2007. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Avenged Sevenfold has confirmed that their fourth single is the country rock style song "Dear God".
Recent events (2008-present)
They recently headlined the Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot.[4]
Guitarist Zacky Vengeance confirmed in an interview that the band had recently entered the studio to record two new cover songs from metal giants Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.
On July
16 (Issue 1219), Kerrang! released a free CD, Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden as a trib
ute album to heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. It features Avenged Sevenfold covering the song "Flash of the Blade". "Maiden are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," quoted by vocalist M Shadows. "This also gives us a chance to expose this great song to some of our younger fans who maybe aren't as familiar with Iron Maiden." [5]
Avenged Sevenfold was awarded "Album of the Year" at the Kerrang! Awards. M. Shadows said this to the fans:
"Receiving such an honor in the United Kingdom means so much to us because England has become like a second home. This summer has been the best of our care
er. We've seen so many of you in so many countries and you've all touched us. We're so proud of how much love our fans in the US have always shown us. And now it means the world to us to know how many of you around the globe have been touched by our music. Thanks you from the bottom of our hearts."[cite this quote]
During a recent festival performance in Leeds & Reading, UK, of which was sold out, the band were forced to shorten the Leeds performance and canceled the Reading performance altogether due to M. Shadows being told by his doctors in Los Angeles and the UK to rest his voice due to vocal strain.[6] A few days later, the band was forced to announce the cancellation of the remaining
September shows, with the tour set to resume again on October 15.[7]
Avenged Sevenfold's most recent release, Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, a two-disc B-sides CD and live DVD, was released on September 16, 2008.
On January 12, 2009, Metal Hammer.com announced that Avenged Sevenfold would be covering the song, "Paranoid" By Black Sabbath, as part of a compilation album that will be released by Warner Bros. Records. The compilation album is entitled, Covered, A Revolution in Sound. The band originally wanted to cover, Strubb (A Dub) By Mr. Bungle, however was not able to onc
e given a list of songs they could cover by Warner Bros.
On January 17, 2009, in an interview with Avenged Sevenfold, Metal Hammer.com was told by M. Shadows that the band will begin to write a follow up album to Avenged Sevenfold within the upcoming months[8]. Covered: A Revolution In Sound will be available to download and purchase on March 10, 2009, with a cover of "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath.
On February 6, 2009, according to Metal Hammer.com announced that Lick Library has announced that they will be releasing a Guitar Tutorial DVD, which include the five tracks, Afterlife, Almost Easy, Bat Country, Beast and the Harlot, and Trashed And Scattered, breaking down the g
uitar solos and riffs in each song.
On February 13, 2009, Avenged Sevenfold posted a new article on their official site confirming that they will be playing at "Rock On The Range," from May 16-17, 2009.[9]
On February 16, 2009, Avenged Sevenfold cancelled their performance in Fort Wayne, due to M. Shadows having a vicious case of food poisoning (As said on the bands website).
On April 16, 2009, new Avenged Sevenfold song titled "Unwind the Chainsaw" was embedded onto the ba
nd's website, by surprising fans with a preview of the song. Fans got a chance to hear the song stream, while they browsed the site. Avenged Sevenfold guitarist had a conversation with fans on the band's official MySpace profile, claiming the title to be "Unwind the Chainsaw". The song is said to be released on the upcoming Avenged Sevenfold album.
Members of Band
| Zacky Vengeance | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Zachary James Baker |
| Also known as | Zacky Vengeance |
| Born | December 11, 1981 Huntington Beach, California |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock, heavy metal, metalcore |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 1999-Present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros. Records, Hopeless Records, Good Life Recordings |
| Associated acts | Avenged Sevenfold, The Dear & Departed, Mad Porno Action |
| M. Shadows | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthew Charles Sanders |
| Born | July 31, 1981 |
| Origin | Huntington Beach, California |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock, heavy metal, hardcore punk, metalcore |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, pianist |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar, bass |
| Years active | 1999–Present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros., Good Life Recordings, Hopeless Records |
| Associated acts | Avenged Sevenfold, Death by Stereo, Good Charlotte, Bleeding Through, The Confession |
| The Rev | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Owen Sullivan |
| Also known as | The Reverend Tholomew Plague, Rat Head, The Rev, Mr. Plague, Jimmy |
| Born | February 9, 1981 |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock, heavy metal, Third Wave Ska, avant-garde metal, hardcore punk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, drummer, percussionist |
| Instrument(s) | Drums, guitar, bass, piano, vocals |
| Years active | 1999–Present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros. Records, Good Life Recordings, Hopeless Records, Bucktan Records |
| Associated acts | Avenged Sevenfold Pinkly Smooth Suburban Legends , Ballistico |
| Synyster Gates | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. |
| Also known as | Synyster Gates |
| Born | July 7, 1981 Huntington Beach, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | Metalcore, Heavy metal, Hard Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, Piano |
| Years active | 2000–Present |
| Label(s) | Good Life Recordings, Hopeless Records, Warner Bros. Records, |
| Associated acts | Avenged Sevenfold, Pinkly Smooth, Good Charlotte, Burn Halo |
| Johnny Christ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jonathan Lewis Seward |
| Also known as | Johnny Christ |
| Born | November 18, 1984 Huntington Beach, California |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock, heavy metal, metalcore |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Bassist, Vocalist |
| Instrument(s) | Bass, vocals |
| Years active | 2002 - Present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros. Records, Hopeless Records |
| Associated acts | Avenged Sevenfold, The Dear & Departed |
