[Review: Music] Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare

1. "Nightmare"
2. "Welcome to the Family"
3. "Danger Line"
4. "Buried Alive"
5. "Natural Born Killer"
6. "So Far Away"
7. "God Hates Us"
8. "Victim"
9. "Tonight the World Dies"
10. "Fiction"
11. "Save Me"

Band Members
M. Shadows – lead vocals
Synyster Gates – lead guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ – bass
The Rev - vocals, drum arrangements

Heavy Metal
Alternative Metal
Heavy Rock

Avenged Sevenfold MySpace
Avenged Sevenfold Website

Full-fledged review coming your way! Today I am reviewing the highly anticipated new album by Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare.

After the untimely death of James "The Rev" Sullivan the band was in a state of limbo wondering what to do. They had a good portion of the album started, but did they want to go on with it? Well, as the new album shows, yes they did.

Now, how about that review?

This is A7X’s 5th album and probably their biggest in terms of what they are trying to accomplish. As stated by lead singer M. Shadows, “The new album, Nightmare, is dedicated to The Rev’s memory and although it's not exactly a concept album, it does center around The Rev.” The album is definitely a different take on what they have done previously. Now I will admit I came into the A7X scene later than most fans meaning I really started listening to them after City of Evil. Starting with the self-titled album, Avenged Sevenfold, is when I really took a chance by listening to the whole album, and I was surprised to thoroughly enjoy it. So now I come back to listening to an entire A7X album and what have I found out?

I love the album. It is a truly great piece of musical art and I am glad to have listened to it. So, what does it sound like without The Rev? Well, not that much different really. The majority of sound sounds the same when compared to previous work, so stand-in drummer Mike Portnoy did not have to do that much to make it sound good. This meant the majority of the drumming did not change sound wise. Overall the drumming either way is very solid and ground thumping.

Now that we have covered the all new drum setup, we can move on to guitars!

Woo guitars. All I am going to say about the guitars is they are still awesome. Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance do amazing work and I have always loved their work. The bassist, Johnny Christ, is just as good and lives up to the intro of “Afterlife”. So honestly there is not much to say about the guitars other than they rock.

Finally we reach the vocals. While M. Shadows does the majority of vocals he does receive backup vocals from The Rev namely on the song “Fiction”. Following suit with what they did on their self-titled album, the vocal range is really varied. Shadows does do a good job of nailing all the parts and really sounding menacing at times; though I will put forth the complaint of his (and The Rev’s) vocals dropping at times to real low and then high again. Also, the vocals at times seemed to drown out the music so you really did not hear the background music. Overall the vocals and lyrics are very good and make a strong impact towards their goal of making this an album for The Rev.

The album as a whole makes up for the few down points that I found. The piano, the guitars, the drums, all instruments where used in a very effective and great way. The lyrics and vocals leave a lasting impact and really do mean something, sometimes. In closing I really did love this album, I hope they keep on doing what they do best, making music.

Personal favorite songs would be (in order of favorite first):

“Welcome to the Family”

“Buried Alive”

“Victim”

I give this album a 5 out of 5.