Avenged Sevenfold: Welcome to the Family.

Avenged Sevenfold, you might know them as A7X. This band consists of M. Shadows(Matt Sanders) lead vocalist, Synyster Gates(Brian Haner Jr.) Lead guitarist, Zacky Vengence( Zachary Baker) Rhythm guitarist, Johnny Christ( Johnathan Seward) Bassist, and the late The Rev( James Owen Sullivan) the drummer. There intro into the music world was started in 1999, in Huntington Beach, California with original members M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev and Matt Wendt. M Shadows came up with the name as a reference to the story of Cain and Abel from The Bible, which can be found in Genesis 4:24, although they are not a religious band. Upon its formation, each member of the band also took on a pseudonym. Before the  release of their debut album, the band recorded two demos in 1999 and 2000. 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, at the end of 1999 when he was 18 the introductory track "To End the Rapture" was re-recorded featuring a full band element. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002. The band started to receive recognition, performing with bands such as Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall and playing on the Take Action Tour.
            Having settled on their fourth bassist, Johnny Christ, they released Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Records in August 2003. The album featured a more refined and mature sound production in comparison to their previous album.  Avenged Sevenfold left Hopeless Records and were signed to Warner Bros. Records.


Alright well theres a little bit of info on the band when they were searching for the final line up. After Waking the Fallen was released they began to tour around and landed spots on Ozzfest and Warped Tour, thats when people really started to notice them. They created a bigger fan base. But the fans base consisted of kids that supported the "metalcore" scene, and Avenged was about to shock their fans that either they'd like or hate. M.Shadows stated that he wanted to release and album with all screaming then with screaming and singing, then after that no more screaming. A lot of the reason they had sucha big fan base was because of the screaming. So when they released the album City of Evil fans were shocked. They had changed their style a lot. The album had all signing and it was very melodic, the guitars were intricate and the drums were crazy. Either you loved it or hated it.

After touring for 2 years they decided to go back into the studio and release a self titled and self produced album. This album was purely experimanetal the band said, they wanted a more "grittier" sound. They tried very many different styles durings this album to see if anyone would like it. The album was a big success, it sold 90,000 copies sold.

After their success with the pervious album, they went back into the studio to record their fifth album Nightmare, which was going to be a more traditional heavy metal sound the band stated. It was Decemeber 28, 2009 and tragedy struck the band. James "The Rev" Owen Sullivan was found dead at his home at the age of 28. Autopsy results were inconclusive, but on June 9, 2010, the cause of death was revealed to have been an "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol,". The musical world was shocked by his death and all his adoring fans were heart broken ( me being one of them). The band was devistated with the lose of their brother and band mate, they didnt know if they could continue withour him. The fate of Avenged Sevenfold looked to be ending. But On February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold stated that they had entered the studio, along with now former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, to drum for the record, in place of the Rev. "I want our fans to know that with Jimmy in our hearts, our journey to record has officially began. Jimmy helped leave this world an amazing gift and now it's our job to make sure to deliver that gift to our fans. We asked Jimmy's all time favorite drummer Mike Portnoy to record on behalf of him. Mike said it would be an honor and without question that’s what Jim would have wanted. It's comforting to us that someone like Mike, who is undoubtedly revered as one of the best drummers in the world, held such respect and adoration for the Rev's abilities. Even though it will never be the same without our brother by our side, his essence lives in our hearts and through the music he helped create. He was a legend before any of the success or any of that bullshit and we are fucking excited to lay this down for our fans, and especially for Jimmy." M. Shadows said (sorry for the swear words, but its part of the quote)


They went forward and released the album on July 27, 2010 and in its first week it sold  163,000 copies. Mike Portnoy toured with the band for the rest of 2010 like he said he would, and after that he had to leave to go back to Dream Theater. So the band was without a drummer once again but on January 20, 2011 they said via facebook that Arin Llejay former drummer of the band Confide, would be filling in. The band also stated they didnt know if he would be permanent or just a fill in for the time being. They began their tour for 2011 to support their new album.

Avenged Sevenfold has a great sound well at least to me and all its dedicated fans out there. Give them a chance look them up, every song from every album they have recorded will blow you away. Their new album Nightmare is definitely one of their most heart filled albums with the death of their band mate, brother, son, husband, idol James "The Rev" Ownes Sullivan.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTHv7UCiXf4