Monday, December 11, 2006

Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil


For my next review, I will be reviewing City of Evil, by metal band Avenged Sevenfold.


Sound://I have to say, Avenged Sevenfold sounds a lot like some older metal bands, such as Guns N' Roses and the like. The guitar work done by Synyster Gates (Bryan Haner), and Zacky Vengeance (Zachary Baker) is the best out of any newer band. I mean, cool riffs all over the place, wicked solos, and impressively fast palm mutings in their rhythm sections. Singer M.Shadows (Matthew Sanders) has typical metal sounding vocals, nothing too special there. Drummer Reverend "Rev" Tholomew Plague (James Sullivan) makes all the songs even more metal-y using his two bass drums, adding a cool effect.

The first single from this album was "Burn it Down", my personal favourite on this album. I like everything about this song, as simple as that. Nothing to really talk about for this track.

The third single from this album was "Beast and the Harlot", this was the track that made me want to review this album. I love the chorus, but I dislike the intro. Definitely a good song, which is featured as a song to play along to on the PS2 game "Guitar Hero"

Lyrics://Avenged Sevenfold's lyrics mainly talk about girls, and well, as the CD title implies, evil. There were some interesting lyrics on this album, such as this, taken from "Beast and the Harlot". "If you're not a servant, you'll be struck to the ground, Flee the burning, greedy city, Lookin' back on her to see there's nothing around". This sorta makes me thing about a city full of sinners, and God getting revenge. I could be totally off, but these lyrics would sort of support my idea "Fallen now is Babylon the Great"...

Impression://This album is OK, I wouldn't listen to this on a daily basis, but I can listen to this occasionally. Some standout tracks on this album are: "Burn it down", "Beast and the Harlot", "Betrayed" and "Strength of the World" One thing I do not like, is how long almost all the songs are. It is OK for me if a couple songs are long, but I'm not fond of almost ever song being 6 minutes long.

01. Beast and the Harlot - For some reason, I don't like the intro to this song, but once it starts, it becomes very fast. I like the lyrics to this song a lot. There is some wicked drumming at around 3:25, great job there. I'm not really sure why, but I love this song, no doubt about it. 9/10

02. Burn it down - This song starts off right away with a cool drum line, followed by a short lead intro. I like the way M.Shadows sings in the verses, sounds almost like he doesn't take a breath the entire time. Obviously edited, but still cool to listen to. At one point, M.Shadows yells like Chris Cornell of Audioslave, sounds good.
This song is not too long, or not too short. 10/10

03. Blinded in Chains - The introductory solo includes harmonization from both guitars, which sounds pretty good. The guy talking on the right here during the verse is very annoying, doesn't really sound good at all. I'm not really fond of this song. 4/10

04. Bat Country - I am a big fan of this song, mainly because of the solo at 2:19, sounds very difficult to do. At 2:50, it turns into a dual guitar solo. Sounds completely amazing! The solo ends at 3:17, but there are still some lead parts throughout the rest of the song, which still are impressive. Only thing I dislike, is the ending :( - 9/10

05. Trashed and Scattered - I like this song, but I cant really get into this song. Its OK, but OK at best. 5/10

06. Seize the Day - Starts out acoustic, then later on adds some piano, and some cool, almost Rage Against the Machine-like lead parts. Really good lyrics, really good tune, and enjoyable to listen to. Only bad thing is that I think they made it a bit too long, and after a while seems a bit repetitive. 8.5/10

07. Sidewinder - Intro makes the song sound like it will be beyond awesome. Its not bad, but I am a sucker for sweet solos, and here we go again, at 3:30. Only 20 seconds, then back to a short acoustic bit. I find the last three minutes of this song crap though. 6.5/10

08. The Wicked End - Nothing special here, just LOOOONG! From 3:30 to 4:44 there is absolutely nothing, just empty space. I guess that is why the songs are so long, they are filled with nothing. 7/10

09. Strength of the World - A nine minute song here, starts of very slow, with a nice acoustic bit, and some samba like instruments. The song doesn't actually lift off until 1:30. This song is good, but again, too long and repetitive, a definite drawback to this band in my eyes. 6/10

10. Betrayed - This song starts out with an interesting little riff, but the singer sounds very whiny to me in this song. I'm not sure if it's just me, but its not enjoyable. At 4:27ish, the song picks up big time, it is much harder than before, and it will probably boost the rating of this song a couple points. 7/10

11. M.I.A - I don't enjoy this song, but I do have to say the song ends well, and is a good end to the album. 6/10

I would definately check this band out if you like classis rock/metal a lot. Or if you like some of these newer bands : Trivium, Atreyu, Remembering Never and Lamb of God

Overall, this was an OK album, had its highlights and its lowlights. A good choice for a hardcore metal fan though :D

--Jacob


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