Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold featuring M. Shadows (vocals), Synyster Gates (lead guitar), Zacky Vengeance (guitar), Johnny Christ (bass) and The Reverend (drums) is embracing the ride of their wildly successful release City of Evil on Warner Bros. Records. The album produced by Mudrock (Godsmack, Eighteen Visions) incorporates epic guitar solos, a bowel-rumbling bottom end and the gloomy imagery of vintage British metal (Rolling Stone).

City of Evil was certified gold on the wings of their explosive hits Bat Country and Beast And The Harlot, with the next single, Seize The Day set to impact this summer. Videos for Bat Country and Beast And The Harlot have been in heavy rotation at MTV, MTV2, MTVU, Fuse and Yahoo! Visionary director Wayne Isham (Metallica, Velvet Revolver) has directed the powerful, gut wrenching video for the emotive and rocking Seize The Day. The band has been a dominating force on Myspace with over 12,000,000 hits to their page.

Avenged Sevenfold has just completed a triumphant U.S. arena tour culminating in two sold out nights at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, and mainstay on OZZfests mainstage.

"There's an escalating race to be the new face of metal...and with City Of Evil, A7X could very well be the victors," trumpeted Alternative Press, while the band's hometown paper, the O.C. Register, proclaimed, "...A7X hurtles past contemporaries to re-emerge a seasoned powerhouse...issuing a superior, tuneful metal album that ranks among the genre's best this decade!"

"We're at the point where we've come into our own," vocalist M. Shadows says of the ambitious City Of Evil, an 11-song collection that gives a middle finger to the idea of categorization, bridging the sonic guitar assault of Iron Maiden with the frenetic pace of Bad Religion and the musicianship of Dream Theater. "In Southern California, you're really brought up in the whole punk world. At the same time, we grew up listening to Pantera, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer records," Shadows recalls. "You think you want to play in a certain kind of band, but that moment passes and you find yourself writing music that just comes out naturally. We're definitely not afraid to put anything in our songs if we think it calls for it."

Avenged Sevenfold evince a perfect metal moment live during the orchestral interlude in "The Wicked End," complemented by a boys choir and 14-piece string section that melds their intensity with a musical daring their hard rock forefathers would be proud of. Those looking primarily for a cathartic release live only need turn to the ferocious energy of "Bat Country," a song written for Hunter S. Thompson about the band's adventures in Las Vegas.

As with their live show, City Of Evil goes well beyond conventional hard rock. The band throws in a beautiful Flamenco guitar solo near the end of the savage "Sidewinder," and the record bursts with displays of their stellar musicianship, from the intricate tempo changes of "Burn It Down" to the tender acoustic intro of a Spaghetti Western mixed with classical melody that provides the calm before the storm in the savage "Strength Of The World."

All of the success the band is enjoying means a lot to the five members because they've worked hard to get to this point. "We've seen bands that we started out with that got a bit of a head start or an early break, and they're done now. We've learned so much more doing it from the ground up. We've had so many more good times and bad times. It has made us stronger as a band," Vengeance says.

Hard work is what also accounts for the Avengeds fiercely loyal following, according to Shadows. "It's rewarding to know we have a really solid core fan base that believes in us and our music, and sees Avenged Sevenfold as a lifestyle," he says. "We don't ever fall because our fans are holding us up, and that cant just get pulled out from underneath us. It's very gratifying to be at this place now."