Today marked the release of Avenged Sevenfold’s newest album Nightmare and fans all over the world are sharing in the dual experience of enjoyment and mourning. By now it is blisteringly apparent to those who know the band and those who keep tabs on the headlines that the group of five (now four) lost their drummer suddenly at the end of last year. The album, as consequence, underwent a bit of a shift and has become, at the risk of sounding cliche’d, the most emotionally ‘raw’ album they have released. Instead of throwing in the towel with the demise of their friend, bandmate, and brother, the boys instead attempted to pick up the pieces and enlisted Mike Portnoy of DreamTheater (and one of The Rev’s idols) to pick up drumming duties. The boys continue on their track record for exploring influences and mixing genres while also managing to get back to some of their older style and stripping down to the bare bones.
As a whole I think Nightmare is a good album but it is very difficult for me to say it is their BEST album. I was first introduced to the band through the video for their single Bat Country to which I was intrigued but not immediately receptive. It wasn’t until after I heard the self-titled album that I found I enjoyed them as a whole and began to work backward through their previous releases. That said in MY opinion, if not for the soul reason of first exposure, I hold the self titled above Nightmare at the minimum. That isn’t to say it’s not a good album, because it is, just not the top in my opinion. On the 5/5 scale I’d give it a solid 3/5.
Breakdown by track. Please note that I am not a musician or a musical expert in any form this is just what I get from listening:
Nightmare- The title track starts off the album with eerie almost music box-y note and dives into an epic and catchy combination with a steady beat. The combination of guitar, vocal and drums makes this an almost typical Avenged track. Portnoy does a fantastic job with mimicry as it is almost impossible not to hear the fallen Reverend in the drums. The groove of the song is a steady one and you can easily bop your head along to it. The lyrics are brilliantly dark and with M Shadows’ gritty vocals it makes it all the more sinister. The solo provided by Gates is a decent one, while not my favorite it is still quality, my attention its more drawn to the bass and the drums supporting him through it. Around the 4:10 minute mark Shadows’ lyrics kinda go ‘lazy’ in my opinion (rhyming every ending word with the next…) before coming back out around 4:55 to something more his caliber and while the song as a whole is not about the death of their brother it is almost easy to mistake it as such.
Quote: ‘It’s a very good album-opening song and features all the accoutrements that you want when you put in an Avenged Sevenfold album: lightning guitar solos, rhythm and melody changes, sick-as-fuck drumming, and something a little longer than your everyday metal song. I also like the piano incorporation at the outro bridge of the song. Incorporating outside instrumentation is something this band has gotten increasingly better at on each album and piano, strings, and backing vocals serve this album well without becoming overbearing.’ -Aaron Titan 411Mania.com
WelcometotheFamily – Starts out with drums and a wicked riff a harder beat/groove to it before it speeds up. The back of the song, more specifically the guitars in chorus sounds like something off the self-titled album (Lost or Unbound specifically) then it kicks into something a little more ‘rough’ sounding with Shadows whispering. I personally love those parts of the song. The combination of all the pieces just fits and gives it a little more of a Waking the Fallen/or older feel to it (I feel like I can’t mention Sounding the Seventh Trumpet because that seems to consistently ‘hard’ for this but I could very well be wrong). The lyrics are catchy and another good song in my opinion. The guitar towards the middle/end is typical Gates speed and ridiculousness. One of the ‘heavier’ songs with a nice combo of feeling from older to new A7X that just oozes bad-assery in my opinion.
DangerLine – I’m not exactly sure what the band was trying to do here. The song starts off with a drum line and then quickly adds guitar and then hits a typical Avenged style dueling guitar. Then the lyrics start and the instrumentation behind it from the 42 second mark to the 1:05 mark are decent and then they go into something again, reminiscent of Lost or Unbound. The song itself sounds to ‘confused’ to me even at this point. And then they slow it down adding the drum line back in and a trumpet before cutting back out to a dueling guitar. If that wasn’t enough they then pull a page from Guns N’ Roses and have whistling lead the song out. This song is probably tied for least favorite with the song that comes after. It just seems confused and like the odd man out on this record.
BuriedAlive – I refuse to go into an in depth review of this song because I’ve only heard it once. However, that being said it is because I only listened to it once and disliked it so much that I am avoiding listening to it again. The intro is too long. I could take a nap through it, wake up, feel refreshed and all in time to listen to the remainder of the Metallica-lite that is this song (seriously, think of any Metallica song in your head and you pretty much have the idea). It does not grab me at all and in fact bores me I was hoping for it to end, which it seemed to take forever to do. Perhaps my opinions will change one day when I listen to it again on accident when it comes on the shuffle selection of my iPod. But for today this judgment is held as negative.
NaturalBornKiller – Takes us back out of the awful at an almost breakneck speed with a heavy dose of thrash and Shadows’s gutteral ‘scream’ if you can call it that. This song is the distinct twin of Almost Easy with the drums and guitar in a large portion of the song. However, it works. It’s extremely catchy and much like Almost Easy it works for the band. The drums stand out the most to me and there really isn’t much else to comment on apart from the catchy lyrics of Shadows and the usual quality guitars of a song off Self-Titled.
SoFarAway – Brings the tone of the album down to a simple, stripped down blues feel. This by far is the most emotionally raw track on the album and in my opinion that makes it the best. While my boyfriend describes the drums as ‘wankish’ I think they fit for the song. Known as the song written for The Rev by his brother and band mate Synyster Gates, the song is pretty much an open letter. The solos seem to fit nicely and almost have a mournful wine/twang to them. The chorus a relate-able statement for anyone who has lost someone dear to them. From the 3:10 mark on the song seems to amp up emotionally as more is layered into the song and the longer guitar solo kicks up, once again an emotion behind it that almost seems like mourning. Simple but speaks for itself. The final addition of Shadows’ vocals mixed with a lower ‘singing’ and a louder almost scream fits very nicely and adds to both the aspect of pain/emotion. This song itself hits a pretty hard note emotionally for me and I am almost certain that is why I can sit back and enjoy it/listen to it as much as I do. One of the chief complaints I have read by fans is the song’s simplicity but I think that is where the greatness of it lies, it lets more emotion out rather than covering it with fancy guitar, drum or vocals.
GodHatesUs – Hits back to older A7X style with more of a guttural screaming Shadows I’ve heard people say if you like Waking the Fallen/Sounding the Seventh Trumpet/ ‘their older stuff’ you’ll like this song I agree to some extent that it ‘gets back to their roots’ and kicks some ass one of the better songs on the album in my opinion and I appreciate the more scream-y vocals for a change … The tone of the album is amp’d back up with this song. A great deal rougher and grittier (the sound that I enjoy) complete with epic drums and guitar….before it kicks back down for the end of the song. The song as a whole I feel like a response or lash out that some people experience after the death of someone close and that comes through with the all out thrashing of the song.While I think that ending is interesting I would have liked to have seen them end it a little differently, possibly just stop rather than fade.
Victim – Kicks it back down to a slower blues type feel and I feel it starts off with an almost Pink Floyd-y feel. It works but the song, while I feel is trying to mimic So Far Away indirectly in emotion isn’t really working for me that way. It’s hard not to equate the lyrics Shadows delivers as saying the loss of The Rev is a crime. The instrumentals behind him seem more angry than mournful like in So Far Away which I think fits as the song itself comes across as bitter than sad. Looking at this song with the two songs that come before it I believe that the order of emotion would go God Hates Us, So Far Away, Victim. The order going from the initial burst of anger at loss, followed by mourning period, followed by reflection. The guitar solo is decent, again its not something that I am wowed by but it wasn’t bad.
TonightTheWorldDies – I honestly can’t get a handle on this song. I will reserve my review of it for a later date after I listen to it a few more times.
Fiction - This is a decent song provided by the Rev, while I used to say it came in second for favorite on the album it has since been ousted by Natural Born Killer and Welcome to the Family. While it let me down emotionally (yes I’ll admit I was looking for it to hit me harder than it did) it was an interesting song and eerie/off beat in a way that could only be produced by The Rev. Oddly Pinkly Smooth sounding I have read ‘rumors’ that he had in fact started this song while in Pinkly Smooth and ditched it until this album. The piano is catchy and wonderful while adding eerie to the equation without a second thought. The Rev’s vocals, which I thought would give me the hardest time, were, as usual the best thing about the song. I have always loved The Rev’s voice the best out of all the members it isn’t a normal sound and there is something about it that just draws me in and I dare everyone who listens not to get goosebumps or snag a quick intake of breath when he sings ‘let it burn’. That being said there were some issues I had where they could have used Shadows instead of the Rev’s vocals. He sounds slurred or drunk in portions. Which could just be due to the way he was singing but it wasn’t my favorite sound.While the hype was how oddly clairvoyant they lyrics were that was almost the let down for me. For someone who was singing something ‘from a part of them that seemed to know what was going to happen to them’ they sound kind of empty. Granted. This isn’t The Rev’s fault, he obviously didn’t hype it that way and hopefully didn’t know just how clairvoyant he was being with what he said. Thus, was just singing into a mic and does not come across as heartfelt as I would have expected. The other issue I have a problem with as far as hype was calling it his masterpiece. I feel bad saying so as the ‘masterpiece’ comment was supposed to have come direct from The Rev’s mouth but I have to respectfully disagree naming A Little Piece of Heaven as an all out masterpiece. The fact that ALPoH tops this in ‘masterpiece’ quality does not, however, make it any less of an album favorite for me and as his last work The Rev did well.
Interesting Factoid to share with Friends: There is not a shred of guitar in this song. It is a simple equation of Drum,Piano, String and Vocal.
SaveMe – I honestly can’t get a handle on this song either. I will reserve my review of it for a later date after I listen to it a few more times. Through several more listens I’ve come to enjoy this nearly 11 minute song. It took me focusing on the lyrics and exactly what was being said to appreciate it The guitar and drums are wonderful in themselves once I actually listened to the song and is everything one would expect from an Avenged song. I have to say I enjoy the area around the 4:50 mark more than most into the guitar at the 5:20 mark. While it is hard to get through and not zone out if you can just sit and listen it really is an epic song and I take back my previous statement below and this is a great way to end the album.
LostItAll (Bonus Track) – Sounds like it can fit on both Diamonds in the Rough or Self-Titled and has I want to say the sound of Girl I Know which is distinctly Pantera but I can’t be sure so don’t quote me on that. The song itself ends the album on what I think is a high note if only because I enjoy this song while I am still not sure about SaveMe. However, the song fits comfortably into the niche that Avenged have carved for themselves and without saying too much of consequence I enjoy it.
All in all I think the boys have created something they can be decently proud of with 9 out of12 songs being ‘good’ to ‘great’ and while it’s not the best it is certainly worth a listen if you get the chance. With Mike Portnoy playing The Rev’s skillfully written pieces how could you go wrong?
