July 24, 2001 - Avenged Sevenfold and Sounding The Seventh Trumpet

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release another new band joins my library when Avenged Sevenfold released their debut album "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet" on July 24, 2001. But who are Avenged Sevenfold? They are a four-piece metalcore band from Huntington Beach, California consisting of Justin Sane (bass, piano), James "The Rev" Sullivan (drums, percussion), Zacky Vengeance (guitars, backing vocals) and M. Shadows (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards). Avenged play an interesting mix of heavy metalcore with screaming vocals, but also a very accesible style of metal with singing at others. Let's see what Avenged Sevenfold are all about!

The album kicks off with a short intro called "To End The Rapture" and Vengeance plays a nice heavy rhythm guitar riff before coming right in with some soloing! He is just shredding it right from the get-go with some really wicked stuff and then we hear Shadows for the first time in his unique singing voice that is high and has a bit of a grunge-y feel to it, but he still sounds very unpolished (the whole band was only roughly 18 years old at the time). The guitars were great though and the end leads into the first full track "Turn The Other Way". Vengeance leads the way with a nice heavy main guitar riff and The Rev adds some pretty fast and cool drums. Shadows screams for the first time and his screaming sounds nice and heavy and in my opinion is his far superior voice. Things sound headbangingly great as they shift back-and-forth between the fast riff and a nice chugging slower riff that is plenty heavy and sweet. They add another slower, simpler riff to the mix as well with Shadows singing in his high voice once again and this sort is decent, but easily the worst of the three riffs that make up this song. Track 3 is "Darkness Surrounding" and they dive right into a super fast riff with some nice fast guitars and bass and some phenomenal fast drums by The Rev. Shadows screams for the most part and sounds pretty awesome, but he mixes in some singing here and there and I like it a lot more when used as a backing vocal like this. Vengeance plays a bunch of sweet guitars and everything sounds pretty sweet! The Rev really shows off with a ton of super fast and relentless drumming and he's so perfectly on time all the time! Shadows sings a short verse to slow things down briefly, and that makes the return to the loud riff and screams sound even better! They overlap his voice so we hear the singing and screaming simultaneously and this makes for a cool effect even though it couldn't be replicated live. The next track is "The Art Of Subconscious Illusion" and it's got a fast-paced main riff with some more pretty sweet guitars by Vengeance and Shadows starts off singing, but quickly switches to some great screams, including a really low one that sounds brutal! Shadows tastefully mixes in the singing once again and things sound pretty awesome once again! There's a part with Shadows talking and lots of super distorted guitars that reminds me of Underoath (which is definitely a good thing) and then there's a slow and heavy breakdown that hits nice and hard! Everything is pretty sweet so far, I love their style of metal! Track 5 is "We Come Out At Night" and The Rev starts us off with a nice fast drum beat, Sane plays a catchy bass riff, Shadows screams a nice verse overtop, and then Vengeance completes the riff with some typically heavy and cool guitar. The chorus has some catchy guitar but I'm not a huge fan of Shadows almost pop-y singing. After another fantastic verse and simpler chorus they close out the song with Shadows singing a final pop-y chorus, but with nothing else behind him but Sane on piano! The piano is actually pretty good, but the vocals are just not my favourite. Up next is "Lips Of Deceit" and Vengeance leads the way with a simple but super catchy guitar riff and the rhythm section nicely forms behind him and Shadows enters with some boring "whoa-ohhhh" vocals at first. Vengeance then steps it up on guitar with a nice faster riff, the drums dramatically speed up and Shadows switches to screaming heavily, a pretty awesome main riff! Sane's bass shines through in the background as well, it's a really great job from everyone and things sound pretty sweet! They combine the screaming and singing again at the end of this one and while it's the screaming that makes it, the singing does add something and I like it here. Track 7 is the album's only single "Warmness On The Soul" and Sane leads the way with some pretty epic piano that sounds good and classical. Shadows sings a high, pop-y verse overtop and he sounds alright but nothing too great, but the piano continues to sound great. After a couple slightly sappy rounds Vengeance and The Rev finally join in with some light drums and a slow but epic guitar solo that fits the mood nicely. We even get a piano solo at one point and while all this piano is certainly out of character, Sane does a really nice job the whole song, including a flashy finish! The next track is "An Epic Of Time Wasted" and they do a great job of mixing it up between some cool faster metal and some slows heavy breakdowns. Vengeance plays a ton of cool guitar that words don't properly do justice for and Shadows sounds great screaming hisblungs out! Shadows sings a verse out of nowhere that breaks up the heaviness, then they come thundering back in as Shadows nicely sings and screams. Another pretty cool tune! Track 9 is just over a minute and it's called "Breaking Their Hold". It's relentless the whole way through with a super fast rhythm section as Vengeance plays a great fast guitar riff and Shadows screams nicely overtop. For a song that was just 1:11, it was excellent! Up next is "Forgotten Faces" and it's got another fantastic main riff with some catchy guitar by Vengeance and some great drumming by The Rev the whole way through. Shadows screams for the most part, and sounds awesome, but as they seem to like to do they break things up briefly with a quiet singing verse and it does help to make the return to the metal hit nice and hard. The heavy metal hits keep coming, and track 11 is "Thick And Thin" and words don't do proper justice when so say it's another sweet fast-paced main riff, Vengeance is just full of wicked guitar riffs and they're all different and pretty sweet. Shadows sings at first and he sounds good singing quickly along with the music, and then he sounds even better when he switches to screaming, he's got such an evil and heavy-sounding scream! The Rev's drumming is super fast and on point and Sane's heavy bass is solid as well, it all makes for some great metal! The next track is "Streets" and Sane and The Rev play a fantastic rhythm section with some great bass and drums before Vengeance comes in with a simple but fast main riff. Shadows sings quickly again and again sounds pretty good, but it's actually the drums that are the highlight as Rev just fuckin' goes off a couple times! This song is kinda punk-y and not as heavy, but it's nice to have something a little different even if it's not as headbangingly awesome. The final song on the album is the 7+ minute "Shattered By Broken Dreams" and the first couple minutes are led by a slow and light guitar riff and Shadows singing a light yet epic verse. Then they ramp nicely into a typically heavy riff with some cool bass by Sane and of course some solid guitar. Shadows singing sounds a little whiny and this long song is a little repetitive, but Vengeance eventually spices things up with a cool guitar solo. It's just too long, a decent but slightly disappointing way to end things.

That is the end of "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet" and I thought it was a pretty good debut album by Avenged Sevenfold. M. Shadows singing still has some work to do, but his screaming is awesome and Zacky Vengeance plays a whole bunch of great guitar. The Rev is a phenomenal drummer as well and Justin Sane seems a pretty good bassist, and pianist! They are all still young as well so I can't wait to see where they go from here!