August 26, 2003 - Waking The Fallen

A week after my last release and two years since "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet", Avenged Sevenfold released their second album "Waking The Fallen" on August 26, 2003. Bassist Justin Sane is no longer with the band and he is replaced by new bassist Johnny Christ. Avenged also become a five-piece as Zacky Vengeance shifts to just rhythm guitar and Synyster Gates joins the band as their new lead guitarist. Vengeance proved he was a pretty great guitarist last album so the fact that he's taking a back seat to newcomer Gates must mean the guitars are getting somehow even better?! Let's listen to the latest!

The album begins with the title track "Waking The Fallen" and it's a short intro song that slowly builds up, but there's honestly not a lot happening. Eventually things slam nicely into the next track "Unholy Confessions" and Gates and Vengeance give us our first (of many) tastes of the two of them syncing up for some pretty epic harmonized guitars. The rhythm section falls in nicely behind and M. Shadows screams and sings in the verse and it's a decent mix with mostly singing, but of course I love his screams! The chorus has some pretty catchy, slower guitars and a fairly pop-y chorus sing by Shadows. The next verse has more Screaming (love it) and before the next chorus they break nicely to a new riff that is groovy, and still super heavy! I love this part and it somehow leads perfectly back into the chorus before they nicely wrap things up as well. A pretty sweet way to really kick things off! Track 3 is "Chapter Four" and The Rev plays some super fast and fantastic drums in the intro before they settle into a cool stop-and-start main riff with Gates and Vengeance harmonizing again for an extra loud main riff. Shadows sings and screams simultaneously in the verse, which sounds really good, it's just impossible to replicate live. The background screams sound great with the lead vocals sung very smoothly and this leads into a similarly epic chorus with Shadows holding some long notes overtop a simpler, catchier chorus riff. After another round Shadows sings a new verse nice and loud and they segue from here into another new riff with Gates soloing in the background while Shadows screams a nice new verse. This part is pretty excellent and they bring it back to the chorus nicely as well in this pretty prog-y tune! Up next is "Remenissions" and The Rev is firing right from the get-go again with some more sweet drums and they settle into another epic and pretty cool harmonized main riff, and Shadows deep screams overtop sound awesome! The complexity of the guitars makes the harmonization super impressive and there's plenty of great parts to this long verse! The chorus has some much lighter guitars, but now Gates and Vengeance are playing off each other and they do a phenomenal job at this too! It's a very contrasting chorus that is good, just very light, but then it's back to another awesome heavy verse. After this verse we get a harmonized guitar solo, and it's pretty awesome to hear one guitarist in each ear, both playing the same solo perfectly in sync! After a final chorus they seem like they're ramping into a new part, but they ramp right into a fadeaway, interesting choice. Track 5 is called "Desecrate Through Reverence" and Gates and Vengeance team up again for a slow but heavy and epic riff to kick us off. This goes on for almost two minutes with Shadows just screaming and singing some pop-y "whoa-oh-oh", then the first verse finally starts. It's another pretty sweet one with some super high screams by Shadows that sound great! The chorus has more singing, but still some nice screaming and everything sounds pretty groovy, heavy and awesome! They end the song with a new verse with Shadows singing pretty epicly and this song was also very prog-y with three distinct parts, but all very smoothly done. Up next is "Eternal Rest" and they jump right into an opening guitar solo with Gates doing some pretty awesome shredding! This leads nicely into a furious main riff with some fast guitars and some nice high screams by Shadows, then things nicely break down into a slower new riff that is heavy and pretty groovy! Shadows sounds pretty heavy overtop this riff and Gates and Vengeance sync up for some more epic harmonized guitars. After another pretty sweet round they slow things down for a more accessible riff with Shadows singing softly to match the new mood. This part is not as good as the rest of the song for sure, but it's not enough to spoil what was still a solid tune. Track 7 is "Second Heartbeat" and Gates plays an epic lead guitar riff while the rest of the band forms a slow, heavy rhythm section behind him. Shadows screams nicely overtop and he also adds some "whoa-oh-oh" backing vocals which are a little repetitive and don't add much. Shadows sings a decent chorus overtop a simpler but still solid chorus riff, then they slam nicely back into the heavy verse. The rounds are long on this seven minute song and the final minute is a long guitar solo by Gates! He eases his way into it, but by the end he is just unloading on that guitar and it sounds pretty great! The next track is "Radiant Eclipse" and it's got a very slow opening that builds for over a minute. The Rev plays some epic drums in the build-up and eventually they reach a nice heavy main riff with Shadows screaming high and holding some of his screams nice and long! He sings and screams simultaneously in the chorus and once again it sounds great when they do this. The heavy and awesome verse and this pretty solid chorus make for a pretty sweet tune! Trsck 9 is the nine minute "I Won't See You Tonight (Part 1)" and it's got a long intro that starts on piano, then moves nicely into a slow but heavy riff. After almost two minutes the first verse finally starts as Gates plays a cool light lead guitar riff and Shadows sounds pretty good singing overtop in a pretty epic voice. After a couple slow, epic rounds Gates delivers a nice melodic guitar solo that fits the mood really nicely, then it's on to a louder version of the chorus with Shadows singing very loudly and still sounding pretty good. The song seems like it might end around the 5:35 mark, but Gates returns to piano once again and he leads a soft melodic part that is okay, but it's definitely out of character for these guys and it gets quite repetitive as they jam things out for the last few minutes with Shadows doing some pretty bland "whoa-oh-ohhhhh" in the background. Up next is "I Won't See You Tonight (Part 2)" and it's pretty much the exact opposite of Part 1: it's much faster, much heavier (led by a nice chugging guitar riff) and while Part 1 had only clean vocals, Part 2 has mostly screaming vocals; guess which one I like more?! Shadows sounds great screaming high overtop and there's lots of cool guitars. The chorus has a super cool stop-and-start riff at first, then Shadows sings a loud and epic chorus overtop another unique and cool metal riff. Shadows huts some of his lowest notes with some great low screams as well and everything about this song is just heavy metal goodness, words don't do proper justice, especially to Gates' crazy awesome solo! It's My favourite song on the album and one of Avenged's best in my opinion! Track 11 is "Clairvoyant Disease" and the pace and mood has significantly dropped off as Gates leads the way with an epic light guitar riff, the rest of the band forms a light rhythm section to match the mood and Shadows sings in a high voice that makes things sound almost pop-rock! Things ramp up in the chorus with some loud chugging guitars and Shadows starts singing, but ends up screaming the end of the chorus and of course I think this part sounds super heavy and cool! After another round Gates takes off with a really cool and catchy new guitar riff and Shadows screams a brief new part before this catchy riff turns into a pretty tame solo by Gates' standards, but it's still pretty epic. For a lighter song for the most part, it was still solid, and the heavy parts were great! The final song on this long album is the near eight minute "And All Things Will End" and it begins with just one guitarist playing a slow, pretty epic riff then snaps nicely into a catchy main riff with Vengeance playing some pretty sweet rhythm guitar and Gates almost soloing at times in the background! Shadows sings for the most part but mixes in some nice well-timed screams and things sound pretty sweet! After a couple cool rounds they slow things right down and get melodic as Gates and Vengeance play off each other nicely in a soft new part. This part is decent, but they ramp from here nicely into a heavier riff and they're really showing off some great progressiveness on this one with tons of different segues and riffs, all of them very smooth and silky, and all of them with some pretty cool guitars! Gates is pretty much soloing for at least a minute and a half at the end and it's phenomenal way to end a pretty awesome song, and album!

That is the end of "Waking The Fallen" and I thought it was a pretty sweet album by Avenged Sevenfold! The addition of Synyster Gates only elevates an already awesome guitar band and M. Shadows does a great mix of singing and screaming. I think it's definitely better than their debut, and "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet" was no pushover at all! Where will Avenged Sevenfold go from here?