Hard 20

Avenged Sevenfold

"Waking The Fallen"
(Hopeless Records)
by Paul Autry

If it was up to me, I'd simply point you in the direction of the Avenged Sevenfold website and tell you to check 'em out for yourself. That's really the only way you're gonna find out what this band is all about and what they have to offer because their music is somewhat hard to label, which is a good thing in my book.

I saw mention of punk on the website and while I agree with that to a certain degree, I believe there's a lot more to this band than punk. There's a rock/metal vibe here and some of these tunes are epic, in both sound and quality. Then there's the vocal style. While the vocalist can actually sing, he can also scream with the best of 'em and, when he does scream, I'm tempted to say he does so in somewhat of a black metal style. I say "somewhat" because that's what it brings to mind. Although this band is nowhere near black metal and I seriously doubt there's any of that influence here.

Anyway, once you hear this release, which has a running time of over an hour, you can decide for yourself what to call their musical style. All I know is it's pretty damn good. I can promise you one thing...you won't get bored with it. So, here's where I point you in the direction of their website and tell you to check 'em out and, before I forget, I have two words for you...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

http://www.avengedsevenfold.com