Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
Warner Brothers
There’s something comforting in a band that looks to the excess of ’80s hair metal for inspiration; musicians that uphold Motley Crue and Guns ‘n’ Roses as the be-all/end-all of what it means to be a rock star. Avenged Sevenfold want to bring back the days of trashed hotel rooms, flashing tits in the audience, and Jack Daniels as a way of life – at least that’s what their image would have us believe.
And, ya know what, I’m fine with that… if the music upholds the chaos.
Motley Crue were a bit of a joke, but their songs were fun and catchy as hell! G ‘n’ R were just a whole new breed of rock star, and even though I never got into them beyond Appetite For Destruction I still considered them a talented bunch of screw-ups.
The problem with A7X is that they don’t seem to deliver the goods, at least not consistently enough to justify the bravado. Their new self-titled release starts off with a weak System of a Down rip-off (“Critical Acclaim”), and falls further downhill from there. Aside from a couple moments of clarity (“Scream” is a great song, and the guitar work on “Afterlife” is Slash-worthy), this album just plummets. With “A Little Piece of Heaven,” an 8-minute epic, they seem to be going for “November Rain,” but come nowhere near.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the closer “Dear God” features country singer Shanna Crooks on backing vocals and ends to album with a country twang that’s like Dixie Chicks meets Poison. Actually, that is pretty damn ’80s hair metal!
Avenged Sevenfold: http://www.avengedsevenfold.com
