Avenged Sevenfold have been one of the most hyped bands in the underground scene recently. Its not hard to see why as their first two albums are done well and show a band continuing to grow. They were always plagued with AFI similarities but all that is left of that now is the look. Avenged Sevenfold opened up their book on 80's metal and thrash and added their own spice and flavor. City of Evil is their first major label record and it is good but their first records are better. It seems they have finally found their sound but given the budget and the time and the need to impress the new label they took it a bit to far.

Every song has great guitar work and solos. The new vocals sound is great. I do miss the screams but can understand that he cannot do it anymore. I wonder if the first track "Beast and the Harlot" would have had a different chorus if Shadows could still scream because the chorus that is their now is awful. The whole song minus the chorus made me go nuts, then the chorus hit and I wanted to skip it. One thing that his non screaming does help is the melodic singing and even the ballad. Yes, Avenged does do a ballad called "Seize the Day" and it is good. This track is a ballad but the label will have to cut it short to put it on radio.

The songs are very tight and it shows when they put together songs that consistently last over five minutes each. Some songs last almost nine to ten minutes like "Wicked End" and "MIA" the albums closer. The band even throws in some merengue with a track that is mostly until that point redundant called "Sidewinder". They also mix modern rock sounds with 80's metal vibe in the song "Bat Country".

This album is a good album for an unknown band with no hype behind it, unfortunately thats not Avenged Sevenfold. I like the album and it isn't half bad but I wouldn't have it on my list to run out and buy right away. Yes, you should get this record but right now there are better records being released.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon.com

Links:
Official Avenged Sevenfold Website
Warner Bros. Records

Back to the CD Reviews Directory
Click here to launch BeyondReflection (main page) in a new window.