Avenged Sevenfold – Waking The Fallen

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Ladies and gentlemen, quell your fears for the state of music today, for your souls are about to be saved (or perhaps harvested … either way, you’re going to love it). Tired of bands throwing in metal licks and riffs but not quite pulling it off? Disillusioned with the amount of vocalists who bastardise the potent screaming/crooning combination? Feeling jaded by the amount of bands who feel that because they have a double bass peddle, a screamer, some metallic riffs and an Iron Maiden t shirt, they can justify their shot at the crown for best metal-influenced hardcore band? Well, have no fear, for Avenged Sevenfold has returned.

OK, so maybe that glorious fanfare is a bit extreme and longwinded, but the fact is, ‘Waking The Fallen’ is a wonderful breath of fresh air in an increasingly stale music scene. After hearing a few tracks on some samplers and picking up their debut full length, ‘Sounding The Seventh Trumpet’, I was seriously looking forward to getting my hands on this. Was I disappointed? Was I fuck!

The record seeps into the consciousness slowly to begin with, the title track consisting of the fading in of some crunching guitars, ominous yet angelic vocals and a swirling overture that quickly melts into ‘Unholy Confessions’. The metallic riffing, layered guitars and furious drumming eventually give way to a truly spine tingling vocal onslaught. Do yourself a favour, listen to this album through headphones and I defy you not to get the shivers as vocalist M.Shadows screams then sings ‘I’ll try, She said as she walked away, try not to lose you, two vibrant hearts could change’. Throughout its four minutes and forty-three seconds, ‘Unholy Confessions’ both prepares and deludes you for the 70 minutes of music contained within. Full of plain evil screaming, beautiful vocals, crunching breakdowns and inspired guitar flourishes, it’s as if A7X wrote 3 albums, chopped them up and mashed them together to create a truly awe inspiring voyage through various types of metal, hardcore, punk and ska … ok, I’m joking about that last one! Thank god…

When listening to the whole of ‘Waking The Fallen’ (and you can only really feel it’s true power if you do so) a number of things struck me. Firstly, how in god’s name did they ever finish this album? With a number of songs clocking in at 6 minutes, the longest being cheese-metal epic ‘I Won’t See You Tonight Part 1′, complete with piano led melodies and part heart wrenching, part gut wrenching lyrics, and literally dozens of layers in each track, it’s a wonder they were ever satisfied with the end result. While in places, you can’t help but think that it’s a case of one breakdown too many, for the most part, the changes in musical direction are absorbing rather than tiresome.

Secondly, I began to realise how much Mr M.Shadows has progressed as a vocalist. While the band are phenomenal musicians, the drum work in particular is astounding, it is the expansive vocal range that really keeps this together. Thirdly, with songs as sprawling as the likes of ‘Radiant Eclipse’ or ‘Remenissions’, it is a testament to the bands ability that there are so many strikingly memorable parts. Each song is packed full of moments of brilliance. From the finger-poppingly good solo at the end of ‘Second Heartbeat’ to the Latin guitar interlude that gives way to a chugging guitar riff in ‘Remenissions’, the frankly ludicrous ‘Hear the haunting words, lost children with no heart are crying, and you’re the lost mother they are calling’ stop gap in ‘Eternal Rest’ to the pounding final minute of ‘Desecrate Through Reverance’. I can only touch upon the genius contained on this disc in a review like this. You could probably write a perfectly good ten thousand word dissertation on this album and still not describe it perfectly.

Unfortunately, the album isn’t flawless. As previously mentioned, the band do, somewhat understandably, get carried away at times and it can seem a little too much for constant listening. I can also imagine some people listening to this and really not getting it at all. Avenged Sevenfold know that they are over the top and they are perfectly proud of it. While ultimately a serious band, you can’t possibly write an album like this without a healthy grasp of irony and a fantastic sense of humour.

If a band as blatantly fame-hungry as the Darkness can win plaudits over with their retro rock stylings, the 80’s metal-meets modern day hardcore approach of Avenged Sevenfold deserves to make them demi-gods. Forget Justin whatshisname and his band of lycra clad cronies, if you’re after a truly magnificent album that melts together the best of the past, present and future of heavy music, then Avenged Sevenfold are your band. The only question is, how on earth can they possibly create an even more inspired and outlandish third album?

Ross

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