Guest Blogger: David K1

One band I have always followed is Avenged Sevenfold. I have every song they have ever released, and I couldn’t pick a favorite. The Metal band released their latest album, in 2010. Off their latest album Nightmare, comes a song called “So Far Away.” The song, ad he entire album create a feeling of sadness, as the band mourns the loss of drummer James Sullivan (aka The Rev) to an accidental overdose. Nightmare is the bands fifth album. The drummer/songwriter’s voice and piano can be heard in the song “Fiction,” also on the album. “So Far Away” is a powerful ballad, changing pace a few times, but never losing sight of how much the band misses the legendary drummer. The lyrics “Plans of what our futures hold/Foolish lies of growing old/It seems we're so invincible/The truth is so cold” Show that the band wasn’t ready for him to go, especially in such a tragic way. They were in the process of recording the album when The Rev died. Many of the lyrics were rewritten, and songs changed entirely. “God Hates Us” was most likely a first reaction to finding out, “So Far Away,” a question of how to move on, and the non-album track “4:00 Am,” brings across a last tribute, and that the band will live on, and continue. Avenged Sevenfold is very hard to compare to other bands because of the singer’s voice and the band’s style. The heavy side of the band was influenced by Pantera, hence the band’s cover of the world famous Pantera song “Walk.” The softer side of Avenged Sevenfold is comparable to something more like Metallica, soft, but still heavy at the roots. Most heavy metal critics agree that the band is hugely successful, stealing the show wherever they travel, selling out every concert they play, even headlining the biggest Rock-N-Roll bash ever created, Rockfest. When people ask me to recommend a good metal band, I always say Avenged Sevenfold.