AVENGED SEVENFOLD — Hail To The King (review)

AVENGED SEVENFOLD — Hail To The King album cover

Album · 2013 · Heavy Metal

3/5 · 2013-08-23
arcane-beautiful

Avenged Sevenfold are a band I've been defending for a long time. And one of the reasons I've been defending them is because I could never see what was so wrong. Granted, when these guys rose to popularity, their image was had a teenage emo girl's wet dream, but when I heard their music, I was very impressed. These guys could play, their lead singer had a great range, their guitarists where pretty much virtuosos and the rhythm section where tight...also...they had great tunes. Their first big album “City Of Evil” and their self titled follow up I absolutely love and are among my favourite albums of all time. But, ever since the passing of their drummer The Rev in 200, the band released the album “Nightmare” in his absence, and in my opinion was a bit of a step down and a twist in the wrong direction.

So now we have this album. To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to it, because the first single, the title track had heightened my attention and had me interested.

Before listening to the album, my brother describe the first half of the album to me. He said some songs sounded like other bands songs, but I didn't really believe him. Then I heard these songs and I almost laughed because my brother wasn't lying and was telling the truth.

There a lot, and I mean a lot of flaws on this album and two of the biggest flaws I can see are the obvious and almost laughable noticeable influences and the fact that some of the songs are just pretty boring. The big flaw is the influence bit, which is a shame because these guys where pretty original at one point, and now they are swimming in a sea of mediocrity.

The band also have a new drummer, now that Mike Portnoy was told to go away because he's too old for the band (that didn't happen, but it would be funny if it did). New drummer, Arin Ilejay does a pretty good job on this album, but I have to say, doesn't match up to Portnoy or The Rev.

The opener “Shepherd Of Fire” doesn't really do much for me, in fact I find it very bland, which is a shame, because usually these guys can make brilliant opening tracks.. The same with the song “Hectic”, I find these tracks to be rather filler.

The title track is an obvious choice for a single, and it's good that they went with this song. A big difference for the band, being a more stripped down metal song, it does work very well and does have a pretty catchy chorus.

Before listening to the the album, my brother told me that there was a song that is a rip off of Guns N' Roses “It's So Easy.” Yea, this pretty much is a rip off that song. It's alright I guess, but unoriginal.

“This Means War” is an obvious rip off of Metallica's “Sad But True.” Lucky enough the chorus makes the song a little bit more enjoyable, but because the song is pretty unoriginal throughout, I'm not that interested.

“Requiem” is a rather good song, if it weren't for the choir in it. Opening the song with some non sensible Latin phrases, it reminds me of a weaker Rhapsody song. The orchestra is like a distant hum in the background, but luckily the song is strong enough to carry the track through.

“Crimson Day” is the bands take on a cheesy 80's power ballad. Some of the melodies are nice, but it doesn't hold a candle to Motley Crue's “Home Sweet Home.”

The album's strongest track has to be “Coming Home,” and the reason for that is because it sounds like their earlier material. This song could have easily have been on “City Of Evil,” it may not have been the strongest track, but it would have fit really neatly. But because it's on this album, it's one of the stand out tracks.

“Planets” is definitely another highlight on the album. With a mixture of Black Sabbath meets Megadeth style of riffing, the song is pretty kick ass and rather dark at times.

“Acid Rain,” the album's closer is a rather dark and melancholic end to the album. This is something a little different and it is interesting to hear the band go in a rather

In conclusion, I am very mixed on this album. Some of the songs I really like and some of them I just think are pretty bland and very much forgetful. Instead of trying to do something different, the band have now gone around in circles, and pretty much

6.1/10