AVENGED SEVENFOLD — Hail To The King (review)

AVENGED SEVENFOLD — Hail To The King album cover

Album · 2013 · Heavy Metal

3.5/5 · 2013-11-19
UMUR

"Hail to the King" is the 6th full-length studio album by US heavy metal act Avenged Sevenfold. The album was released through Warner Bros. Records in August 2013. Avenged Sevenfold have been incredibly successful almost since their inception, and every new release by the band have sold more than the previous one did, which is one hell of an achivement these days. It was an unexpected and sad bump on the road when drummer The Rev died of a drug overdose in December 2009. The Rev was not only a skilled drummer, but also one of the main composers in the band, and the remaining four members discussed calling it a day at that point. They opted to continue though and drafted former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy to play the drums on their 5th full-length studio album "Nightmare (2010)". That was only a temporary solution though and for the recording of this album Arin Ilejay has been added to the lineup as a permanent replacement for The Rev.

Since the release of "City of Evil (2005)", Avenged Sevenfold have pursued a mainstream oriented heavy rock/metal style as opposed to their original metalcore style. Acts like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Guns´n´roses and Iron Maiden are definitely no strangers to the band. That is also true when describing the music style on "Hail to the King". Sometimes to an extent, where you can rightfully accuse Avenged Sevenfold of imitating their heroes, as they do on "Doing Time" (Guns´n´Roses), "This Means War" (the riff and the song melody in the vers sound very similar to the riff and the song melody from "Sad but True" by Metallica) and "Coming Home" (Iron Maiden). If you possess the ability to look past these very obvious worshipping tendencies, "Hail to the King" is a very strong release by Avenged Sevenfold though.

It´s one of the band´s more metal oriented releases and probably the most heavy album by the band since their metalcore days. We´re not spared a saccarine power ballad in "Crimson Day" (which is both well composed and well played, but ultimately comes off a bit calculated and predictable) and there are as always several mainstream oriented sing along choruses on the album, but while that might not appeal to more hardcore metal fans, those elements are what make Avenged Sevenfold a band that is appealing to the more mainstream metal listener and a great deal of the explanation for their commercial success. If you strip away the polished (yet powerful and suiting sound production) and the mainstream elements, there are quite a few great heavy metal moments on the album though. There is no arguing that Avenged Sevenfold are skilled composers, who know how to write effecful tunes. Add to that the fact that they are skilled musicians too, with lead vocalist M. Shadows delivering a varied and strong vocal performance throughout, a rhythm section that drives the music forward (new drummer Arin Ilejay has listened a bit too much to Lars Ulrich, but otherwise does a decent job here. He is no The Rev though) and two guitarists that compliment each other well. Especially lead guitarist Synyster Gates stands out, delivering one blazing solo after another. High quality playing/singing all around.

So all in all "Hail to the King" is yet another quality release by Avenged Sevenfold. Like it´s two predecessors "Hail to the King" doesn´t fully live up to the promise that was given on the brilliant "City of Evil (2005)" album, but I´ll settle for less and accept that the heights of that album will probably never be reached again. I´ll advice them to lose some of the most obvious worshipping tendencies though, which are especially bad on this album, and get back to a more original sound. They have all the necessary tools for it. Still a 3.5 (70%) rating is warranted.