New England's Metal Shows

Tell us what you think

Hail To The King

Avenged Sevenfold Vocalist M.Shadows performing at the 2010 uproar festival

Hail to the King Review


By J.Simpson, C.E.O. of Hardcore Shots


9/2


It's been a 3-year studio hiatus for the band Avenged Sevenfold and Hail to the King marks their return into the music industry. After the tragic death of drummer James Sullivan the band returns to record their 6th studio album. The band had been teasing the new album prior to the release on the website for 2 months and now it has finally arrived. The last time I saw them was the weekend that they played Metallica's Orion Festival.


Hail to the King kicks off the album with the Metallica-esq song "Shepherd of Fire." I say Metallica-esq because the track does indeed sound like it could be one of their songs. The song has the Avenged flair, as though it could be from the last album. No complaints there.


The first single on the album (also known as the title track "Hail to the King") is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The piercing guitar riff of lead guitarist Synyster Gates doubled with the powerful backing of rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance gives it a great sound. Most songs that tend to try and summon the theme of tyranny and fail in the process, but this song bypasses that factor. With lyrics discussing having ones tonuge being cut from his head for not watching his mouth as well as constantly chanting "Hail to the king!" Avenged definitely hits the nail on the head.


One problem I found with the album was that a few of the songs on the album sounded similar to some songs that were already recorded by other artists. I have no problems with Avenged Sevenfold, nor do I wish to upset any fans but I do believe the band may have sought a little TOO MUCH inspiration from other bands. The track "Doing Time" sounds like it could be a recycled Guns N' Roses demo, mainly because of the way M.Shadows projects the vocals kind of like Axl Rose did in the song "Its So Easy." Another example is the song "This Means War" my first thoughts were "Jeez, the drum drop in this song sounds extremely familiar." that's when I realized that it was the "Sad But True" drop. The final "lick" that I noticed was the solo in the song "Crimson Day" and how it sort of sounded like the solo in Freebird. I noticed that immediately no research needed. Aside from all of that flack the album was great!


The album's final songs "Planets" and "Acid Rain"  are what I believe to be an excellent way to close the album. In a commentary video, vocalist M.Shadows is stated as saying "We didn't want it to feel as though there was a trace of Pro Tools it was just all these great musicians, just playing." Guitarist Zacky Vengeance said that the two songs kind of contradict each other. One song discusses how the Earth is going to be destroyed while the other song is reflecting the perspective of being on the receiving end of the Armageddon. The song "Acid Rain" reminded me of "So Far Away" from the last album and "Planets" reminded me of something that could have been off of City of Evil.


Verdict: 6/10

Reasoning: Avenged Sevenfold is a group of young, talented musicians who have overcome the death of one of their bandmates and childhood friends, the fact that the band could make a comeback like this album and actually make it as good as they did was remarkable. I enjoy the album, the riffs are memorable, the lyrics are catchy, and it's both heavy and mellow just like 2011's Nightmare. The only problem was that the group drew a little too much inspiration from other groups. Needless to say, the album is worth a purchase as well as starring if you're on Spotify.