Avenged Sevenfold | Mainstream Temptations

Introduction:

After the outstanding success of City of Evil, A7X was on top of the world. If there was any time to really tighten down the formula, emphasize what worked in the first three albums and eradicate what didn't, and hone in on its own niche, now was that time. So what did they do?

Change everything of course. The Self-Titled album is perhaps the most divisive in their discography. Mainstream fans love it, hardcore fans hate it, and many simply find themselves saying it's merely okay. So now it's time to explore the album I'm determined not to put on the backburner for 2 months and get it over with so I can get to the better album. Except I also have DITR to go through.

Shit.

Analysis:

The drums are without a doubt the best part of this album. Still the same Rev. It's getting redundant explaining how good they are. The bass is more inaudible than ever though (Seriously, is Johnny just not allowed to be heard in these mixes?), and even then, is way more simplistic than WTF and COE.

The riffs are... mixed. There's some great riffs, and there's some mediocre radio rock genericness. But as a whole, nothing sticks with me as much as the main riff to The Wicked End or Unholy Confessions or, well, anything from the first three albums. The leads are also a step down from WTF and COE. The former was atmospherically restrained, the latter was unhinged, here they're just there. They're great, but they don't create as much of a tone (Oh trust me, we'll be talking about that throughout this review). The solos are still great, but this album underutilizes them IMO.

Matt's vocals are okay. They feel like they're on the cusp of being great (As we'll see on the next couple of albums), but still using a bit too much processing that I'd like. Which leads me into the production.

What happened? Was COE too underproduced for the overlords at Warner Brothers? This is one of the most overproduced albums I've ever listened to in this genre. There's no punch, no grit, and once again, NO BASS GUITAR. Like, AJFA levels of no bass guitar.

This is off to a great start.

Track-by-track:

Critical Acclaim is the best opener they've ever done. Yeah I said it. It's like a refined take on Turn The Other Way, with a groovy af riff and aggressive vocals and lyrics that sing to my constitutionalist soul. Seriously, what a way to open the album. It's followed up by Almost Easy. Classic A7X right here. Got a good riff, great vocals, catchy chorus. An example of accessible metal done right, but sadly let down by the production (More on that in the DITR review). And then we have the first stinker. Scream is a weird song. About half is fine, not particularly great but fine, the other half is just radio rock garbage. "Ooh"s in the chorus. That's what they resorted to. Sigh. Luckily the album picks up with Afterlife, one of their most iconic songs. It's great, really is. Got a nice groove, some pretty good vocals, and I'm a sucker for the orchestral elements.

And then the album tanks. Gunslinger is like Seize The Day, but 10x worse and with country influence. It's not just boring, it's actively ear-grating. This is where I started to notice the production issues. Unbound tries to pick things up, and for the first 3 minutes, it kind of does. Fast pace, guitars blazing like COE, great vocals, etc. But the last two minutes of the song are just meh, a generic chorus passage that is then sung by kids. Aka my least favorite trend in rock, kids singing (Looking at you In Flames, looking at you). Which is sad because the first 3 minutes are great, and I love that piano. It's a bit generic sure, but generic A7X is better than just sucking. Brompton gets a bit better, but again, the production ruins it and I don't think the verses are good at all. But we here more of the Rev's voca-

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. The Rev does tons of vocals here, and they're awesome. You already know that. Moving on.

Lost. Ugh... A generic, repetitive, radio rock song with autotune and a constant guitar loop. And you know what's the worst part? The last 2 minutes, are completely awesome. For some reason, the autotune begins to work in the song's favor, the guitars get super epic, and the song becomes as theatrical as possible. It's like the reverse Unbound (Someone mash up the first 3 minutes of Unbound with the last 2 of Lost, please). And then ALPOH, the song everyone loves. I'm no exception, it's awesome, it really is. This is a climactic, theatrical, experimental ride that makes the perfect closer...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, YEAH RIGHT. NO, instead we have to have a country rock song with autotune nearly as bad as Lost's first two chorus' and boring instrumentation, and a complete tone-killer. Except, there's no tone to kill on this album. WTF was a dive into darkness, COE a (perhaps unintentional) ride through the extravagance of youth. S/T is just all over the place. You have political commentary, a song about rejoining loved ones in heaven, a song about murder, and and and-

1. Critical Acclaim
2. Afterlife
3. ALPOH
4. Almost Easy
5. Brompton
6. Unbound
7. Scream
8. Lost
9. Gunslinger
10. Dear God (I swear this is the worst song they've ever made)

Conclusion:

THIS ALBUM SUCKS. Okay maybe not quite that extreme, but this album loses everything that was great in the first three albums, for what? To be mainstream? No, some of the songs are too experimental. Then to be weird and experimental? No, the songs are way too mainstream. I don't know why this album turned out this way other than them just wanting to be different for the sake of being different. Was WTF great because it reinvented the wheel? No, it was great because it fleshed out its style and its atmosphere. Same with COE. S/T is a jack of all trades, a master of none. It and DITR share a spot as the A7X albums I like the least (Not the ones I hate the most, there's a difference). That said, I can respect some of the attempts to be experimental, and it works sometimes, just not most of the time. Had they stuck to the blueprint of Critical Acclaim and Afterlife, it could've been great. But as it stands, S/T gets a 5.5/10 from me.