Culture

Warner Brothers
3/5
 
   In 2005, Avenged Sevenfold took the world by storm with their album City of Evil. Critics raved, girls screamed, and emo kids found another band to add to their death list. The band’s self-titled album, released in 2007, did not have the same effect. The fans felt let down and while many people admired their experimentation, those same people agreed that it went a bit overboard. 
   To put it nicely, Avenged Sevenfold have something to prove with the recent release of Nightmare.
   Nightmare is their heaviest album to date; it incorporates elements of eighties hair metal and you can clearly hear the influences of Metallica and Alice Cooper running through their music. Avenged Sevenfold stay true to themselves while breaking the mould of what they used to be. Their music seems to lack originality: during the title track, ‘Nightmare’, there are parts of the song that are reminiscent of ‘The Beast and the Harlot’ from City of Evil. ‘Buried Alive’ has a breakdown which sounds strangely like Metallica’s ‘One’ and ‘So Far Away’ has a Metallica moment where an instrumental part flows into a ripping solo.
   I should mention that in December 2009, Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer James “Rev” Sullivan died. This tragedy has obviously affected the band and the loss of Rev can be heard throughout the album especially in the chorus of ‘So Far Away’, where, singer Shadows sings “How can I live without the ones I love,” and in the outro of ‘Save Me’ where he sings the lyrics “Tonight we all die young.” The final song of the album, ‘Save Me’, is an explosive, expressive ending and possibly one of the best Avenged Sevenfold has produced.
   Nightmare is a good album, not the best Avenged Sevenfold could do, but far from the worst.