Artist

Avenged Sevenfold

American metal band

Orange County, United States • Formed 1999

Avenged Sevenfold is a music group from Orange County, United States, active since 1999. Their discography on Gatefold includes 21 records.

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Albums tracked

164

In collections

1999

Since

Biography

Avenged Sevenfold (often abbreviated to A7X) is a heavy metal/hard rock band which formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California, United States. The band consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ, and former Bad Religion and Suicidal Tendencies drummer Brooks Wackerman (2016-present). Heartbreakingly, the band's best friend and original drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan passed away in 2009.

The Arc of Avenged Sevenfold

The pivots — what forced Avenged Sevenfold to reinvent.

The Muddy Metalcore Years
Sounding the Seventh Trumpet was tracked for two grand at Westbeach Recorders, and you can hear every cent of that shoestring budget. They were a mess of hyper-speed punk beats and sloppy breakdowns, sounding more like a local Orange County VFW act than future headliners. This was before Synyster Gates joined, so the neoclassical shredding wasn't even part of the equation yet. It's a snapshot of a band finding their legs in a scene that was about to explode.
The Mudrock Transformation
Working with Andrew Murdock for City of Evil changed the math entirely. He pushed them to ditch the screaming and focus on those massive, dual-harmonized guitar solos that defined the mid-2000s radio metal sound. They traded the black hoodies for leather jackets and huge hooks, betting the farm on the idea that they could be the next Metallica. It worked, mostly because the musicianship actually backed up the arrogance.
The Session Man Reset
After the Rev passed, the band brought in Mike Portnoy to track Nightmare, which gave the record a technical, progressive weight they’d never had. It was a grief-stricken session that could have fallen apart, but instead, it turned into a massive tribute that landed them at the top of the charts. You can hear the transition from the frantic, punk-influenced drumming of their youth to a more calculated, arena-ready precision. It marked the moment they became a legacy act whether they liked it or not.
The Avant-Garde Pivot
The Stage was a surprise drop that moved them away from the meat-and-potatoes riffing of Hail to the King and into space-rock territory. Hiring Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion brought a frantic, jazzy energy back to the kit that forced the rest of the band to level up. This era culminated in the chaotic, DMT-fueled experimentation of Life Is But a Dream… where they finally stopped trying to appease the metal traditionalists. It sounds like a band that finally realized they have nothing left to prove to the guys in the front row.

Influences

Pantera — M. Shadows has frequently cited Phil Anselmo as his blueprint for power and aggression. You hear it in the groove-heavy riffs on 'Walk'-style stompers like 'Hail to the King.' They even covered 'Walk' on their 2008 Live in the LBC release.
Guns N' Roses — The band literally modeled their image and dual-guitar harmonies on the Slash and Izzy dynamic. Synyster Gates’ use of the wah-pedal and melodic blues-shredding is a direct descendant of Appetite for Destruction. They covered 'It’s So Easy' early on and never looked back.
Iron Maiden — The galloped rhythms and twin-lead guitar work are ripped straight from the Bruce Dickinson era. You can hear the influence in the epic song structures and the lyrical focus on historical and mythological themes. They paid their dues by covering 'Flash of the Blade' for a Kerrang! tribute album.
Metallica — The black-album production style of their self-titled record was a conscious attempt to reach that level of commercial density. They toured with Metallica multiple times and utilized the same 'big drum' sound on Nightmare. Shadows has admitted 'Enter Sandman' was the benchmark for their radio hits.
Bad Religion — Long before they were a metal band, they were Huntington Beach punk kids obsessed with the Epitaph Records sound. The Rev's fast, skate-punk drumming style on the first record is a direct result of that scene. Hiring Brooks Wackerman, a Bad Religion alum, brought that influence full circle.