History Music / AvengedSevenfold

-->''Now that it's done I realize the error of my ways // I must venture back to apologize from somewhere far beyond the grave. // I gotta make up for what I've done // 'Cause I was all up in a piece of heaven // While you burned in hell, no peace forever''

* CelebrityElegy: "Betrayed" from ''City of Evil'' is the band's tribute to Music/{{Pantera}}'s former lead guitarist Darrell "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott who was murdered by Nathan Gale in a Columbus night club in late 2004. The song was written from two separate perspective: the murderer and the murder victim.

* CelebrityElegy: "Betrayed" from ''City of Evil'' is a tribute to Music/{{Pantera}}'s former lead guitarist Darrell "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott who was murdered by Nathan Gale in a Columbus night club in late 2004. The song was written from two separate perspective: the murderer and the murder victim.

* CelebrityElegy: "Betrayed" from ''City of Evil'' is a tribute to Music/{{Pantera}}'s former lead guitarist Darrell "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott who was murdered by Nathan Gale in a Columbus night club in late 2004. The song was written from two separate perspective: and the murderer and the murder victim.

* FamousLastWords: The Rev's last appearances and writing credits were on "Fiction", written three days before his death, and come off eerily as this (The song is specifically written about accepting death and saying goodbye and is named after one of his old nicknames). His last recording ever was the ''"Skull!"'' in the intro to "Save Me". Nobody's really sure why he recorded it or what it was for.

In late 2018 they started working on a new album, but the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic threw a wrench into the recording process and the band announced they wouldn’t release the album until concerts were allowed again.

In late 2018 they started working on a new album, but the Covid-19 pandemic threw a wrench into the recording process and the band announced they wouldn’t release the album until concerts were allowed again.

* VocalEvolution: M.Shadow's screams and singing sound differently from album to album. Just compare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEMahsSLirU Art of Subconscious Illusion]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv_go1xUyks Chapter Four.]] And listen to his singing on their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3plt6wMQyQE first album]] to their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ry4cx6HfY latest album.]]

* TheSouthpaw: Zacky Vengeance plays left-handed, which is used for a symmetric effect when he plays next to Synyster, especially on stage.

* BerserkButton: Don't make jokes about Jimmy's death around a fan. [[UnacceptableTargets Just don't]].

** The Rev wrote "Fiction", which has the line, "Promise me you'll never feel afraid." After [[AuthorExistenceFailure his passing]], Syn wrote "So Far Away", which has the line, "Sleep tight; I'm not afraid."

* FamousLastWords: The Rev's last appearances and writing credits were on "Fiction", written three days before his death, and come off eerily as this [[HarsherInHindsight (The song is specifically written about accepting death and saying goodbye and is named after one of his old nicknames)]]. His last recording ever was the ''"Skull!"'' in the intro to "Save Me". Nobody's really sure why he recorded it or what it was for.

* GriefSong: So Far Away, which was written for Syn's grandfather. When Jimmy died, the lyrics changed to being about him. Fiction is also about Jimmy, [[MindScrew despite being written and]] [[HarsherInHindsight sung by him]]...

* HeterosexualLifePartners: The group as a whole has this relationship with each other, but special mention goes to Brian, Matt, and Jimmy, and within that trio, Jimmy and Brian. [[AuthorExistenceFailure Bit of a]] DownerEnding [[TearJerker there]]. They have stated that even if they stopped being a ''band'', they would still be just as close with each other.

* LargeHam: M. Shadows and The Rev, though with M. Shadows it's only when he's performing or singing, [[FunnyCharacterBoringActor in person he's pretty calm, nice, and down-to-earth.]] The Rev, on the other hand, was just like this always.

* LongRunnerLineup: Ever since Johnny Christ joined in 2002, the band's lineup has remained exactly the same… or would have if not for The Rev's untimely passing. After which Mike Portnoy temporarily filled in, Arin Ilejay took the seat for a few years before CreativeDifferences kicked in, and now they seem to have found a stable replacement with Brooks Wackerman. Time will tell.

* TheNicknamer: When the band formed, Matt, Brian, Zack, and [[ThePeteBest Justin]] all had to come up with cheesy stage names that they thought would piss people off. [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} The Rev was already just "The Rev."]] Or Fiction, or Rat Head, or The Reverend Tholomue Plague,

* PreOrderBonus: The track "Lost It All" can only be acquired through pre-ordering the Nightmare album on iTunes.

* RatedMForManly: Surprisingly averted, given the style of music they play. Which is probably why the band [[PeripheryDemographic has an unusually large female fanbase.]]
* RealSongThemeTune: "Carry On", as part of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' They even get to [[EveryoneComesBackFantasyPartyEnding rock with some of the cast in the epilogue.]] Later, they returned to ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' to provide a musical score for the game's multiplayer mode, called ''Jade Helm'', and in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps4'' with the song "Mad Hatter".

* VocalTagTeam: M. Shadows and The Rev on the SelfTitledAlbum, and on "Fiction." [[WhatCouldHaveBeen This probably would have continued]] [[AuthorExistenceFailure had The Rev lived.]]

** They started as pure {{metalcore}} on ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' before adding more clean vocals on their sophomore album ''Waking the Fallen''. But their biggest change came on "city of Evil" which contained only clean vocals and musically mixed old school {{thrash metal}} with the melodic ferocity, breakdowns, and PopPunk[=/=]PostHardcore elements of modern day {{metalcore}}.

* NonAppearingTitle: It was the standard for their first two albums, where the titles never appeared in the lyrics ("I won't See You Tonight part 1" being the only exception), and most of the third. This changed in later albums, when the band became more popular and the songs more chorus-driven.

* WarOnTerror: "Critical Acclaim" is an attack on peoples' tendency to blame the soldiers, which [[BerserkButton hits a little close for the band.]]

* Zachary Baker - Zacky Vengeance (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) (1999-present; lead guitar from 1999 to 2001)

The band played the underground scene in America for several years, and their first album, the low-budget[[note]]2000$, a budget so low that the drum tracks had to be recorded in one take![[/note]] and very HardcorePunk-inspired ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'', got them a small but dedicated fanbase in 2001. While the album's commercial success and reception were modest, ''Waking the Fallen'' was a much more polished Main/{{Metalcore}} album, adding melodic elements, dual harmonies and guitar solos, complex structures, and more singing. It's around that time that the lineup finally stabilized after lead guitarist Synyster Gates and bassist Johnny Christ joined the band.[[note]]Justin Sane, the bassist of the first album, had to retire after a suicide attempt that left him with brain damage.[[/note]]

* IntercourseWithYou: "Girl I Know" on ''Diamonds in the Rough''.

* Mike Portnoy (drums) (2010)

* ConspicuousCG: "Buried Alive"'s music video uses rather cheap 3D animation [[{{Hell}} representing skeletons in hellish caves above a sea of flame.]]

** ''Diamonds in the Rough'' (2008) [[note]]bonus CD including 2 remixes, 2 covers and 7 tracks that weren't kept for the White Album, released with the concert DVD ''Live in LBC''.[[/note]]

The band played the underground scene in America for several years, and their first album, the low-budget[[note]]2000$, a budget so low that the drum tracks had to be recorded in one take![[/note]] and very HardcorePunk-inspired ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'', got them a small but dedicated fanbase in 2001. While the album's commercial success and reception were modest, ''Waking the Fallen'' was a much more polished Main/{{Metalcore}} album, adding melodic elements, dual harmonies and guitar solos, complex structures and more singing. It's around that time that the lineup finally stabilized after lead guitarist Synyster Gates and bassist Johnny Christ joined the band.[[note]]Justin Sane, the bassist of the first album, had to retire after a suicide attempt that left him with brain damage.[[/note]]

After the success of WTF, the band took a somewhat different direction with their third album ''Music/CityOfEvil'' in 2005. Screamed vocals disappeared[[note]]M. Shadows actually took singing lessons prior to recording so that he could hit higher notes.[[/note]], the riffs became faster, the melody even more prominent, the solos crazier, the storytelling more epic, and more symphonic elements were introduced. As a result, most of the album has a strong SpeedMetal flavor, sometimes bordering on Thrash. While baffling many of the early fans, the album was their definitive breakthrough hit and remains their highest-selling record to date, as well as their most consistenly popular.

A lesser known part of their history is the avant-garde metal band Pinkly Smooth, which featured The Rev on vocals, Synyster Gates on guitar and bassist Justin Sane on keyboards. The band only released one EP titled ''Unfortunate Snort'' in 2001, and while the act is unlikely to be revived without The Rev, Synyster Gates has expressed interest in remastering the album someday.

* AtomicFBomb: The Rev drops two massive "'''FUCK YOU!!!!'''"'s after each quick-fire speeches in "Critical Acclaim".

* ConspicuousCG: "Buried Alive"'s music video uses rather cheap 3D animation [[{{Hell}} representing squelettons in hellish caves above a sea of flame.]]

** The B-side album ''Diamonds in the Rough'' includes two straight covers of Music/{{Pantera}}'s "Walk" and Music/IronMaiden's "Flash of the Blade". There's also a lesser known cover of Music/BlackSabbath's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkKR7y_w0tg "Paranoid"]].
** In 2017, following up on ''The Stage'', they started to release a whole series of covers, including Chingon's "Malaguena Salerosa", a metal version of Music/MrBungle's "Retrovertigo" ,a punk-rock version of Del Shannon's "Runaway", as well as rock covers of Music/TheBeachBoys' "God Only Knows", Music/TheRollingStones' "As Tears Go By", and Music/PinkFloyd's "Wish You Were Here". They deliberatey chose non-metal songs this time to have more leeway in covering them, as they find it "boring" to cover songs that are already metal.

* EmoMusic: Started out as one of the first {{metalcore}} bands (or maybe metal bands in general) to take influence from emo bands like AFI and Thursday. In fact even when they were a metalcore band on their first two records they sounded more like a heavier, more metal influenced version of the darker emo bands at the time like Music/{{Thursday}}, Music/{{Thrice}}, and early Music/MyChemicalRomance rather than other metalcore contemporaries like Music/KillswitchEngage or Shadows Fall. Even after they changed to pure heavy metal elements of emo were still clearly influential on their sound. As of "Hail to The King" these influences have been almost completely dropped (YMMV on whether this is a good thing or not).

* EvilLaugh: Matt seems fond of these. Also The Rev throws in a few during A Little Piece Of Heaven and Afterlife.

* GreatestHitsAlbum: A bit of a controversial one, as Warner Brothers released the compilation in December 2016, without the band's kowledge, well after they left the label and around the same time they released their new album ''Music/TheStage''. Needless to say, they were not too amused and interpreted it as an act of spite from WB.
* GriefSong: So Far Away, which was written for Syn's grandfather. When Jimmy died, the lyrics changed to being about him. Fiction is also about Jimmy, [[MindScrew despite being written and]] [[HarsherInHindsight sung by him]]....

* {{Hellfire}}: The whole ''Hail to the King'' album has a recurring evil fire motif, be it [[DealWithTheDevil "Shepherd of Fire]]", everything burning down in in "Requiem", the theme of [[BurnTheWitch "Heretic"]], or the "gates of fire" in "Coming Home"., among other things. Since the album is largely an homage to the TraditionalHeavyMetal of the 70's and 80's, you could say this is par for the course.

* LargeHam: M. Shadows and The Rev, though with M. Shadows it's only when he's performing or singing, [[FunnyCharacterBoringActor in person he's pretty calm, nice, and down-to-earth.]] The Rev on the other hand, was just like this always.

** "Nightmare" seems to end in silence for a few seconds, before an ominous echo fades in a the last moment and stops abruptly.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They've pretty much covered the whole scale, save for the highest levels. ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' and ''Waking the Fallen'' were in the 8 range (with "I Won't See You Tonight Part 2" bordering on 9), and their later material usually borders on 7, sometimes going down to 6. "Nightmare" (the song) teeters somewhere between a 7 and an 8. While a couple other songs, like "God Hates Us", are a pretty solid 8. The ''Hail to the King'' album lowers the hardness down significantly. "This Means War" and "Planet", the heaviest songs on the album are only about a 5 (or maybe a 6, if you want to be generous). The power ballad "Crimson Day" dips down to 2 - while the blues-heavy ballad "Acid Rain" drops all the way down to one. The rest would be about a 4 or 5. The songs in ''The Stage'' go back and forth between 5 and 7, sometimes 8 (except for the power ballad "Angels" and the orchestral ballad "Roman Sky").

** Buried Alive starts out as a power balad but gets more hardcore after the guitar solo.

* PrecisionFStrike: Shadows sneaks in a "Come here, you Fuckin' Bitch!" in the background during the early parts of "A Little Piece of Heaven".

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Critical Acclaim" is basically a 5-minute rant about people who blame the US army and the US's foreign policy a bit too much for their tastes. Needless to say it rubbed some people the wrong way.

* RevengeBallad: "Strength of the World" reads as the story of someone whose family was killed by outlaws.

* TheShowMustGoOn: After touring for almost two straight years and headlining several festivals in a row in 2018, Matt suddenly lost his voice in the middle of their Hellfest 2018 show. So to sing "Nightmare", they pulled a (probably not entirely sober) fan from the crowd who proceeded to butcher the song. They laughed it off, and then Matt sang the rest of the show with help from AudienceParticipation, backing vocals and, ironically enough, a return to his old style of screaming, which he had abandonned precisely to preserve his voice.

* TheSouthpaw: Zacky Vengeance plays left-handed, which is used for a symetric effect when he plays next to Synyster, especially on stage.

* SunglassesAtNight: Even in a pitch black concert hall at night, M. Shadows won't let go of his sunglasses.

* TogetherInDeath: "A Little Piece Of Heaven". Kind Of. [[spoiler:The guy kills the girl at the beginning and [[{{Squick}} does]] [[ILoveTheDead things]] with her corpse. She Then comes back as a zombie and [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill murders the living hell out of him]], after which they are both in hell, and he begs her to forgive him. She does, and they come back as zombies. Then they decide to [[CrossesTheLineTwice murder an entire church full of people with chainsaws and whatnot during a REAL wedding and force the priest to wed them]]. They then live happily ever after as a murderous evil zombie couple.]]

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Both The Rev and Arin usually performed shirtless. Brooks on the other hand, sticks with a plain t-shirt.

* GreatestHitsAlbum: A bit of a controversial one, as Warner Brothers released the compilation in december 2016, without the band's kowledge, well after they left the label and around the same time they released their new album ''Music/TheStage''. Needless to say, they were not too amused and interpreted it as an act of spite from WB.

** The Rev wrote "Fiction", which has the line, "Promise me you'll never feel afraid." After [[AuthorExistenceFailure his passing]], Syn wrote "So Far Away", which has the line, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments "Sleep tight; I'm not afraid."]]

* BloodyHilarious: "A Little Piece of Heaven"

''I took all possibilities from you.''