History YMMV / AvengedSevenfold

* AcceptableTargets: Not the worst example, but they are often bashed for being too mainstream, too emo, too cheesy and/or not being "true" metal.

* SignatureSong: "Bat Country," "The Beast And The Harlot," "Unholy Confessions," "Nightmare", and arguably "The Stage".

** "Streets", a straight-up punk song picked up from M. Shadows' first band Successful Failure, in the middle of a metalcore album.

* BizarroEpisode: "A Little Piece of Heaven" and "Streets".

** "This Means War" has been called suspiciously similar to "Sad But True," especially in the intro and the verses.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Fans are often stumped whether the chorus to "Almost Easy" has the lyrics "(Mother) Come back to me/It's almost easy" or "(I'm not) Come back to me/It's almost easy". Either interpretation vastly changes the meaning of the song.
* {{Anvilicious}}: "Critical Acclaim" from the Self Titled album.

** Also, arguments abound over who is the better drummer: Arin or Jimmy.

* SignatureStyle: Expect poppy chord progressions and catchy EarWorm hooks and Choruses, against metal backgrounds, references to Literature/TheBible, melodramatic and theatrical LargeHam lyrics, and a lot of harmonic minor keys. As well as healthy doses of sweeping in Synister Gate's solos.

** The music video even provides a handy image of said heater - "Super Thigh Heater 3000GSS".

* CrossesTheLineTwice: ''A Little Piece of Heaven''

* EpicRiff: Many.

** During the writing of ''Nightmare'' Zacky vengeance said in an interview that their next record "[would] take you on a very dark journey" and that "only a world spinning out of control could inspire the music and vision [we] have now. Once again, it is f—ing exciting.” The Rev died a month after the interview.

** The Rev had pretty much said that the whole first album is [[OldShame pretty much entirely this for the band,]] but that [[NarmCharm it's still actually quite fun for them to listen to]] [[SoBadItsGood for exactly that reason.]]

* AcceptableTargets: Not the worst example, but they are often bashed for being too mainstream, too emo, and/or not being "true" metal.

* SignatureSong: "Bat Country," "The Beast And The Harlot," "Unholy Confessions," "Nightmare"

** "Hail to the King" seems to be the answer to Metallica's "King Nothing". The two songs don't ressemble each other that much musically, but the similar titles and lyrical contents [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EliSkMRvyEE gave some ideas to the fans.]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Hail To The King" is the [=A7X=] answer to {{Music/Metallica}}'s "King Nothing".

%%* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
%%* TooCoolToLive:

* WinBackTheCrowd: While ''Hail to the King'' was received with a big, resounding [[SoOkayItsAverage "meh"]], ''The Stage'' is mostly seen ([[BrokenBase mostly]]) as a return to form, and considered by some to be their best effort since ''City of Evil''. Fans and critics who liked it notably praise the general concept, musical diversity and bigger risk-taking. Brooks Wackerman taking over the drums certainly helped more than a little too, as his drumming style is considered a much better fit for the band than Arin Ilejay's.

* WinBackTheCrowd: While ''Hail to the King'' was received with a big, resounding [[SoOkayItsAverage "meh"]], ''The Stage'' is mostly seen ([[BrokenBase mostly]]) as a return to form, and considered by some to be their best effort since ''City of Evil''. Fans and critics who liked it notably praise the general concept, musical diversity and bigger risk-taking. Brooks Wackerman taking over the drums certainly helped more than a little too.

* ReplacementScrappy: Arin was this for some fans, who found him less skilled than The Rev. Sometimes ignoring that the simpler drums on ''Hail to the King'' [[MisBlamedwere a deliberate choice by the band.]]

* ReplacementScrappy: Arin was this for some fans, who found him less skilled than The Rev.

* WinBackTheCrowd: While ''Hail to the King'' was received with a big, resounding [[SoOkayItsAverage "meh"]], ''The Stage'' is mostly seen ([[BrokenBase mostly]]) as a return to form, and considered by some to be their best effort since ''City of Evil''. Fans and critics who liked it notably praise the general concept, musical diversity and bigger risk-taking. Brooks Wackerman replacing [[ReplacementScrappy Arin Ilejay]] at the drums certainly helped more than a little too.

* CompleteMonster: [[VillainProtagonist The main character]] from "A Little Piece of Heaven" murders his girlfriend out of fear that something in their as-of-that moment perfect relationship would go wrong. He stabs her, [[BeatStillMyHeart rips her heart out]], and [[IAmAHumanitarian eats it]], [[LaughingMad laughing all the while]]. He keeps her corpse and [[ILoveTheDead uses it for sex]], remarking that it is more pleasurable than when she was alive, and also implying that he'd raped her in her sleep before. Eventually, his girlfriend's spirit repossesses her body and kills him out of vengeance. He ''does'' show remorse for his actions in Hell, but only because he got punished for them. Now a zombie himself, he is [[EasilyForgiven forgiven]] by his girlfriend, and they decide to get married. The two of them proceed to go to the wedding of another couple to have theirs there, and murder everybody in attendance. The guests are all turned into zombies as well, and it's implied to start a ZombieApocalypse.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: See BrokenBase.
* TooCoolToLive: Just take a guess.

* SignatureStyle: Expect poppy chord progressions and catchy EarWorm hooks and Choruses, against metal backgrounds, references to Literature/TheBible, melodramatic and theatrical LargeHam lyrics, and a lot of harmonic minor keys.

* BizarroEpisode: "A Little Piece of Heaven" and "Streets"

** The band's latest album, Hail to the King, is not only the first album to be recorded without any input whatsoever from the late Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan - but also takes on a significantly different direction from the previous three albums (although probably not quite as drastically as City of Evil was from Waking the Fallen). According to lead singer M Shadows, the album can be described as "more blues rock-influenced and more like classic rock and classic metal in the vein of Music/BlackSabbath and Music/LedZeppelin". Quite naturally, this album would be even more disdained by those who prefer the band's STST/WTF-era style. But even a significant portion of those who have enjoyed the past three albums find the style to be too much of a departure for them.

* AlasPoorScrappy: ''Somewhat''. While Arin was by far ''not'' a Scrappy, some fans were very upset to hear he parted ways with the band.