History YMMV / AvengedSevenfold

*** It's often said of him that he had a "huge heart", like a kind heart. He also had an enlarged heart, which partially lead to his death.

* FridgeBrilliance: The album-title for "Hail To The King" can be seen as having two different meanings: The obvious meaning being that the album is just named after one of the songs on the album, and the less obvious being "This album is our tribute to some of the biggest bands in Rock and Metal". The fact that many of the songs sound similar to other bands' songs ("This Means War" is structured like "Sad But True" by Metallica, and "Coming Home" has all the characteristics of a typical Iron Maiden song) only supports this.

* HarsherInHindsight:

** The song "Brompton Cocktail". For those unaware, it was about a man who will die due to something wrong with him and is given a Brompton cocktail (a mix of morphine or heroin, cocaine, and alcohol) to relieve the pain. The Rev (who co-wrote this song with Shadows) was found with [=OxyContin=], Valium, and alcohol in his system when he died; his enlarged heart was either considered part of the reason why he died, or [[EpilepticTrees he used them to make sure he wouldn't die suddenly from the aforementioned heart defect]].
** It's often said of him that he had a "huge heart", like a kind heart. He also had an enlarged heart, which partially lead to his death.

** "Mattel" is a description of how our world might look like if we worsen our consumerist and materialistic habits through the eyes of a toy. {{Creator/Mattel}} is the large manufacterer of many toys, particularly {{Franchise/Barbie}}. ''Film/Barbie2023'' came out mere months after "Mattel"'s parent album, despite the movie being less darker than the song.

** Their stage names fall under this.

* PeripheryDemographic: The band has a surprisingly large female fanbase, given the kind of music they play.

** "Requiem". With Ominous Latin Chanting and a Badass Baritone spoken word bridge, it's easy to see why many people say this is their favorite track on the Hail to the King album, if not their whole career.

** The band's previous 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.

** They YMMV with the band, even haters tend to agree that [[Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas "Bat Country"]], "Unholy Confessions", [[Literature/TheBible "The Beast and The Harlot"]], and "Afterlife" are awesome songs.

** "Fiction" is very chilling. Subverted when it becomes a TearJerker about half way through it.
*** And then goes back to being NightmareFuel for the last thirty seconds or so, which is basically a passage of eerie near-silence.

** Mostly adverted with Brooks Wackerman, whose drumming abilities fit with the band's music, especially on ''The Stage''.

* SignatureStyle: Expect poppy chord progressions and catchy 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 Synyster Gates's solos.

* {{Narm}}: Their stage names.

* HypeBacklash: ''The Stage'' got a lot of people calling it their best album ever, or album of the year, etc, so naturally a few people were surprised to find they didn't think it was anything special.

* SignatureSong: "Bat Country," "The Beast and the Harlot," "Unholy Confessions," "Nightmare", and arguably "God Damn".

* EndingFatigue: One of the common criticisms toward ''Waking the Fallen'' and ''Ciy of Evil'' is the excessive length of some tracks and overuse of FakeoutFadeout. Songs like "Second Heartbeat" or the 10-minute long "Strength of the World" are notable examples.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Averted, at least for ''Life Is But a Dream...'' Both Shadows and Syn had experiences with psychedelics (namely o-methyl-bufotenin) that wound up impacting the album's more avant-garde direction.

* FaceOfTheBand: Averted. The whole band are always seen as TrueCompanions, and nobody really gets any publicity over anyone else ('cept [[NobodyLovesTheBassist maybe]] [[ButtMonkey Johnny...]]). Adding to the aversion is the fact that each member has a distinct and memorable name.

* CreatorWorship: Rev in general is seen as this, given the PosthumousPopularityPotential he received when he died in late December 2009 at age 28. Even detractors admit that he was a talented drummer taken too soon from everyone.

* HoYay:
** Lots, but you can thank [[HeterosexualLifePartners Jimmy and Brian]] for most of it.
** There's a lot between Brian and Zacky, as well.
** [[http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/Danaway_Tango/MS.jpg This picture of Brian and Matt deserves a mention.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeonDrugs: Subverted, at least for ''Life Is But a Dream...'' Both Shadows and Syn had experiences with psychedelics (namely o-methyl-bufotenin) that wound up impacting the album's more avant-garde direction.

* {{Anvilicious}}: "Critical Acclaim" from the Self Titled album, especially the spoken rants between the verses (mercifully absent in live shows). For a band that "doesn't want to impose their political views on others", that rubbed some people the wrong way.

** ''Life Is But a Dream...'': a fiercely creative and interesting progressive rock release that knocks it out of the park, an incoherent and pretentious mess from a band that disappeared up their own asses, or [[TakeAThirdOption an album that swings big and has as many misses as it does hits, but nonetheless deserves points for its sheer chutzpah and refusal to be easy or predictable]].

** "The Stage" is guilty of the same, with the title track being nearly 9 minutes long.

* HypeBacklash: "The Stage" got a lot of people calling it their best album ever, or album of the year, etc, so naturally a few people were surprised to find they didn't think it was anything special.

** The band as a whole. In the noughties, the band was an easy target for metal purist as their detractors claimed the band was not heavy or technical enough , thus relied on thuggish gimmick and swear words. When the band released their seventh full-length album ''The Stage'', which more or less showed that the band actually has excellent technical and melody writing skills. Some detractors took their words back saying that they judged the band too early and after giving some good listen to the band's previous releases (such as ''City of Evil'' and ''Nightmare'', Avenged Sevenfold was actually never that bad.

* UnacceptableTargets: Joking about Johhny Christ's NobodyLovesTheBassist status in the fanbase or Matt's "invisible watermelon" style are free games. But James Sullivan / Jimmy (also known as The Reverend Tholomew Plague or simply "The Rev") is a line nobody should cross. Don't make any joke about Jimmy's death, ever.
** If "Critical Acclaim" is any indication, bashing on soldiers is this for the band.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: When the band released the single for their new song "Mad Hatter", it was criticized by fans for its lackluster and rather uneven mix, especially when compared to their previous studio album. Less than a week after the track was released M. Shadows announced via Reddit that they heard the fan outcry (they realized the problem when they heard the song on the radio themselves) and were working on a new mix to replace the old version heard before, effectively replacing the old mix a week after its debut. He then offered a free download link for those who already purchased the "Mad Hatter" single or the ''Black Reign'' EP beforehand.

* HilariousInHindsight: The band had a song called "Burn It Down" from their third album, which [[NamesTheSame shares the exact name]] as the lead single from Music/LinkinPark's fifth album ''Living Things''. More than a decade later, Shadows performs the latter song during [=LP=]'s tribute concert for their late co-frontman Chester Bennington.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: Quite a few fans seem to view the ''Hail to the King'' era as this, feeling that the album wasn't so much inspired by classic heavy metal bands as clumsily trying to imitate them. Making their sound more anthemic and arena-oriented didn't sit well with everyone either. Matt later admitted that they were starting to be "burnt out and feeling like they were walking through the motions" in that period. Now whether this Dork Age ended with Brook's arrival and ''The Stage'' is another debate, but it seems to be seen as an improvement overall.

* CreatorWorship: Rev in general is seen as this, given the PosthumousPopularityPotentional he received when he died in late December 2009 at age 28. Even detractors admit that he was a talented drummer taken too soon from everyone.

* SacredCow: Rev in general is seen as this. Even detractors admit that he was a talented drummer taken too soon from everyone.

* FaceOfTheBand: Averted. The whole band are always seen as TrueCompanions, and nobody really gets any publicity over anyone else ('cept [[NobodyLovesTheBassist maybe]] [[ButtMonkey Johnny...]])

* DorkAge: Quite a few fans seem to view the ''Hail to the King'' era as this, feeling that the album wasn't so much inspired by classic heavy metal bands as clumsily trying to imitate them. Making their sound more anthemic and arena-oriented didn't sit well with everyone either. Matt later admitted that they were starting to be "burnt out and feeling like they were walking through the motions" in that period. Now whether this Dork Age ended with Brook's arrival and ''The Stage'' is another debate, but it seems to be seen as an improvement overall.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The scene of Jimmy chasing a goose in '''All Excess'''.

%%* Crazy Awesome: '''The Rev.''' Taken UpToEleven with Pinkly Smooth, a side project inspired by Music/MrBungle.