* {{Anvilicious}}: "Critical Acclaim" from the S/T 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.
* 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 Audience-Alienating Era ended with Brook's arrival and ''The Stage'' is another debate, but it seems to be seen as an improvement overall.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** Take your pick, but ''City of Evil'' is a good start.
** They YMMV with the band, but even haters tend to agree that [[Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas "Bat Country"]], "Unholy Confessions", [[Literature/TheBible "The Beast and The Harlot"]], and "Afterlife" are awesome songs.
** "A Little Piece of Heaven" is ''fantastic'', disturbing ([[BloodyHilarious and funny]]) as it is, especially if you're a fan of Danny Elfman.
** "Requiem". With OminousLatinChanting 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.
** "Exist", the closing track from ''The Stage'', was enjoyed even by people who didn't like the album, if only for Neil [=deGrasse=] Tyson's speech in the last part.
** The band's live performance of "[[https://youtube.com/watch?v=aLxr2c2m4bM Seize the Day]]" in New York City (complete with Johnny playing acoustic bass and Syn doing improvised solo guitar after the second chorus) is often declared by fans to be better than the album version.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The scene of Jimmy chasing a goose in ''All Excess''.
* BizarroEpisode:
** "Streets", a straight-up punk song picked up from M. Shadows' first band, Successful Failure.
** "A Little Piece of Heaven", an 8-minute story about a guy and his girlfriend murdering each other and coming back as zombies, in an otherwise pretty radio-friendly album.
** "Runaway", a punk rock cover of a largely forgotten 1961 hit from Del Shannon, featuring Warren Fitzgerald from The Vandals on guitar, and Zacky Vengeance on vocals. ''Zacky Vengeance on vocals''.
* BrokenBase: The Avenged Sevenfold fandom comes in about four camps; or as Shadows himself puts it, "We have seven albums, meaning seven different groups of people that wanna hear all sorts of shit":
** Those who listen primarily to metalcore/post-hardcore tend to gravitate towards the band's first two albums, ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' and ''Waking the Fallen''.
** Those who don't care much for metalcore/post-hardcore, but are fans of straightforward hard rock bordering on heavy metal would prefer the band's output from ''City of Evil'' and thereafter. Although, some may enjoy a handful of the less -core sounding songs from ''Waking the Fallen'' (in particular, "Unholy Confessions"). However, this group is divided even further into two other camps.
** ''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.
** Last, but not least, there are those who enjoy the entire body of the band's output. Even if the band may have modified their style a few times, the "Avenged Sevenfold flavour" was a constant in everything they did.
** Also, arguments abound over who is the best drummer: Arin, Jimmy or Brooks.
** "Critical Acclaim" is either a insightful take on people overly being negative on a war effort while doing nothing worthwhile themselves, or a Fox News worthy rant calling anyone who didn't like UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror unamerican.
*** For those who do want to hear Jimmy's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic incredible chorus]] without hearing the rants, check out their live DVD, where the song is played without the speaking sections.
** ''The Stage'' is either a return to form for the band, featuring a more progressive metal approach to their songs, or overly pretentious trash that ruins M. Shadows' voice.
** ''Life Is But a Dream...'': a fiercely creative and interesting avant-prog 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]].
** Speaking of which, there's much debate on whether M. Shadows' voice has gotten better or worse over the years.
* ContestedSequel: Coming off of the band's most commercially successful release ''City of Evil'', their [[SelfTitledAlbum Self-titled follow-up]] was bound to have polarizing reception and comparisons to its predecessor. Some of the reasons why it received a lot of flak is due to the band's departure from [[Main/SpeedMetal speed metal]] to a [[Main/HeavyMetal traditional heavy metal]] sound with lots of [[Main/GenreShift genre-bending]].[[note]]There are two [[Main/CountryMusic country]]/blues-based songs, "Dear God" and "Gunslinger", while "A Little Piece of Heaven" delves into [[Main/ClassicalMusic classical music]] and "Afterlife" has traces of that.[[/note]]
** Similarly, ''Hail to the King'' both had to live up to the critically acclaimed ''Nightmare'' and introduce the fans to the late Rev's successor at the drums. Musically the fans disliked the more mainstream and bluesy approach and Arin didn't really get to shine much since the band asked him to hold back and stay simple.
* CrackPairing: Arin and Jimmy. '''There is bandslash for Arin and Jimmy.'''
* CreatorWorship: Rev tends to get this treatment, 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.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: "A Little Piece of Heaven", as described on the main page. But in particular this line.
-->'''Cause I really always knew that [[{{Yandere}} my little crime]] / [[LiteralMetaphor Would be cold]] that's [[ILoveTheDead why I got a heater for your thighs]]''
** The music video even provides a handy image of said heater - the "Super Thigh Heater 3000GSS" - every time this part of the chorus is sung. Also, every time they perform the song live, Gates usually slaps his thighs on cue.
* EndingFatigue: One of the common criticisms toward ''Waking the Fallen'' and ''City 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.
** ''The Stage'' is guilty of the same, with the title track being nearly 9 minutes long and "Exist" a whopping 15.
* EpicRiff: Many. Particular mention to "Afterlife", where Syn just kills the guitar riffs so much that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOwn23_L1ZA even the backup string players during the recording thought it's awesome.]]
* EpilepticTrees:
** Some say that "Fiction" is The Rev's suicide note, and that he killed himself over his heart condition and drug habits...Yeah...
** There's been more than one fanfiction written where The Rev's not dead but in a mental hospital and the rest of the band is claiming that he's dead to protect him.
** The theories in regards to The Rev's passing has always been speculated by fans. While most agree that his death was purely accidental (overdosing on his prescription medication for his enlarged heart) and the foreshadowing of "Fiction" and its back story (along with ''all'' his songs being about death), some feel there's a possibility considering said foreshadowing of "Fiction" and of course, the fact Jimmy had been quoted saying he wouldn't live past 30.
** There's a theory out there that every song on ''Life Is But a Dream...'' after "Game Over" is the man's dying hallucinations, and "(D)eath" is his death finally happening.
* EstrogenBrigade: The band has a surprisingly large female fanbase, given the kind of music they play.
* FriendlyFandoms: With '''Atreyu''', fellow American metalcore band who set the genre to its peak popularity in the noughties. Fans of Avenged Sevenfold usually like Atreyu's songs and vice versa.
* 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.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** The Rev was made of this.
** Go watch any of the backstage footage they've filmed for [=DVDs=], or the vignettes they recorded for the Taste of Chaos tour.
*** An example: The Rev yelling''"Look at the size of that fuckin' duck!!! LOOK AT THAT DUCK! JESUS CHRIST! Come here, ya [[ClusterFBomb fuckin']]...[[BuffySpeak stallion duck]]!"'' followed by him chasing said duck down while growling ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTuRog88X5Y "HE'S NOT AFRAID AT ALL!"]]''
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQTszrEBq_A This is just some of it.]] We could be here all day trying to find more.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The band seems to have a huge South-American fanbase, for some reason. Some of their most massive concerts were in Brazil.
* GrowingTheBeard:
** It's often agreed that ''Waking the Fallen'' was the point where the band truly began to realize their potential as songwriters, which would later be expanded (in a different direction) on their works after leaving the field of melodic metalcore.
** ''Nightmare'' had much deeper lyrics than their previous albums, due mostly to some of the band's members dying, making the other band members more emotional.
** In a different way, some feel that ''The Stage'' is an evolution in the band's maturity, trying to take more artistic (and commercial) risk and tackling unusual lyrical subjects. It's also around the time of its release that M. Shadows grew a literal beard…
* HarsherInHindsight: A lot of it, which pertains to The Rev.
** This quote from Revolver's Avenged Sevenfold collector's edition:
-->'''Synyster Gates:''' "Yeah, he fucking planned it all, that crazy fuck. Knew he was gonna be gone before 30. He told my dad that he was fucking out. He said, "I know two things: I'm gonna be in a famous rock band, and I'm gonna die before I'm 30." He told my dad that at 15."
** The song "Brompton Cocktail". For those unaware, it's 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.
** During the writing process for ''Nightmare'', Zacky Vengeance said [[http://noisecreep.com/avenged-sevenfold-epic-record/ 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.
** Also, the song [[TearJerker "Fiction"]] definitely counts even though it was released after his death, as it was the last song he wrote (although he had been working on it for a long time) and the song is told from the point of view of someone recently deceased saying goodbye to their loved ones. To add to the eeriness, it contains the very last vocal and piano tracks he ever recorded and is the only song on the album that features his voice and playing. Well that, and this quote:
-->'''M. Shadows:''' "The new album, ''Nightmare'', is dedicated to The Rev's memory and although it's not exactly a concept album, it does center around The Rev. The eeriest thing about it is there is a song on the album called "Fiction", which started out with the title "Death". And the song was the last song The Rev wrote for the album, and when he handed it in, he said, that’s it, that’s the last song for this record. And then 3 days later, he died."
** That's not limited to "Fiction" either. The breakdown episode about "Save Me" reveals that some of lyrics of that song that were thought to be about The Rev ''were actually written by him'', including a part where he sings in the background (although it's barely audible on the record).
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
** Their 2010 album, ''Nightmare'' features numerous tributes to the Rev.
** The video for "Nightmare" never shows the band performing together (Only Zacky & Syn playing together in the guitar solo), and ends with a single shot of The Rev's final drum kit, bathed in a white light - ''And this is the only shot of the drums in the entire video''.
*** Technically there is a shot of The Rev's kit from ''City of Evil'', smashed, broken, and crawling with spiders, (a reference to the "Afterlife" video, which has spiders crawling on The Revs face.) near the beginning.
*** Also, the video opens with a shot of a tattoo of The Rev's deathbat on Matt's hand
** [[Music/DreamTheater Mike Portnoy]] stepping in to fill in for The Rev on the album ''Nightmare'' and following tours. He was The Rev's favorite drummer and biggest influence.
** Want bigger heartwarming? Each time the band plays "Fiction", being the last song The Rev worked on, they cast a white light on a piano, have ''his vocals'' play in the background, and when the outro organ music plays, they cast a white light on ''the drums''. Beautiful.
** In terms of heartwarming songs, "Warmness on the Soul" is a good example. "I give my heart, cause nothing can compare in this world to you......."
* HesJustHiding: More than a few fans are convinced that The Rev's in the woods training to become the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dlz94epxb8 knife master.]]
* HilariousInHindsight: The band had a song called "Burn It Down" from their third album, which 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.
** The band created [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe5Mo1xud08 a joke Funk Metal spoof track]] called "Pass The Gravy" as [[BaitAndSwitch a fake preview]] for ''Music/TheStage'', before playing an actual preview of "Exist". [[Music/LifeIsButADream Their very next album]] actually contains a FunkMetal track.
** "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 a 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.
* 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. ''Life Is But a Dream...'' would--perhaps unsurprisingly, given it's even more experimental sound--get the same treatment.
* MemeticMutation: "Look at the size of that [[ClusterFBomb fucking]] duck!"
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
** Syn's and Zack's guitar playing get a lot of love, but when it comes to the fans, '''everyone''' loves The Rev's "double ride thing" on songs, in particular on "Almost Easy". So much so that Brooks doing it himself in "Paradigm" [[https://youtu.be/RBQ5QBUEfaU?t=2m43s got a smile on his bandmates' faces.]]
** By some extent, the Rev's voice. M. Shadows' vocals can count as either this or annoying depending on who you ask, due to his rather peculiar nasal timbre.
* {{Narm}}: Their stage names are really cheesy to say the least. [[InvokedTrope This was deliberately intentional on their part]], to drive out people who thought their names were stupid from their shows in the early days.
** The original version of "To End the Rapture" on ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' recorded before Synyster Gates joined the band is probably one of the most unintentionally funny tracks you'll ever hear. Instead of the explosive metal intro, it's a LonelyPianoPiece, but with Matt's really...''er''.... ''bad'' singing accompanying the backing instrumental. ''Very'' silly-sounding, indeed.
** The Rev had 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.]]
* NarmCharm:
** The line "IT'S YOUR [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch FUCKIN']] NIGHTMAAAAAARE, [[EvilLaugh HA HA HA]]" is very clichéd and cheesy, but nobody seems to care besides a few critics. "A Little Piece of Heaven" is full of narm as well, but it's all tongue-in-cheek.
** Their stage names fall under this or straightforward {{Narm}} depending on who you ask.
** "Warmness on the Soul" is a sweet composition even with Shadows' congested delivery.
* OlderThanTheyThink: Music/{{Overkill}}'s mascot Chaly has been around longer than [=A7X=]'s Deathbat. The former band has even sent the members of the latter band shirts telling them to "get your own fuckin' mascot!" for "stealing" the design. However, the symbol of the skull with wings is older than Overkill themselves.
** "Easier" is older than half of the band's discography. It was first recorded in 2007 for the self-titled album and sounded drastically different from the final version, but the band was unsatisfied with it at the time. They decided to revisit it and change up the style and lyrics to fit with the tone of ''Life Is But a Dream...'', 15 years after recording the song.
* ReplacementScrappy: Arin was this for some fans, who found him less skilled than The Rev. Often ignoring that the simpler drums on ''Hail to the King'' [[MisBlamed were a deliberate choice by the band.]] It didn't help that it was ''the only album'' Arin was in to begin with.
* SequelDisplacement: ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' is easily their least popular album. Did the worst in terms of sales and streaming plays, along with a heavy metalcore sound that doesn't let up as much as it's follower, ''Waking the Fallen''.. If new fans know it at all, it's likely for the sole hit, "Warmness On The Soul", [[BlackSheepHit a soft and gentle song without any screaming whatsoever]]. Even certain longtime fans may be surprised to learn "Darkness Surrounding" used to be a hit in it's time.
* ShipMates: The bandslash fans do this a lot, most often with Synacky and Jimohnny.
* SignatureSong: "Bat Country," "The Beast and the Harlot", "Unholy Confessions", "Nightmare", and arguably "God Damn".
* 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.
* {{Squick}}: "A Little Piece of Heaven" features such lovely scenes as the two "lovers" drinking brain juice from a severed head.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: A frequent complaint about the ''Hail to the King'' album.
** "Hail to the King" seems to be the answer to Metallica's "King Nothing". The two songs don't sound that much alike musically, but the similar titles and lyrical contents [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EliSkMRvyEE gave some ideas to the fans.]]
** "This Means War" has been called suspiciously similar to "Sad But True," especially in the intro and the verses. The band members themselves acknowledge the ressemblance, suggesting that it's at least partly deliberate.
** "Heretic"'s verse sounds like {{Music/Megadeth}}'s "Symphony of Destruction" with its riff-singing-riff-singing structure.
** "Shepherd of Fire" has notable similarities with Metallica's "Enter Sandman", Black Sabbath’s title track with the church bells and thunder at the beginning, ''and'' Megadeth's "Trust", especially in the intro and the bridge.
** "Coming Home" [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools plays into this trope]] as it’s compared favorably to Iron Maiden in terms of matching their style in their own sound without feeling too much like an {{Expy}} of any particular song.
** Even looking outside of ''Hail to the King'', the main riff of "God Hates Us" (as heard [[https://youtu.be/nDcD62i0MpI?si=GDThEhwOgLdkhYti&t=84 here]]) is almost a dead ringer for [[Music/{{Muse}} Muse's]] "Stockholm Syndrome" (as heard [[https://youtu.be/gXN9acC9edU?si=cKYMvnMaLsWTfg8M here]]).
* VindicatedByHistory:
** ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' does have quite a few fans nowadays, and the band have started playing "To End the Rapture" and an instrumental arrangement of "Warmness on the Soul" in 2017, the first time in years that they played anything from that album.
** ''Hail to the King'' is somewhat less disliked now than when it came out, if only because ''The Stage'' eased some fans' fears that HTTK's simplified style would be a permanent change. Similarly, Arin Ilejay has his fair share of fans now that he's no longer in the band, some sympathizing with him for being unceremoniously "kicked out".
** 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. Then in 2016 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.
* 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, a few fans considering it their best album, period. 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.

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