Music / Avenged Sevenfold (Album)

You know I make you wanna scream.

The self-titled fourth album by Avenged Sevenfold was released on October 30, 2007, by Warner (Bros.) Records. This is the band's first and so far only album to be entirely self-produced. Musically, it is Lighter and Softer than usual and spins the Genre Roulette while moving even further away from their metalcore roots after preceding album City of Evil.

This is also the last Avenged Sevenfold album to be completed with drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan, who died early into the production of their follow-up album, 2010's Nightmare.

Tracklist:

1. "Critical Acclaim" (5:16)
2. "Almost Easy" (3:55)
3. "Scream" (4:49)
4. "Afterlife" (5:53)
5. "Gunslinger" (4:12)
6. "Unbound (The Wild Ride)" (5:12)
7. "Brompton Cocktail" (4:13)
8. "Lost" (5:02)
9. "A Little Piece of Heaven" (8:01)
10. "Dear God" (6:34)

Principal Members:

• M. Shadows - Lead vocals
• Synyster Gates - Lead guitar, backing vocals
• Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Johnny Christ - Bass, backing vocals
• The Rev - Drums, backing and lead vocals

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Trope back to me, it's almost easy:

• Album Closure: Country-rock ballad "Dear God".
• The Atoner: The protagonist of "A Little Piece of Heaven" after his girlfriend comes back from the dead for revenge.
  "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"
• Auto-Tune: The robot vocals in the chorus of "Lost".
• Back from the Dead: The protagonist's girlfriend in "A Little Piece of Heaven"
  "Now an angry soul comes back from beyond the grave
  To repossess a body with which I misbehave"
• Black Comedy: "A Little Piece of Heaven" is a campy, orchestral, macabre mini-opera about a guy who brutally murders his girlfriend out of paranoia and abuses her corpse until she comes back to kill him in the same way he killed her. The dark humor is more pronounced in the video.
  "'Cause I really always knew that my little crime would be cold
  That's why I got a heater for your thighs"
• Epic Rocking: The songs are generally shorter here than they were on City of Evil, but "A Little Piece of Heaven" (8:01) and "Dear God" (6:34) still qualify. "Afterlife" (5:53) falls short of this by less than ten seconds.
• Escaped from Hell: Inverted in "Afterlife". The protagonist wants to escape from heaven because he doesn't feel ready to die.
• Fading into the Next Song: A Heartbeat Soundtrack links the end of "Unbound (The Wild Ride)" to the beginning of "Brompton Cocktail".
• Genre Roulette: There is groove metal ("Scream"), thrashy hard rock ("Almost Easy"), an orchestral mini-opera ("A Little Piece of Heaven"), symphonic metal ("Afterlife"), another musical number ("Critical Acclaim"), and country ("Dear God", the beginning of "Gunslinger").
• I Love the Dead: "A Little Piece Of Heaven"
  "She was never this good in bed even when she was sleeping"
• Lighter and Softer: This is one of the poppiest Avenged Sevenfold albums (at least for the most part), making a complete departure from metalcore. Even the dark songs ("Scream" and "A Little Piece of Heaven") are either tongue-in-cheek or outright Black Comedy, with only the suicide song "Brompton Cocktail" avoiding it.
• Minimalistic Cover Art: A black Deathbat on a plain white background.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: "Critical Acclaim" begins with this.
• Our Zombies Are Different: "A Little Piece of Heaven" has the protagonist and his girlfriend kill each other and become zombies. Their souls still occupy their bodies as they get married.
• R-Rated Opening: Despite being one of only two songs with hard swearing, "Critical Acclaim" has this as its opening lines.
  "Shh... quiet, you might piss somebody off
  Like me, motherfucker, you've been at it for too long"
• Songs of Solace:
  • "Gunslinger" is about a soldier missing his family while serving in a war.
  • "Dear God" is about a drifter missing the people he's left behind.
• Spoken Word in Music: The post-chorus of "Critical Acclaim" has a big rant about people criticizing the soldiers serving in the Iraq War. This was dropped during live performances.
• Step Up to the Microphone: The Rev has a co-lead vocal on half the tracks, most notably "Critical Acclaim" and "A Little Piece of Heaven". The latter also has Zacky wedding the undead couple.
• Textless Album Cover: Aside from the Parental Advisory warning.

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