{"id":52514,"date":"2017-01-20T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=52514"},"modified":"2017-07-23T18:48:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T18:48:47","slug":"feature-avenged-sevenfold-01-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-avenged-sevenfold-01-17\/","title":{"rendered":"AVENGED SEVENFOLD – As They Like It (January 2017) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

AVENGED SEVENFOLD – As They Like It<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nJanuary 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

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Avenged Sevenfold (l-r): Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance, M. Shadows, Johnny Christ and Brooks Wackerman<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nHuntington Beach, California-based metal group Avenged Sevenfold issued seventh full-length studio album The Stage<\/em> \u2013 their first for the Capitol label \u2013 in October 2016. A January 2017 trek to British shores has witnessed the assortment perform arena dates, with support from the likes of Disturbed and In Flames. Metal Forces<\/em> spoke to rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance on Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s tour bus ahead of their performance on the night of the 19th at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, we come up with ideas on our own,\u201d Zacky reflects, discussing the songwriting process for The Stage<\/em>. \u201cWe play with our instruments and see if anything kind of sticks, and then we kind of conceptualise the ideas of where we would like to see the album headed, like which direction we would like to go in. For us, this album was really about incorporating unique drumming \u2013 like we did on albums when Rev was with us, like City Of Evil<\/em> (June 2005) \u2013 and then expanding on that. Then from there, it\u2019s just getting together and writing and really trying to perfect everything, and then taking it to the studio. It\u2019s a long, gruelling process (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stage<\/em> marks the recording debut of former Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman, whose appointment was revealed on November 4th, 2015. The firing of sticksman Arin Ilejay had been confirmed on July 23rd of that year. \u201cOne of things that always set us apart was having a drummer like The Rev (James Sullivan) with us,\u201d the axeman submits. \u201cAfter he passed away, we knew that it was gonna be really hard to fill that void. We brought in a young kid named Arin to tour with us, and he played on the Hail To The King<\/em> (August 2013) album. He\u2019s a brilliant drummer, but doesn\u2019t have the same… I guess way of writing that The Rev had. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just really missing that element of our songwriting, and Brooks was always a drummer who we were fond of for his unique style, coming from the punk rock scene and a famous family of drummers. We asked him if he would be interested, and he was interested. We jammed together, and it was definitely a perfect fit for us musically.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stage<\/em> happens to be Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s \u201cmost creative affair,\u201d Zacky reckons. \u201cI feel like we have a lot of albums that are very diverse, but I feel with this album we\u2019re literally taking all of the styles of metal and hard rock and doing our own spin on it, which hasn\u2019t really been done. Incorporating drum beats that haven\u2019t really been used to fill up verses, and doing time signatures that a lot of rock bands stay away from. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat gives it more of an almost progressive feel, but it still maintains a lot of listenability which is hard to achieve, because there\u2019s so many metal bands just doing the same thing \u2013 one or two beats fast, double-bass, screaming on top of it or singing on top of it \u2013 and there are bands that do it so well. For us, it was trying to really step out and kind of create our own place within the rock and metal world, and not try to do anything that\u2019s already been done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s musical preoccupations are a conscious pursuit. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a conscious thing for us to do whatever will separate us from the pack, and make us happy musically,\u201d the composer reveals. \u201cWe really wanted to try and come up with something very creative at a time when a lot of bands rehash riffs over and over again, though. With Hail To The King<\/em> \u2013 our last album \u2013 we obviously wore our influences on our sleeve, and it was a blatant attempt to turn on our younger generation of fans to more classic sounding metal. With that, it kind of got their attention. It was almost like the gateway drug to heavier, more melodic music, so we had a plan and it seemed to work. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWith this album, we wanted to really show off our instrumentation and time signatures, and long, adventurous songs. Once you can get a fan to listen to an album a handful of times and really have a lot of substance for them to grasp, then you\u2019re looking at having a fan that really appreciates what you do for life, and can appreciate coming to see it live. That\u2019s what bands like Pink Floyd and bands like Rush and even the Metallicas of this world have, which is long, ambitious songs that pull in all different directions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recording sessions for The Stage<\/em> were helmed by Joe Barresi. \u201cHe\u2019s great,\u201d Zacky enthuses. \u201cHe\u2019s a cool cat, man. He\u2019s definitely calm and collected, and really passionate about organic tones, fucking with pedals, and just sitting there and playing with a plethora of different amps. Everything with him, he wants to make it as natural and organic. In a day and age where all albums are cut and pasted and sampled… Every metal band album you listen to now has samples placed on every drum. It\u2019s like \u2018What\u2019s the point of playing on a real kit and going to the studio when you can just play on an electronic kit?\u2019 For us, working with Joe, we said \u2018We want drums that are real drums. Mike them, put them in a good room, and make them sound good. That\u2019s how they\u2019re gonna be, and if they don\u2019t sound perfect, that\u2019s alright because that\u2019s what they really sound like.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want any of that, just overproduced bullshit that you hear so much of. To me, it just makes me kind of sick nowadays. Iit was cool to be the first band to have a polished sounding album, but when every band sounds the same? We wanted to take a step in the direction of Led Zeppelin-era bands and Black Sabbath-era bands that had a little more dynamics.\u201d<\/p>\n

One wishes to be sonically heavy, and yet not so raw that the respective tracks sonically resemble demo outings. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult, and it takes many, many months in the studio,\u201d the axe-slinger shares. \u201cRecording albums, it\u2019s a very difficult process to make a professional sounding album when you\u2019re doing things organically. You need a good team of people, and you need good musicians and players. It\u2019s more difficult. When you look at the Led Zeppelin albums and stuff, those things took a long time to make. A lot of bands nowadays go into the studio, and they can have an album done in two or three weeks. For us, it was spending a lot of time, and really trying to make every song it\u2019s own creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zacky isn\u2019t as enamoured with the technical aspects of music, per se. \u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s whatever gets the job done,\u201d he reasons. \u201cWhat makes our band so unique is that we have a crazy dynamic where Synyster\u2019s rig is as high tech as it comes. He\u2019s got all of the pedals, and all of the different amps and processors, and all that shit. For me, I have barely any of that. I keep it really, really simple, because I\u2019m pretty punk rock. For me, I think less is more, so we have two very different philosophies, but that\u2019s what gives us something unique I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

A science fiction concept was lyrically devised for The Stage<\/em>. \u201cBasically, it\u2019s kind of taking our place in the world,\u201d the musician details. \u201cIt talks about where humans currently fit into this universe, and what\u2019s happening in the world of technology, and where we\u2019re headed, and our resilience as a race of people to look back at history and try not to repeat it. It\u2019s basically kind of like the album cover; just taking our small planet, travelling out a thousand light years, and looking at how our planet is small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, but yet how important we are to all of it at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stage<\/em>\u2019s October 28th, 2016 arrival was a surprise release, the platter lacking a marketing campaign prior to its issue, or any forewarning for that matter. \u201cIt was about doing something for our fans in a day and age when music has gone so far away from what it was when I was growing up,\u201d Zacky divulges. \u201cWe used to go and hang out at the record store, me and Matt our singer, every day after school. We would scrounge up whatever money we could have, talk to the person working at the store, look at the album covers, read the song titles, and look at how long the songs were, and decide on which album we were gonna take home and listen to for that month. We didn\u2019t have a lot of money. Once you bought an album, you were stuck with it; you had to listen to it, and fall in love with it. <\/p>\n

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Avenged Sevenfold (l-r): Zacky Vengeance, Brooks Wackerman, M. Shadows,
Synyster Gates and Johnny Christ<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cNowadays, record labels throw a single out three months before an album comes out. If that doesn\u2019t stick, they throw another single out, and then they throw a fan single out, and then they throw another song before an album comes out. So, then half the album\u2019s out. We wanted to give our fans a representation of the album from beginning to end, leaving no multiple singles. We wanted them to take it home, and be the first people to have an opinion on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of The Stage<\/em>\u2019s track selections, favourite compositions have emerged for the guitarist. \u201cMy favourite two songs, and they have been for a while are…,\u201d he begins. \u201cI love \u2018The Stage\u2019 and I really love \u2018Angels\u2019. I think that\u2019s a great representation of what we\u2019re aiming to accomplish with this album, which is really just trying to have a smart, ambitious, very musical and thought-provoking album that captures our performance in the studio. I think those songs really do that, and kind of capture where our heads are at lyrically and visually \u2013 just us humans trying to figure out our place in this world and in this universe. I think the songs are a good representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Avenged Sevenfold will venture and how much further Avenged Sevenfold can venture from hereon in is uncertain, the metallers having achieved considerable success already. \u201cWe\u2019ve always set our sights far, far in advance,\u201d Zacky muses. \u201cFor us, there\u2019s no cruise control. There\u2019s no moving backwards; the rocket ship is taking off, and there\u2019s only one choice but to keep moving up. I have no interest in backtracking. I wanted to make crazy songs and put on the best shows for our fans, and I want those fans to grow with us and be a generational band where their kids can enjoy it. There are bands that are capable of doing that, but it\u2019s difficult. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly time will tell, but look at a band like Black Sabbath. My dad saw them in concert, and then I have seen them in concert, and I saw them with my dad. I\u2019d love for nothing more than my son to grow up loving them as well, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s so great about heavy metal as a genre. There\u2019s not a whole lot of pop acts that do that; there\u2019s not a whole lot of multi-generational pop bands. For us, it\u2019s always looking forward and doing the best that we can, and putting on the best show that we can by any means necessary, and never looking back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stage<\/em> was released on October 28th, 2016 via Capitol Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in January 2017<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AVENGED SEVENFOLD – As They Like It Anthony Morgan January 2017 Avenged Sevenfold (l-r): Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance, M. Shadows, Johnny Christ and Brooks Wackerman Huntington Beach, California-based metal group Avenged Sevenfold issued seventh full-length studio album The Stage \u2013 their first for the Capitol label \u2013 in October 2016. A January 2017 trek to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3310,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avenged-sevenfold","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52514"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71672,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52514\/revisions\/71672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}