Avenged Sevenfold (album)
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| Avenged Sevenfold | |||||
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| Studio album by Avenged Sevenfold | |||||
| Released | October 30, 2007 | ||||
| Recorded | February - April 2007 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, California, Eldorado Recording Studios, and Burbank & Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California | ||||
| Genre | Hard rock Heavy metal |
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| Length | 53:03 | ||||
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | ||||
| Producer | Avenged Sevenfold | ||||
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| Avenged Sevenfold chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Avenged Sevenfold | |||||
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Avenged Sevenfold (also known as The Black & White Album, in reference to The White Album and The Black Album because of its black and white and otherwise featureless cover.)[citation needed] is the self-titled fourth full-length album by Avenged Sevenfold, released on October 30, 2007 by Warner Bros. Records. The album, originally slated for an October 16 release, was delayed by two weeks in order to provide more time to complete bonus material and production for the record, including the making of a cartoon. The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200, selling about 94,000 copies in its first week.[1]. The album has sold over 373,637 copies.
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[edit] Lead up to release
Avenged Sevenfold revealed the track listing for the upcoming album on their YouTube profile on August 9, 2007, as well as their text messaging service, A7X Mobile. The band has also posted a teaser on a recent YouTube blog featuring an excerpt of vocalist M. Shadows screaming in the studio.
On August 17, 2007, a clip was posted with about 2 minutes of their first track on the new album, "Critical Acclaim" on the band's YouTube. The single was later downloaded in its entirety on YouTube and released on the iTunes Store on August 28.
In the weeks leading up to the album’s release, a series of ten video clips, called "webisodes," were recorded featuring "Wolfie the Fox." The first webisode was released on August 24, 2007; a 3:41 clip that was posted on the band's YouTube. The clip consists of a pre-recorded phone message from "Wolfie the Fox" and a few scenes of their process of making "Critical Acclaim". Each of the subsequent webisodes was similar in content. The clips featured a short mock-interview between M. Shadows and Wolfie the Fox, various band members during the making of various tracks for “Avenged Sevenfold,” and other background videos. About eleven days before the album’s release, The Wolfie Trailer was posted on YouTube. In it, Wolfie sings "Critical Acclaim" and talks about the MVI version of the new album. The webisodes can all be viewed on the band’s MySpace and YouTube pages.
By September 9, 2007, news leaked of the completion of a music video for the song "Almost Easy". It was directed by P.R. Brown, known for his collaborations with Mötley Crüe and Marilyn Manson, among many others. On September 12, 2007, the release date of the single "Almost Easy" was announced and was released six days later on September 18 to purchase via digital download.
The month of October was a busy one for the upcoming album. On October 3, Kerrang! released an article in which M. Shadows and Synyster Gates were interviewed about the new album. This day also saw the release of a live performance of "Almost Easy" at the Warped Tour 2007. Originally the band intended to release this footage if viewers watched the official music video for the track on YouTube 150,000 times. Though the goal fell short at 120,000 the band still released the footage. Another live video, featuring the third track “Scream” performed in Liverpool, England was posted on YouTube on October 11. The song was also heard during a commercial for the Scream Awards on Spike TV. M. Shadows can clearly be heard singing, "You know I make you wanna scream," which is an excerpt from the chorus. "Scream" was performed live at the 2007 Spike TV Scream Awards on October 23. Also, LoveLine played the radio premiere of "Afterlife" and "Almost Easy", which was guest hosted by M. Shadows and The Rev. Three days before, the Keyclub revealed an animated music video for "A Little Piece of Heaven".
To promote their new album, Avenged Sevenfold started their US tour on October 29, headlining in Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern. Their opening acts are Black Tide and Bloodsimple.
On October 30, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold was released in stores everywhere.
[edit] Post-release
In an interview with Total Guitar magazine, lead guitarist, Synyster Gates, stated that an unreleased track from their demo sessions would be released in a few months time. Sure enough, on January 16, it was announced that Avenged Sevenfold would be releasing a never before heard B-Side called "Crossroads" on January 17. It became available to hear for free for Fan Club members and registered MVI members (via Fan Club), then a few days later the band released a download link to all of its myspace friends and fans to download it for free. [1]
On November 19, it was announced on Rockline that "Afterlife" would be the next single and video; Afterlife's official music video was realised on Avenged Sevenfold's website on the 5'th of March. In addition, the video for "A Little Piece of Heaven" was released January 7, again exclusively for MVI owner. The video was also released on iTunes on February 12. To add, "A Little Piece of Heaven" was released on YouTube, February 12, through the official Avenged Sevenfold account.
The live music video for "Dear God" was filmed during the Taste of Chaos show at Miami, FL and Long Beach, California.
March 19, "Making of Afterlife" was available for MVI owners.
June 4, Afterlife (Live) From The Bands New CD/DVD Was Released For F.A.N Members.
[edit] Reception
The album has received mixed reviews according to metacritic.[2] It placed number 4 on the charts at its release.
[edit] Track listing
- "Critical Acclaim" – 5:14
- "Almost Easy" – 3:54
- "Scream" – 4:48
- "Afterlife" – 5:53
- "Gunslinger" - 4:11 (featuring Shanna Crooks)
- "Unbound (The Wild Ride)" (original title: "Disneyland Acid Trip") (featuring Zander Ayeroff and Annmarie Rizzo) – 5:11
- "Brompton Cocktail" – 4:13
- "Lost" (original title: "Fast Melodic") – 5:02
- "A Little Piece of Heaven" (original title: "Big Bear") (featuring Juliette Commagere) – 8:00
- "Dear God" (original title: "Country Rocker") (featuring Shanna Crooks) – 6:33
[edit] Bonus tracks
- "Almost Easy" (Jam-Along version) (iTunes bonus track) - 3:55
- "Bat Country" (Live at Hammerstein Ballroom) (iTunes pre-order bonus track) - 6:04
- "Crossroads" (b-side) (MVI exclusive) - 4:27
- The other b-sides are to be released with the bands upcoming CD/DVD.
[edit] MVI
- The Making of Avenged Sevenfold
- The Making of Avenged Sevenfold (Animated Short)
- A Little Piece of Heaven (Animated Music Video)
- Crossroads B-side (Song)
- Studio Tour
- Producer for a Day
- Pre-encoded MP3s for all tracks
- Future Avenged Sevenfold Updates (e.g. songs, videos, etc.)
- Preview of Wolfie's new rap album "Wolfin' It Up" [Rumour, conformed by Wolfie himself]
- Making Of "Afterlife" Video
- Afterlife (Live) From The Bands New CD/DVD
[edit] Leaks
Around October 13, 2007, previews of each song from the album were leaked on the internet. Warner Bros. is suing the website that leaked the previews. Three days later, on October 16, the song "Gunslinger" was also leaked onto the internet by Warner Bros. for publicity. In addition, Warner Bros.-sanctioned YouTube videos have been posted containing the song.
According to Diditleak.com, Avenged Sevenfold was leaked onto the internet on October 19, 2007 via a Dutch website by four teenagers, and other various sources. Additionally, the band released the album onto the "official" MTV site "The Leak".
[edit] Credits
- M. Shadows - Lead Vocals
- Synyster Gates - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Zacky Vengeance - Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Johnny Christ - Bass, Backing Vocals
- The Rev - Drums, Vocals
- Avenged Sevenfold - Producer
- Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman - Engineers
- Drum Tech - Mike Fasano
- Guitar Tech - Walter Rice
- Fan Producers For A Day (MVI) - Daniel McLaughlin and Christopher Guinn
- String Arrangements on "Afterlife" and "Unbound (The Wild Ride)" by Marc Mann and Avenged Sevenfold
- String Arrangements on "Brompton Cocktail" by Bruce Fowler and Avenged Sevenfold
- Strings, Horns and Choir Arrangements by Steve Bartek and Marc Mann on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
- Programming on "Critical Acclaim" and "Scream" by Jay-E
- Piano on "Almost Easy" by Greg Kusten
- Piano and Organ by Jamie Muhoberac on "Critical Acclaim", "Unbound (The Wild Ride)", 'Lost", and "A Little Piece of Heaven"
- Percussion on "Brompton Cocktail" by Lenny Castro
- Lap and Pedal Steel & Banjo on "Dear God" and "Gunslinger" by Greg Leisz
- Additional vocals by Shanna Crooks on "Gunslinger" and "Dear God"
- Additional vocals by Zander Ayeroff and Annmarie Rizzo "Unbound (The Wild Ride)"
- Additional vocals by Juliette Commagere on "A Little Piece of Heaven"
- Additional vocals by Jaime Ochoa on "Critical Acclaim".
[edit] References
- ^ Katie Hasty. "Eagles Fly Past Britney To Debut At No. 1", Billboard.com, November 7, 2007. Last accessed November 7, 2007
- ^ "Avenged Sevenfold", Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
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