Tag: Synyster Gates
2 Avenged Sevenfold – Hail to the King (2013)
Wow! I just finished listening and then listening and listening again to the new Avenged Sevenfold album Hail To the King. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the band’s new album. I was sure it would be good, but this album isn’t good, it is outfreakinstanding.
Hail to the King is the first album without Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. “The Rev” was always such a driving force in A7X’s music, I was wondering how the band would handle his tragic loss, and how it would affect their music. A7X’s music has definitely changed, but it has changed for the better in my opinion.
What A7X has done is change their tempo, and completely move away from their metalcore roots. The band has crafted a bunch of songs that could easily be staples on rock radio everywhere. The change of tempo doesn’t mean that Synnester Gates and Zacky Vengeance don’t play their asses off. There is some fine guitar work on this album, and I hear little bits of Megadeth, Metallica and even Guns N’ Roses influence in the music on Hail To the King. Kudos to drummer Arin Ilejay, who does a find job behind the kit on this record.
The first four songs “Shepherd of Fire”, “Hail To The King”, “Doing Time” and “This Means War” really set the stage for this album, by delivering several excellent, hard rockin’ numbers that will have you hooked after the first listen. While these are my favorites, the great songs don’t end there.
I like the creepiness of “Requiem”. I look for Damien Omen to show up every time I listen to this one. “Heretic” is one catchy rocker that I would love to see A7X perform live. I love the lyrics on this song. “Acid Rain” is one of those deep cuts on “Hail To the King” that will keep me spinning this disc for a long time. I love the haunting piano melodies on this song.
This may be the most mainstream A7X album yet. It is rare when an album exceeds my expectations, but I believe this is Avenged Sevenfold’s best album yet. I thought some fans would be unhappy with A7X’s current direction, but judging from he fact that the album is # 1 in the U.S., Canada and the UK, most A7X fans must think it is pretty cool too!
If you buy one version of the album, get the Deluxe version of the album, which will give you two cool A7X coasters, and a password for a free download of the bonus track “St. James” which is a pretty cool song too!
I won’t be surprised to find “Hail To the King” on top of many best of 2013 lists. It really is that good! Check it out!
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
01. Shepherd of Fire
02. Hail To the King
03. Doing Time
04. This Means War
05. Requiem
06. Crimson Day
07. Heretic
08. Coming Home
09. Planets
10. Acid Rain
Bonus Track (as a download from the A7X website)
St. James.
Avenged Sevenfold is:
M. Shadows – Vocals
Synyster Gates – Lead Guitar
Zacky Vengeance – Rhythm Guitar
Johnny Christ – Bass
Arin Ilejay – Drums
0 SYNYSTER GATES OF AVENGED SEVENFOLD PARTNERS WITH GUITAR CENTER AND SCHECTER GUITARS TO LAUNCH MASTER CLASS WITH SYNYSTER GATES
Sign Ups Open July 15 Giving Guitarists Across America the Opportunity to Train with a Rock’n’Roll Icon
One of rock’s most influential guitarists, Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold, joins forces with Guitar Center, the world’s largest retailer of musical instruments, and Schecter Guitar Research to launch Master Class with Synyster Gates. The talent-discovery program was co-developed by Gates, Guitar Center and Schecter to provide a dynamic group of musicians the chance to have their skills recognized and rewarded with the incredibly rare opportunity to learn from a famed guitarist in an intimate and engaging setting. Master Class with Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold offers a chance for young and emerging artists to learn directly from one of the best in the business and aims to inspire a new generation of rock guitarists.
“Avenged Sevenfold has always been a band that champions musicality,” said Synyster Gates. “ I’m passionate about the art of guitar, and this Master Class is the perfect opportunity to help further the skills and careers of like-minded musicians.”
From his sound to his style, you’d be hard pressed to find a more distinctive musician in rock than Synyster Gates. As lead guitarist for Huntington Beach, California’s Avenged Sevenfold, Gates’ riff and rhythms have helped to power some of this millennium’s most inventive, invigorating, and forceful heavy music. And his work as a soloist, crafting leads that combine gut-level aggression and blinding speed with advanced melodic and harmonic concepts and techniques, has resulted in his being bestowed with numerous honors, including Guitar World’s Best Metal Guitarist, Total Guitar’s Guitarist of the Year, and, with his A7X band mate Zacky Vengeance, a Revolver Golden God for Best Guitarists. Gates recently launched the Hellwin line of amplifiers with the Hellwin USA 100, a 100-watt, three-channel, all-tube unit that he developed in conjunction with renowned amp designer James Brown. This signature series was used in the recording of the upcoming Avenged Sevenfold album due out later this year.
Starting today, seven signature Avenged Sevenfold tracks will be available for download, allowing guitarists to add their best original lead guitar performance to the backing track. Submissions run July 15 to September 15 and will be ranked through artist fan growth across top social networks and music portals. Synyster Gates will then review the top ranked artists and personally select 10 winners who will be flown out to Los Angeles to attend an intimate master class led by the Avenged Sevenfold guitarist himself. All ten winning musicians will also take home a fully-loaded music package including Synyster Gates’ signature-special Schecter guitar, Ernie Ball accessories and more.
To Enter Master Class with Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold visit guitarcenter.com/a7x
Guitar Center Master Class with Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold Winners will Receive:
- VIP Trip to Los Angeles to attend a master class with Synyster Gates in the historic Guitar Center Hollywood Vintage Room
- Schecter Synyster Gates Special electric guitar
- A behind-the-scenes tour of the Schecter factory and custom shop
- Ernie Ball accessory prize pack
Watch more about the program here:
About Schecter Guitars
Since their birth in 1976, Schecter Guitar Research has been known and sought after for its high quality instruments by those with a discerning eye. Over the last decade the brand and its reputation continues to grow as does the demand for a hand-built US made product. Schecter recently announced the addition of a new 14,000 SQF exclusive Custom Shop facility. Featuring the latest in CNC technology from Haas for pinpoint manufacturing precision, a return to their roots with Schecter’s own line of hand wound pickups and finally a completely environmentally compliant 1,500 SQF sealed spray booth and drying room. Allowing the highest-grade ultra thin and durable automotive finishes along with the ability to offer highly sought after vintage finishing techniques such as nitrocellulose lacquer and conversion varnishes.
As Schecter Guitars moves into its 37th year in business, they have solidified the elite status, as one of the world’s premier guitar companies. Its continually evolving and expanding line of guitars and basses appeals to a broad spectrum of players and diverse musical styles and now features a full line of hand built tube amplifiers and cabinets. Its core business practice offers high-quality products with professional components at an affordable price. One of the company’s strongest assets is its growing roster of high-profile artists, including Disturbed, members of Avenged Sevenfold, Motley Crüe, The Cure, Papa Roach, Seether, Prince, Cheap Trick, Stone Temple Pilots, Nevermore and Black Label Society.
About Guitar Center
Guitar Center is the world’s largest retailer of guitars, amplifiers, drums, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates 224 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician’s Friend, Inc., and its catalog and Web site, www.musiciansfriend.com. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company’s Web site at www.guitarcenter.com.
0 Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare (2010)
AVENGED SEVENFOLD “Nightmare” – The Crown Jewel Of A7X
It has been a little over two months since the July 27th, 2010 release of “Nightmare” from Avenged Sevenfold. This has been more than enough time for me to listen to their fifth studio album and come to this realization… “Nightmare” is profoundly bigger and more badass than any critics out there ever expected. To listen to this new A7X album and walk away unimpressed tells me only one thing… your oozing with quality Metal envy. The #1 album chart status and sales figures alone for “Nightmare” are telling of the popularity and quality that A7X carries with their brand of Heavy Rock.
The lead single of “Nightmare” alone is as fine an example of the musical maturation that A7X has reached, in factually just a decade. With shades of Metallica influence combined within their own Metal prowess, A7X can very well know they have made the song of their lives. Just when you think “Nightmare” is going to subside, it doesn’t. This song is uncannily relentless with its psyche-you-out continuity. I can’t help but think to myself… this “Nightmare” song will make Metallica wish it was theirs. I state this as a compliment to both bands, I’m opposed to stirring up controversy. Sometimes.
Anyone still unfamiliar with this “Nightmare” album should consider themselves either a rain forest hermit or walking in their sleep while still having functioning body parts. To pick apart this album would be rather easy… if you never listened to it. That sadly, has been the morbid case in situations that are few and far between. “Nightmare” is so much more than the lead single. As is always the case with A7X, this is a total album of songs. As diverse as it is dynamic, “Nightmare” flourishes with its originality from song to song, with not a micro hint of cut and paste with this extraordinary group of musicians.
If “Danger Line” doesn’t bring your eyes to some semblance of tears, then obviously the lyrics go right over your head. “Danger Line” incorporates whistling and a piano for extra emotional affect, evaporating the immature mentality out there that A7X is NOT a screaming Metalcore band for teenage boys only. Take that, all of you liberal and over compensated mainstream Rock Music critics. “Buried Alive” relies on its melodic heaviness to carry out it’s more than memorable song structure. This is a song that plays out in two parts, one part heavy ballad and second part melt your eardrums into Heavy Metal delirium.
“So Far Away” further removes the unsubstantiated stereotype and misgivings that A7X at times have to duck away from. This song is remarkable in both its musicianship and lyrics. “So Far Away” is the bridge between A7X the Metal Band and A7X the diverse and skillful musicians that they glowingly are. “Tonight The World Dies” tantalizes with a Classic Rock sensibility that marries into the emotionally driven darkness that is this “Nightmare” album. M. Shadows vocally switches from crooning to power bellows with flawless and inherent confidence.
“God Hates Us” is undisputedly the heaviest track on “Nightmare”, exposing the full throttle and extreme side that A7X can credibly unleash through song. If “Nightmare” was built around the sound and fury of “God Hates Us”, A7X would be just another Metal Band that made a “decent” album. This song is grand and mighty in every musical aspect, only A7X doesn’t need to rely on this high level of heaviness to be as great as they are. It is songs like “Victim” that enriches this “Nightmare” album into its “necessity to own” status. A heavy ballad is “Victim” and it does not resemble anything you have ever heard in a “heavy ballad” before. This is as modernistic and emblematic of what a heavy ballad should sound like… and A7X created it.
M. Shadows sings his heart out on this entire album, with the purest and most legitimate emotion spilling over each and every syllable. Yes, hearing Dream Theater founder and former drummer Mike Portnoy on drums is evident and incredible all the same. Mike Portnoy only escalates the totality of power and drive with his rhythmic essence and elegance within these songs heard on “Nightmare”. Synyster Gates on lead guitar and Zacky Vengeance on rhythm guitar compliment one another to the point where they are a guitar brotherhood. Listening to both play together on “Nightmare” is seamless in their unison. Johnny Christ on bass is heard very clearly, playing alongside Mike Portnoy with rhythmic precision, to my ears anyways.
“Save Me” is the epic song on “Nightmare”, coming in a few seconds short of eleven minutes. If Synyster Gates intentionally wanted his guitar to sound as if it were singing, he succeeded here. This song is not going to be a dreaded epic listen, for those of you who have not heard it just yet. A7X took great care into considering song structure for “Save Me”, it plays out as a short story with ample guitar parts that focus on melody and harmony, rather than raw power leads. With a ballad formula that compensates by its overall hardness, “Save Me” never loses my attention for a second. The speed kicks in at the midway point, with multiple guitar solo’s that brandish speed, while never compromising this song’s melodic intent.
Jimmy “The Reverend” Sullivan sings on “Fiction” and is credited with the drum arrangements as well. Hearing “The Rev” sing these lyrics on “Fiction” is chilling and leaves an emotional impression on me. Not to sound cliche, yet, “The Rev” was a one of a kind drummer. A7X will never be the same band without “The Rev”, his untimely and tragic passing only reminds me to never take for granted great musicians who have brought joy to my Metal loving life… and to not take life for granted either.
“Lost It All” is the non-album track that is available on itunes as a deluxe version bonus track. This song’s dark theme and heaviness fits right into the “Nightmare” scheme of things, showcasing just how brilliant sounding A7X is, when they combine present day “hardness” with their already patented “heaviness”.
I liken “Nightmare” to be Avenged Sevenfold’s “Back In Black” album, possibly their “Black Album” of their career. It surely comes across this way to my ears and senses. A7X took a dark approach lyrically and delicately weaved some heavy emotion into an album of songs that is fittingly titled “Nightmare”. Not one song sounds forced or contrived “at the last minute” of recording. This is an album to embrace for not just its skillful musicians, this album must be embraced for its end product being the totality of “real” songs. There is nothing pre-packaged here, this is “Nightmare” and A7X can stand tall and proud in “my” Metal world.
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
- Nightmare
- Welcome To The Family
- Danger Line
- Buried Alive
- Natural Born Killer
- So Far Away
- God Hates Us
- Victim
- Tonight The World Dies
- Fiction
- Save Me
Avenged Sevenfold is:
M. Shadows – vocals
Synyster Gates – lead guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ – bass
The Rev – Drum arrangements, Lead Vocals on Fiction, Drums on Nightmare’s demo
Additonal Musicians:
Mike Portnoy – drums, percussions
Brian Haner, Sr. – guitars on “So Far Away”
Sharlotte Gibson – backing vocals
Jessi Collins – backing vocals
David Palmer – piano, keyboards
Stevie Blacke – Strings, string arrangement
Stewart Cole – trumpet
Mike Elizondo – keyboards
The Whistler – Whistling
