Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold Single Review

Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold Single Review

Avenged Sevenfold

Single Review

Avenged Sevenfold, A7X to their fans (but not, I suspect, to their mothers) have been playing together since they were eighteen years old. Eight years of touring and writing have bought them to Almost Easy, the first single from their self-titled fourth album. I first came across the band on a Hopeless Records compilation, and was impressed by the echoes of Iron Maiden in the vocal harmonies and the soul-swapped-skills of their lead guitarist - they seemed to be bringing something different to a genre packed with imitators.

The next A7X ping on my musical radar came from playing the inspired Xbox 360 game Guitar Hero 2, and finding The Beast and the Harlot making its presence felt in the Face Melters selection of songs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had stepped away from metalcore towards (for me) a more interesting and more individual musical palette. The singer’s rupturing of the blood vessels in his throat (and requiring surgery to repair the problem) may have influenced the decision to tone down the screaming, but the music appeared to emerge all the better for it.

Cue my third encounter with the band, the focus of this review. I expected exciting things from Almost Easy, and with this indulgent preamble I had to be either blown away or disappointed. In what’s becoming something of a reviewing trend I’m afraid to say it’s the latter. They’re still stepping away from their metalcore roots, but towards the chasm of polished mediocrity rather than the mountains of edgy innovation. There is still joy to be found in the vocal harmonies, which could have been plucked straight from the more debased brand of choir, and the inevitable guitar solo is restrained (quite possibly with the threat of spiked chains) yet inspired (quite possibly by the promise of spiked chains).

Not having heard the rest of Avenged Sevenfold, I hope that this is simply a radio-friendly shot at a more mainstream audience and there’s still a current of innovation bubbling under the album’s skull printed surface. There’s only one way to find out. Well, two, but piracy funds terrorism.

James Thomson

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