In this day and age, for any artist to completely hide an album release, throwing millions of people off with a fake release date before unleashing an all-out assault on every market platform (iTunes to Spotify to worldwide album release) is quite a feat. Front-man M.Shadows jokingly commented on the approach of the release, "it's 2016, people's attention spans are too short at this point, who has time for 3 months of lead-up?" A statement which differs vastly from the approach to their last release, Hail To The King (2013.)
The release of their seventh album, The Stage, which is the longest album the band has released to date (clocking in at just under 74 minutes), takes the listener on a journey. The concept album, which focuses on the thoughts of human compatibility and juxtaposes is with broader thought of existence, leads you into new territory that has been previously unexplored by the band, guiding you with soft ballads and disrupting you with hard hitting head-bangers.
The album is also a feeding introduction to new drummer, Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion, Tenacious D), who justifies his place in the band with an explosive drumming style, which was the first thing audiences were treated to upon hearing their new single, "The Stage" which released a few weeks prior to the album of the same name. His drumming style helps give the album it's own personality, separating it from the other work Sevenfold had previously produced.
Previous drummer Arin Llejay, who joined the band in 2012 and helped produce the band's 6th album Hail To The King which was a great success for the band, seeing them top charts in the UK and numerous other leading countries around the world, spawning a huge world tour and countless festival headlining appearances. HTTK's pre-release posed an agonising number of weeks for fans, who's promotion ranged from IOS games that leaked UK tour venues, to having a radio on their website that leaked new songs, to even leaking the album artwork piece by piece to eventually reveal the full album cover.
In comparison, I think the surprise album drop took away the "new album hype", making it feel almost as if it wasn't serious. It took away the aspect that previously built up excitement for a release. For me, it almost felt like it wasn't a real album, and more of just a ballad mix; there were no real stand-out songs unlike other past Sevenfold albums and a few of the songs even sounded similar too. You get what you come for though and in now way am I inferring it's a disastrous album, but it's nothing like the level we all know Avenged Sevenfold are capable of.
Careful planning, dedication and execution played a large part in what made their previous albums so successful. Live and learn on this one.
2/5.
