Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold is an Alternative Rock band from in Huntington Beach, California formed in 1999. They gained popularity with the release of their album City of Evil in 2005 which includes singles such as "Burn It Down", "Bat Country," "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day." Their success followed with the release of their self-titled album including singles such as "Critical Acclaim", "Almost Easy", "Afterlife", "Scream" and "Dear God".

Avenged Sevenfold originally had metalcore sound on their first two albums and then changed to a more hard rock style with their album City of Evil. They were proclaimed as one of the leaders and key bands in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal and were featured as second place on Ultimate Guitar's Top Ten Bands of the Decade.http://deathbatnews.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/avenged-sevenfold-make-ultimate-guitars-top-ten-bands-of-the-decade/ They are currently in production of their fifth studio album.http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/a7x-we-wanted-to-cover-mr-bungle/ During the end of 2009 the death of their drummer and founding member, James "The Rev" Sullivan was announced.http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=132643

M. Shadows Came up with the band's name as a reference to the story of Cain and Able from the Bible, although they are not a religious band.http://www.skratchmagazine.com/interviews/INTavengedsevenfold.php Upon Avenged Sevenfold's formation, they also took up pseudonyms that they had as nicknames in high school. http://blogsnroses.com/2009/03/30/interview-with-avenged-sevenfold-through-jacky-bam-bam.aspx?ref=rss They recorded two demos in 1999 and 2000. Their debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet was recorded when the band members were just out of high school and was released on the band's original label Good Life Recordings in 2001. http://music.aol.com/album/sounding-the-seventh-trumpet/490617After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, at the end of 1999 when he was 18 at the introductory track "To End the Rapture" was re-recorded featuring a full band element. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002.

The band settled on their fourth bassist Johnny Christ and released Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Records in 2003. The band received profiles in Billboard and The Boston Globe, and played in the Vans Warped Tour. http://www.unratedmagazine.com/Document.cfm?Page=Articles/index.cfm&Article_ID=66Avenged Sevenfold toured again with Vans Warped Tour in 2004 and recorded a video for their song "Unholy Confessions" which went into rotation on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball. Shortly after the release of Waking the Fallen they left Hopeless Records and signed to Warner Bros. Records.