Avenged Sevenfold

Waking The Fallen

Track Listing:

1) Waking The Fallen

2) Unholy Confessions

3) Chapter Four

4) Remenissions

5) Desecrate Through Reverance

6) Eternal Rest

7) Second Heartbeat

8) Radiant Eclipse

9) I Wont See You Tonight - part 1

10)I Wont See You Tonight - part 2

11)Clairvoiant Disease

12)And All Things Will End

Avenged Sevenfold are a band wildly revered on the hardcore scene. And on the basis of this cd, its not hard to see why. All the hallmarks of great hardcore are here. A great vocalist, an even better band behind him, a cult following that would kill themelves for you and biblical quantities of tattos and black eyeliner. All these are great but A7X have never really produced an album worthy of all their hype. They've hinted repeatedly that they are more than capable of it, but fans hoping that "waking the fallen" was going to be the cd they've been building towards their entire career (such as myself) will be dissapointed with this.

Things kick off superbly with "unholy confessions" surely A7Xs finest moment so far. A harmonized guitar riff thats almost saliva enducing with a chorus that could melt butter. This is a display of what a7x do best. Chapter Four keeps this up fantasticly. However, its here that things take a very strange turn.

The songs from track 4 onwards, arent exactly "bad". What they are however is bland. They display an immense amount of songwriting talent and musical ability. But melodic they aint. Tracks 4 through 8 glide by without you even noticing. And its not until the absolutely phenomanal, career defining, suicidal power ballad "i wont see you tonight - part 1" that your interest will peak again.

Overall, A7X WILL make a masterpiece. Its in their blood. you can feel it in their dark lyrics, darker melodies and powerful riffage. They will make a record worthy of their hype. but unfortunately, "waking the fallen" isnt it.

Andy Kavna