Band:	Avenged Sevenfold
Album:	Hail To The King
Style:	Alternative metal, Heavy metal
Release date:	August 2013

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

Ok, so before I start spewing off my meaningless opinions into the blogosphere and acting like people should read them, I must admit something about the piece I am about to write. I am like Avenged Sevenfold's high school girlfriend. We had a blast on our first date (Waking The Fallen), and made love all night for a while (City Of Evil). Then he stopped buying me a lot of nice stuff, but he really still loved me (Avenged Sevenfold). At one point, I thought he cheated on me with commercial rock, but he really didn't (Nightmare). I will probably always love Avenged Sevenfold, and may be the most biased person to speak of this; however, if a band I'm dating releases crap, I'll say it's crap. With that being said, I consider their latest release, Hail To The King, make-up sex.

Even though I just admitted I'm in love with this band, I'm not blind to the fact that their sound is changing. I remember when I used to blast "Waking the Fallen" and I thought it would be the heaviest thing I'd ever listen to (I was young). Of course, I've loved everything they have released since, but I've never been punched in the face from them like when I was a kid.

The truth is, I believe if you're the kind of metal fan who only listens to music at 1,000 bpm, you're probably not going to like Hail To The King. You also probably didn't like Nightmare a whole lot either, and were mildly impressed by Avenged Sevenfold. So if you're going to give this album a spin, it might help just to act like it's not even Avenged Sevenfold you are listening to. If you experience the album as its own entity, I would wager you would find something you like.

Lots of speculation has been given as to why Avenged titled their album Hail To The King. The resounding answer, other than the fact that it is the name of the lead-off single, has been that it was the band's tribute to their old school heroes. I think this fact is very present in this album. This has part to do with what I said about Avenged Sevenfold slowing down their tempo. However, I think this slower approach still rocks.

If you listen to songs like "Doing Time", "Heretic" and even the title track, they are much simpler, straightforward rock riffs, but they still get in your face. It's also not the first time Avenged Sevenfold has released a slower song that worked. For instance, I wouldn't classify "Almost Easy" a particularly fast song, but it's awesome, and the same can also be said for "Afterlife" and the title track from Nightmare. Perhaps if they would have told people, Hail to the King was actually Black Sabbath's comeback record, people would call it the greatest album of all time.

Now, even though I've been talking about how the sound has changed over the years, I still believe this is an Avenged Sevenfold record. I would not consider this a sell-out. The dual guitar harmonies are once again very present, and they are still coming up with creative riffs. There has also been much speculation about Avenged Sevenfold possibly ripping off Metallica in this album (I have also heard Iron Maiden, Pantera and Guns N' Roses). I won't tell you my opinion, but I will at least say there is room for debate. Original or not, this album is solid and it gets my stamp of approval.

Favorite Tracks: "Shepard Of Fire", "Hail To The King", "This Means War", "Requiem", "Heretic"