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Post by BMus1 on Oct 27, 2016 5:21:20 GMT
Two songs in now. The Stage itself wasn't too too great, but it grew on me. But this is already five times the album HTTK was.
Also, it's coming out this Friday.
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Post by dan62 on Oct 27, 2016 6:20:51 GMT
I know my opinion right now is influenced by how excited I am, but I really believe this record will go down as a highlight of their career. It contains some of their finest guitar work and the drumming is absolutely wicked; i'm a massive fan of the Rev and some of the stuff Brooks plays definitely rivals the Rev's best songs. As a whole, the record sounds different from anything they've done, yet sounds distinctly Avenged Sevenfold. The closest thing I could compare it to is City of Evil meets the catchiness of Nightmare, but even that isn't completely accurate.
The whole campaign to build up hype for this release has been absolutely brilliant too. Leaking that fake december release date was a really cool move, they set that expectation in everyone's mind then blew us away with the actual release a week later. I'm really interested to see what songs they play at the show tomorrow night; i've been guessing they might play the record in it's entirety for a few days now, and maybe they'll release the show as DVD down the road.
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Post by BMus1 on Oct 27, 2016 12:18:41 GMT
I agree that this album is going to make huge strides. The only thing that bothers me (which has never before) is Shadows' voice. I know he's gotten a lot of crap for the last ten years but this is the first time I've actually really got annoyed by his vocals at points; they're getting very weak.
But I agree, the marketing campaign has been great. Jericho leaking the 'original' was a cool move, especially because it's very believable considering he's such a close friend of the band.
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Post by dan62 on Oct 27, 2016 12:58:57 GMT
The only thing that bothers me (which has never before) is Shadows' voice. I know he's gotten a lot of crap for the last ten years but this is the first time I've actually really got annoyed by his vocals at points; they're getting very weak. I have to partially agree, there were a few moments here and there where I noticed a word or line sounding nasally, but it doesn't bother me much. I've been hearing some theories about this that make some sense too. It looks like the band's old label announced a greatest hits compilation to be released the week before the leaked december date, possibly to spite the band and take some sales away from their new record for themselves, and the band intentionally did this whole stunt as a way to throw the old label off their trail. Either way, I like how the band approached the release, even if the announcement leaked a day early. I wish more bands would release surprise albums, there's nothing worse than getting a release date then having to wait for months. Plus, now the band gets to capitalise on all the fresh hype, which hopefully means increased numbers for the first week of sales. |
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Post by LeeClaire on Oct 28, 2016 11:39:55 GMT
Are they going to rip-off Load on this one?
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Post by Jayzon on Oct 28, 2016 14:06:29 GMT
Are they going to rip-off Load on this one? Nope, just listening to "The Stage" right now, and this is definitely more a continuation of "Nightmare" than another "tribute to our idols" thing. |
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Post by SicJes on Oct 28, 2016 14:28:01 GMT
I really liked the video with the puppets killing each other but I had to watch it with the volume muted since the song was really not my thing to the point that I had to mute it and I give most anything a chance and listen.
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Post by chaosguitarist on Oct 28, 2016 19:28:29 GMT
As a major A7X fan, I definitely like the album. It's not as 'in your face' as HTTK was, but I think that's to be expected. It certainly is a very experimental album for them, in my opinion at least. It also doesn't sound much like any other album, maybe a bit like Nightmare, but for the most part it certainly sounds very unique. I'm sure it'll grow on me over time.
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Post by trailmix on Oct 28, 2016 21:00:35 GMT
The spoken part in Exist was a major fuck up, and ruined what could have been a very cool song.
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Post by Harvester Of Magnets on Oct 29, 2016 8:44:36 GMT
Are they going to rip-off Load on this one? Nah, they'll rip off St. Anger  |
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Post by LeeClaire on Oct 30, 2016 0:23:04 GMT
Are they going to rip-off Load on this one? Nope, just listening to "The Stage" right now, and this is definitely more a continuation of "Nightmare" than another "tribute to our idols" thing. Was the tribute album actually written with being a tribute album in mind, or did they just starting saying that after everyone pointed out it was an unoriginal ripoff? I also wonder if they surprise dropped this album to avoid it getting eaten by a new Metallica album for the next 6 months. |
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Post by R2D2 on Oct 30, 2016 0:58:30 GMT
Disappointed with this album. Kept droning on and on, nothing stood out until Roman Skies or whatever the hell it's called. I've seen a lot of people compare it to City of Evil, and I can agree with that because of how try hard it sounds. Hail to the King was better than this, but I think they really lost their sound after Nightmare.
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Post by dan62 on Oct 30, 2016 1:01:02 GMT
Nope, just listening to "The Stage" right now, and this is definitely more a continuation of "Nightmare" than another "tribute to our idols" thing. Was the tribute album actually written with being a tribute album in mind, or did they just starting saying that after everyone pointed out it was an unoriginal ripoff? They said in interviews before the record came out that HttK was going to be very influenced by the bands they grew up with, they even mentioned having their previous drummer Arin listen to stuff like the black album, old pantera records, etc. so he could try to replicate that vibe in the studio. The album came out exactly how they said it would, and people were still mad. It really boggles my mind. |
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Post by LeeClaire on Oct 30, 2016 3:28:44 GMT
Was the tribute album actually written with being a tribute album in mind, or did they just starting saying that after everyone pointed out it was an unoriginal ripoff? They said in interviews before the record came out that HttK was going to be very influenced by the bands they grew up with, they even mentioned having their previous drummer Arin listen to stuff like the black album, old pantera records, etc. so he could try to replicate that vibe in the studio. The album came out exactly how they said it would, and people were still mad. It really boggles my mind. So they actually said they were going to completely rip-off Sad But True? That's a bold move, Cotton. |
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Post by lodeus on Oct 30, 2016 3:55:29 GMT
They said in interviews before the record came out that HttK was going to be very influenced by the bands they grew up with, they even mentioned having their previous drummer Arin listen to stuff like the black album, old pantera records, etc. so he could try to replicate that vibe in the studio. The album came out exactly how they said it would, and people were still mad. It really boggles my mind. So they actually said they were going to completely rip-off Sad But True? That's a bold move, Cotton. At least it was better than the Kid Rock version. |
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Post by waunakonor on Oct 30, 2016 5:15:03 GMT
Was the tribute album actually written with being a tribute album in mind, or did they just starting saying that after everyone pointed out it was an unoriginal ripoff? The album came out exactly how they said it would, and people were still mad. It really boggles my mind. Maybe because people though they were just going to capture the vibe of some of those older records while still writing original songs rather than totally ripping off some of those older songs? |
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Post by dan62 on Oct 30, 2016 5:52:17 GMT
The album came out exactly how they said it would, and people were still mad. It really boggles my mind. Maybe because people though they were just going to capture the vibe of some of those older records while still writing original songs rather than totally ripping off some of those older songs? There are plenty of artists that have done the same and will continue to do it, but no one cares until a band everyone loves to hate on does it. I can think of exactly two songs on that record that reminds me of another band anyways, so if you ask me I think people blow the whole thing way out of proportion. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2016 7:35:07 GMT
So they actually said they were going to completely rip-off Sad But True? That's a bold move, Cotton. At least it was better than the Kid Rock version. Except that American Badass sampled SBT rather than essentially re-write it and pass it off as an original composition.... |
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Post by Jayzon on Oct 30, 2016 10:02:36 GMT
I also wonder if they surprise dropped this album to avoid it getting eaten by a new Metallica album for the next 6 months. M. Shadows said that they decided to not announce the album beforehand, because it would take away from the "mystique" of the new record. |
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Post by LeeClaire on Oct 30, 2016 19:27:29 GMT
So they actually said they were going to completely rip-off Sad But True? That's a bold move, Cotton. At least it was better than the Kid Rock version. Well, anything is better than the Kid Rock version simply by virtue of it not being Kid Rock, so that doesn't count. I also wonder if they surprise dropped this album to avoid it getting eaten by a new Metallica album for the next 6 months. M. Shadows said that they decided to not announce the album beforehand, because it would take away from the "mystique" of the new record. Hm, I wonder why almost every other recording artist in history hasn't figured that out. Morons. |
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Post by LeeClaire on Nov 2, 2016 18:34:29 GMT
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Post by R2D2 on Nov 2, 2016 18:55:09 GMT
Not surprised. Shit album is shit.
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Post by dan62 on Nov 2, 2016 20:03:00 GMT
They've said already in recent interviews that they aren't concerned with the first week sales anyway, just with the overall longevity of the album. They already anticipated that the surprise release would hurt the initial sales numbers. And with how much praise the album has been getting, I'm sure their sales will be just fine.
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Post by dan62 on Nov 12, 2016 3:22:02 GMT
From the band's Facebook page today:
One thing I have noticed in the last couple of years is that websites that depend on clicks for revenue tend to love weaving narratives that benefit their bottom line. You see it largely in politics and now you see it in metal. I admit that I think these websites are entertaining and don't hate or even dislike the people that run them or their visitors. None of this is to be taken too seriously but when I am sent the same articles over and over that are meant to sell their false narrative about A7X then I think it's time for the band to speak up.
This is in no way aimed at our fans. By the looks of the comments on these sites you have already figured this out. This will undoubtedly be seen as justification for the album from the people that just hate A7X. Thats ok, we don't play music for them. So lets break this down.
76k records sold in the first week by a heavy metal band in 2016 is supposedly a failure (USA only). Actually, 76k records on a surprise release with zero promotion and a single that had been out for 13 days with a running time of 8:30 is a failure. This kind of talk is insane and is the exact sort of narrative that plagues the failing music industry. This is the sort of talk that pressures artist to write their songs around " what works financially" and not "what they really want to create.' People want different. People want innovation. People want art. If this wasn't a huge risk then everybody would be doing it. I haven't seen the hip hop community or country music community questioning Jeezy or Kenny Chesney about why they didn't sell more albums and crush a heavy metal band with a surprise release by more then 3k records. Sure, we sold WAY less than "Hail to the King." But we feel this is a different circumstance.
When "Hail to the King" was released Apple Music did not exist. It now has around 15 million subscribers. Spotify has 40 million subscribers these days. And when these websites try to sell you on the streaming metric its a little more complicated then that. There are plenty of studies done as to why rock doesn't have as many streams as hip hop. You need 1500 streams to equal 1 album. Who has time to stream a song like "The Stage" or "Exist' that many times? These two songs alone equal 25 min. So should we write 3 min. songs so we can get more streams? Fuck no. Thats ridiculous.
When I said I had "mixed feelings" about the results I simply meant that there is a part of me that knows a traditional release would have been easier and we could all parade around with another meaningless number 1. But "mixed feelings" in no way indicates that I think this was the wrong approach. I love that we did this for the fans. I love that we did this for our sanity and regardless of how you feel about the music, there is no doubt that this has been exciting. Anyone with a brain knows judging an albums merit or over all lasting impact on first week sales is simple crazy. Hell, I have never judged an album based on sales, period. But, I'm not you, and you have to make your own decision. I just want other artist to be themselves and not be gun-shy of new ideas just because some things work and somethings don't. Regardless of this rant I want the fans to know we will not change. Evolving album, innovative live show, and playing by our rules will never waver. We have never felt so much love on a release and we truly do appreciate it. We will see you on the road!
M
P.S. What will the title of the click bait read this time? Lets take bets!
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Post by LeeClaire on Nov 13, 2016 4:54:31 GMT
Boy, someone's got sand in their vagina about their album not selling as well as expected. Someone should tell him that Avenged is not an immensely popular zeitgeist band. Also, that pointing out the maths is always okay.
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Post by Slipstream on Nov 13, 2016 11:48:45 GMT
I kinda like this album. Definitely much better and interesting than HTTK musically. I also like the concept very much.
It's not great maybe half of the songs don't do much to me, but overall it's a step to the right direction.
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Post by LeeClaire on Nov 22, 2016 3:23:04 GMT
Someone should tell Avenged that this is what happens when you release an album the right way. Instead of trying to pull a Beyonce when you're a metal band with mild mainstream popularity. |
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Post by dan62 on Nov 22, 2016 16:15:35 GMT
Someone should tell Avenged that this is what happens when you release an album the right way. Instead of trying to pull a Beyonce when you're a metal band with mild mainstream popularity. [Regarding low first week sales] "We knew that could happen, but we felt it was worth the risk." "the three-month lead up to the release of an album had gotten boring to us. That doesn't light a fire under us." "We're in a position where we don't have to do things the conventional way, so we don't." "I'm very excited to be doing new things. I would be depressed if we had done the old buildup process." "We just said, 'No BS this time – we're just going to do everything that we want to do, from the live show to the merchandising, to how we present this thing and how we release it.'" Clearly the band is happy with their decision. The members of the band all still each have a net worth of $16-20 million, they're not hurting for money and i'm sure this release was much more artistically satisfying for them. Though this record has so far sold much less in it's first few weeks, you're acting like 76k sales isn't still big numbers for a non-mainstream metal band, especially in 2016, and they're certainly not making a big deal about the numbers anyway, so i'd just get over it. |
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Post by LeeClaire on Nov 22, 2016 17:11:02 GMT
That must be why Shadows made that Facebook post regarding websites being mean about the low sales from his whambulance.
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Post by dan62 on Nov 22, 2016 18:59:02 GMT
That had nothing to do with complaining about sales numbers though, it was about media spinning the album as a failure just because it sold less than the last few records. I'd feel pretty frustrated too if I spend lots of time and hard work on something that did well only to have all sorts of people tell me I've failed because it didn't measure up to past successes. By that logic Hardwired would also be a massive failure because its first week sales are less than half of what Load did in its first week and 100,000-200,000 less than Reload through Death Magnetic.
They're a non-mainstream metal band and yet they sold 76k albums (72k in physical sales) with a surprise release and the album has been met with critical acclaim. To call the album a failure is bullshit.
I think people are looking way too into this non-issue. If you like the music then just enjoy it, if you don't like the music or the band then just let the fans enjoy it and move on.
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