There is no way i would believe you at all if you were to tell me five years ago that i would like Avenged Sevenfold, let alone turn into my favorite band. That's sort of the conundrum that i've put myself into and always feel sort of guilty when it comes to A7X because of it. Don't get me wrong, i'm extremely glad that i like them as much as i do, but i feel bad that i once used to hate them and think they were crappy. Surprisingly to me though, City of Evil is the only album from any band or artist that i can think of that has both pushed me away from them, and made me love them later on. When i first heard stuff from City of Evil it was the three singles Beast and the Harlot, Bat Country, and Seize the Day, all from the radio and i thought they were alright; Seize the Day was pretty catchy and would get stuck in my head often. I decided to give the full album a listen and i vividly remember laying on my bed listening to it, and after a little bit of Blinded in Chains i turned it off. I didn't really like any else of what i had heard and thought it was boring. After that i never really came back to it until about two years later when A7X's self-titled album was released in '07. I can't explain what happened, or what changed in my mind, but all of a sudden when i listened back to it, it sounded amazing. There are a couple things about it that i don't really like, but the good far outweighs the bad and it's now one of my favorite albums of all time.
1. Beast and the Harlot. It was very first song I heard from these guys and it's a good one. It's one of their more poppy songs, but that's not a bad thing at all. Can't help but get cheered up from the chorus whenever I listen to it, and can't help but headband during the bridge.
2. Burn it Down and Blinded in Chains - They aren't bad songs by any means, but nothing in them really stand out to me besides a few cool riffs and melodies. Besides that though, the main problem i have with these two songs is they don't seem to have much focus to them. There are parts to them where i feel they should end, but they go on to a different part.
3. Bat Country - It's always been a favorite of mine but the soft part always sounded weird to me. Really nice solo though; one of my favorites.
4. Trashed and Scattered - it's always felt like another filler song like Burn it Down and Blinded in Chains, but better because it actually has some memorable parts to it.
5. Seize the Day - The ballad of the album and it's a good one. It's always been one of my favorite song of Avenged Sevenfold's period lyrically and the solo is one of my favorites by Synyster Gates.
6. Sidewinder - This is where the album gets really good and epic. This song also has a couple solos that are a favorite of mine on the album, the first being the one at about 3:30 and the second being the dual flamenco style solo with Synyster's dad Papa Gates at the end of the song.
7. The Wicked End - The best song vocally by Matt Shadows i think. I've always loved how he sang "As if we haven't swam enough in this life of misery."
8. Strength of the World - one of the best songs on City of Evil, and one of the best Avenged Sevenfold songs period. I love how they incorporated orchestra into it and did it extremely well. the song is a little more than 9 minutes but feels a lot shorter than that.
9. Betrayed - a very groovy song, which makes sense seeing as it's dedicated to Dimebag Darrel. I can appreciate this song, and it is good, but it's never been a favorite of mine.
10. M.I.A. - The last song and it goes out with a bang. This is one of my favorite songs of their ever. Just about everything about it is good; the chorus is awesome, so are the riffs, and the solo is just mind blowing. The only thing that brings it down is Matt's vocals at the end, but that isn't that big of a problem. The acoustic solo to end the song and album is a nice touch.
There are a couple negative things that keep this album from being perfect. The production isn't the best, mainly the drums, and is my main complaint about City of Evil. I like my drums to song big and beat your head in, but on here they sound sort of thin. Another thing is the vocals. They aren't they best, but they're no where near as bad as people make them out to be. I can cut Matt some slack though because this is his first album of only singing, and he has gotten a lot better since. He's actually now one of my favorite vocalists. Other than those two things this album is absolutely amazing. Any guitarist should love it, there's tons of riffs, fills, and harmonies, which i'm a sucker for.
Here's hoping they go back to this sort of style of writing a bit on their new album Nightmare, which comes out July 27th!
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