"Nightmare" revealed

On July 23, Avenged Sevenfold, a heavy metal/hard rock band from Huntington Beach, Calif., put out its first new album, “Nightmare,” since the death of its drummer, Johnny “The Rev” Sullivan last December. After a year of mourning his death (an overdose of medication and alcohol was found during the autopsy of the 28 year old), the band is moving on.

The album reveals the band’s fears. From being in a straitjacket to going to hell, the members of the band – M. Shadows (lead singer), Zacky Vengeance (rhythm guitar), Johnny Christ (bass guitar) and Synyster Gates (lead guitar, backing vocals) – express their personal nightmares. This album displays what state of mind they are in after the loss of a close friend and band member and is an announcement that death doesn’t rule their lives.

Compared to previous work, this album is slower paced. Unlike “City of Evil,” the third album, which was fast and loud and was about what they believed in, the recent release looks death in the face and says, “we’re still here no matter what.” The emotion in that music makes this release stronger than previous albums.

“The eeriest thing about it is there is a song on the album called “Fiction” (a nickname The Rev gave himself),” said Matthew “M. shadows” Sanders in an interview with HardDrive, a radio show. “[It] was the last song The Rev wrote for the album, and when he handed it in, he said, that’s it, that’s the last song for this record. And then three days later he died.”

“Fiction,” the 10th track on the album and “Afterlife,” the fourth track from their fourth album, are similar in their talk of death. The band’s view of death has not changed since their first album, “Sounding The Seventh Trumpet.” Some songs have the same message but since the emotion in “Nightmare” is so strong, it resuscitates the music from being just lyrics and beats into fresh entertainment. While slower than previous albums, fans will still want to follow along.