Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare II

"Nightmare" is the newest album to have been created by the band "Avenged Sevenfold". In December 2009 the band took the loss of James Owen Sullivan (The Rev) in their stride and decided to complete the album in his honour. They asked the drummer from Dream Theatre, Mike Portnoy, to complete the drum tracks for the album.

Soon after completing the album they released the opening song of the album: "Nightmare". The song was met with mixed reviews. Despite the mass split of opinions, the song captured all the best bits of Avenged Sevenfold's unique sound. It kept the dark, ominous feeling that surrounds most of Avenged's newer work and in captures the crunching guitar tone that is present in "City Of Evil."

The vocals were somewhat disappointing however, as a lot of Matt's singing becomes throaty and groggy at parts. The absence of Matt's screaming in "Waking the fallen" is also disappointing as the anticipation for this album has been growing increasingly since the release of their last album "Avenged Sevenfold", and alot of fans were hoping that Matt would go back to his roots at some point and scream in some form.

Many could accuse Mike Portnoy of not following the Rev's style of drumming, but this could just be the fact that fans are just wanting to pick holes in the style of his drumming, simply because they miss the rev.

Overall, the opening song definitely sets the mood for the rest of the album.=9/10

"Welcome To The Family" is the second song on the album, which is reminiscent of the "Waking The Fallen song", Remenissions and also of "Avenged Sevenfold's", critical acclaim. A very riff driven verse and a melodic chorus and a very dark and harbouring bridge. The solo kicks in at 2.14, and is once again very reminiscent of "Critical acclaim". A harmonising phrase followed by a very fast alternative picked phrase.

After the first two songs you can tell this album is a compilation of Avenged's best parts. = 9/10

"Danger Line" is the third song on the album. The opening is a military style drum and guitar line. The chorus is somewhat similar to the kind they incorporated in "Waking The Fallen" and "City Of Evil", fast paced with guitars playing melodically in the background. The true highlight of this song takes place from 2:40, where the softer side of the album is first explored. With meaningful lyrics and a strong guitar part to accompany, the song then goes into a soft piano interlude, which is sure to give you goosebumps. The military theme present in the song unveils itself again with a military drum beat which is followed by a melodic solo. The song is finished by again the military style drums, and a peculiar "whistle" solo. =7/10

"Buried alive" is the fourth song and is the second single to have been released. A clear influence from early Metallica is established throughout, starting off with a soft harmonising solo. The chorus is the best part of the whole song, with a strong guitar riff which heavily emphasises the lyrics of the chorus, which is altogether further emphasised by the softness of the verses. This song is the most reminiscent of "City Of Evil", due to the tone of the vocals and overall tone of the song. A very Metallica sounding riff is present in the bridge after the solo. You can almost put Kirk Hammets famous grunts and "yeahs" on the track. But this is split up by an Avenged sounding build up of octaves, but is once again hindered by a Metallica sounding solo from Gates. The outro is definitely Metallica influenced. Overall this song is disappointing, but they should get appraisal for the fact that they tried something new. =5/10

"Natural born killer" is one of the best songs on the album, beginning with a riff that is definitely influenced by Waking The Fallen. The chorus is a clear highlight of the song, with a powerful meaning behind the lyrics and a very tasteful riff played by the guitar. Both solos are also highlights, with both being similar to the kind played in the CD/DVD "Diamonds in the rough". Worth listening to. =10/10

"So Far Away" is yet another shining diamond in the album. Similar to seize the day from "City Of Evil", this song is worth listening to. With a solo that will make the hair on your neck stand on end, a soft guitar part in the background that compliments the clean vocals and meaningful lyrics this is Avenged at their best. =9/10

"God hates us" is the heaviest song Avenged have ever released. Starting off with soft guitars you think this is yet again another slow song, but you couldnt be more wrong. The song immediately goes into a heavy riff with Lamb of god style drums. This whole song is clearly influenced by Lamb of god, as all guitar tones and vocal tones sound incredibly similar. The only riff that doesn't resemble Lamb of god is the chorus riff, which is more similar to the groove orientated song "Scream" from the previous album. This signals a welcomed return to "Waking the fallen" style vocals, but with much deeper, darker, growling vocals. The heavy bridge signals an return to the even earlier album "Sounding the seventh trumpet", with a somewhat slow, heavily palm muted guitar part, which the drums and vocals compliment well. The solo is one of the best on the album that goes incredibly well with the rhythm guitar and with the song as a whole. 9/10

"Victim" begins with another soft guitar phrase which is backed by a scat singer. You can tell from the start that this is yet again another good attempt at something different for Avenged Sevenfold. Given the loss of the Rev before the album was completed, you could say this song is about the Rev, with Matt feeling as though James being taken away from him is a crime, and a crime to everyone who knew him, as a fan or personally. You can truly feel the emotional state of mind in which Avenged wrote the whole album. However, the only downside is the tone of the vocals, which remains a problem throughout the whole album. At parts Matt's voice seems hoarse and throaty, which is disappointing given the potential quality of the song.= 7/10

"Tonight the world dies" starts off with another acoustic guitar part, such as in "City of Evil." This is another song which could be considered to be about the Rev, as though the band regrets the choices made in their earlier days which they feel lead to The revs overdoes in present days. A certain empathy is created whilst listening to this song, and you can feel the evident atmosphere of regret and sorrow that the band clearly wished to define. The downside to this song is once again the tone of the vocals, and also the lyrics to the chorus. They don't seem as strong as the rest of the choruses in the album, and clearly falls away from the normal large, epic choruses that is common to Avenged Sevenfold songs.=6/10

"Fiction" is the only song Avenged Sevenfold have ever created that doesn't have any guitar part to it. And they don't need it for this song either, I'd like to point out. A truly melodic song, with a surprising presence of The Rev's singing throughout. A lot of anticipation was created for this song after The Rev claimed it was his masterpiece. The song does not fail to live up to this claim, and if you're a fan of Avenged Sevenfold, i suggest listening to this song. =10/10

"Save Me" is the longest song Avenged Sevenfold have ever created, unless you count "I won't see you tonight" part 1&2 as one entity. A good song to end an exceptional album on. Despite the frightening length, the song seems much shorter in reality, as everything is broken down into easy parts for us audiences. The guitar tone is perfect, and the backing vocals and lead vocals are balanced correctly. The drums could perhaps be different, such as in the verses where the other instruments are all playing something slow and mournful, but the drums pound ahead fearlessly. The song overall clearly shows all aspects of Avenged Sevenfold at their maximum potential. =10/10 // 8

Lyrics and Singing: Given that they lost The Rev before the album was fully completed, it is no surprise that Avenged Sevenfold have incorporated this loss into their songs. It is evident in both Victim and so So Far Away that this is exactly what they've done. The lyrics show both regret and remorse at the loss of someone close to the band. The mentality of the band whilst writing the album can clearly be seen within these two songs, they are both meaningful and deep, with the same dark unique sound that has been with Avenged Sevenfold since their beginning. The lyrics will surely appeal to both new and older fans of Avenged, as they can be applied to any loss that anyone has ever suffered, but also because older fans can relate to the loss the band has felt as they have lost a role model in the loss of The Rev.

However, incongruous to these meaningful, deep and heartfelt lyrics is the vocals themselves. The tone has regressed back to the tone heard in City Of Evil, which is all well and good given that this was the album that gave them mainstream success, but it still does not compliment the other instruments and their styles. In "Nightmare" the vocals become throaty and hoarse at parts throughout the song, and this seems to continue throughout the album. This is the major downside to the entire album. The only reprisal from these vocals is in the song "God Hates Us." The entire song is the heaviest song Avenged have ever produced, with screaming, deep vocals. Even within this song when Matt sings cleanly, the disappointing tone of the vocals can be heard. Overall, the singers skills do not compliment the quality of the songs on the album, which is sad given the potential that they could reach with a good tone = 7/10 // 7

Impression: Overall the album is a definitive statement within Avenged Sevenfold's career. It takes influences from all of Avenged's earlier albums, but unfortunately they take influence from some of the bad aspects present in their previous work. The main downside is the vocals, and some disappointing, flimsy guitar riffs, such as the verse riff for "Welcome To The Family." Even though the riff does go with the vocals and the song overall, it is still not what Avenged normally produces.

The album explores the emotional side of the band, combining meaningful lyrics to a good few slow songs. It is truly a journey throughout the album, going from the semi-heavy opener "Nightmare" to the dark melody that is "Save me." In between you have an assortment of different styles, ranging from Metallica to Lamb Of God. The softer side of Avenged can clearly be seen within this album.

Audiences can appraise the new styles attempted by Avenged, although they don't necessarily work out well with their dark hearted fare. The album clearly demonstrates their fearlessness at attempting new things whilst retaining their unique sound; their large melodic choruses and darker sounding vocals and atmosphere. There is some very impressive guitar solos, none quite holding a candle to their previous single "Afterlife", but still mind numbingly skill full all the same.

The album is good despite a few let downs, and I would definitely recommend this album to anyone.

Song to avoid = Buried Alive
Song to listen to = Fiction
Sound: As many people are aware, Avenged Sevenfold's Drummer The Reverend Tholemew Plague (AKA Jimmy Sullivan) died a year ago.

From that sad day for music in general Avenged have seemingly decided to mention the death at every possible opportunity in order to increase album sales (it seems). Even drafting in Mike Portnoy (one of The Rev's favourite drummers) to lay down the drum tracks on the album in question.

What does this have to do with the album itself? I'm sure you're asking this, well.

In short the album is nothing more than fairly average, it's a A7X album, end of, you could listen to the darker songs on previous albums and get roughly the same result.

The whole album is dark, very dark, centred around death, its a concept that flows throughout the entire record. As for musicality there's nothing your typical Avenged listener won't have heard before. Unless you look more into the songs themselves.

The title track Nightmare is simplistic in itself, but does what it sets out to do, set the album up, and it does so perfectly, the chromatic intro gives the song a darker feel, whilst in the bridges the guitars use minor intervals in their harmonies of this descending line to create even more unease in the song. Lyrically it seems to centre around a feeling that you can't escape. guilt possibly with the lyric (you should have known the price of evil)

The second track 'Welcome To The Family' is started with a simpler version of Dream Theatre's 'Honor Thy Father' drum fill, followed by a equally similar ossinato pattern in the guitar. (Portnoy influence maybe). After this DT reference, it follows a similar pattern to majority of the City Of Evil album, catchy vocals, pleasing guitar patterns, and a drum beat that seeks to impress as well as keep a pulse. The solo is a typical Synyster solo, fast, chromatic at times and flashy, shred in its purest form. This track is 100% radio friendly A7X.

The third track is Danger Line, the track starts with a Bolero style snare pattern (also a marching band style pattern), followed by a intro solo. the main part of the song has a very similar melody to Nothing to Say from Slash's Solo effort (which M Shadows did vocals for). The chorus has a feel of Lost from the self titled album (minus the Vocoder), the song is very reminiscent of the mainstream Avenged.

Track 4 is Buried Alive which is Avenged going back to something I personally think they do rather well, clean intro and verses and overdriven chorus' (I.E a grunge style of song). this song is obviously about how the band felt about the passing of The Rev, and there is a quiver in Shadow's voice throughout, which is understandable and also very sentimental, and adds a different side to the rather thug like persona of the Waking The Fallen Avenged Sevenfold.

Natural Born Killer, is a thrash metal style track made to fit Avenged, Shadows vocals start with a low growl, then its back to business with his shouted style of vocal from City of Evil and Avenged Sevenfold (no real screams yet). the song flows into a slower pre chorus and chorus, then back into the fast paced verse. Song works well for Shadow's style of vocal, and sounds like something Avenged should write more of, even though the mini bridge riffs are reminiscent of Almost Easy from the self titled.

So Far Away, This is another lighter song, flows rather similarly to Dear God in style, instrumentation. nothing special but a nice song nonetheless.

God Hates Us, this is the song Shadows promised screaming on, and he barely delivers, a mid growl is what you get, so unfortunately for the fans of his high pitched screams (as on Sounding The Seventh Trumpet and Waking The Fallen) you won't be disappointed in what you hear, yet you'll want him to go higher, and where it sounds as though it should. it just doesn't which is a shame. The rest of this song is filled with a fast riffs, double kick all for most and a rather impressive dual solo, which based purely on tone seems to be being lead by Zacky (who did all solos on Sounding the Seventh Trumpet [except To End The Rapture]) then Synyster takes over with some Divebombs and various other techniques.

Victim, This song is the final song that The Rev wrote (3 days after finishing this he passed away). The song is seemingly Shadow's hardest song to sing, his voice is throwing deep sadness throughout, and in the first chorus a sniff is audible. This adds to the song's nature and also allows for the song to breathe and reminisce about the band and to allow the listener to think about the various aspects of the band, which are all apparent within this one song.

Tonight The World Dies, it's one of those songs you listen to but don't really notice it, it's good but its not one you can actively listen to.

Fiction, This song has no Guitar whatsoever (shock horror) however it does have piano/strings (synthed)/drums and ... for the best part... The Rev doing the main vocal, doubled by Shadows, It's the only song on the album that seems to come from the heart. The Rev evidently wrote the song, and it seems to have been written from beyond the grave, 'I've found a place to rest my head' 'though I may be hard to find', the lyrics lend itself to the eeriness of the instrumentation. and also the voice you hear. almost a year after his death you find him singing on a track.

Save Me. This song for me is totally different from Avenged Sevenfold, and personally sounds like a track Portnoy has written for DT, everything would fit perfectly in DT's song catalogue. There is not a single part that sounds detracted from DT, with exception to the vocals.

Overall I give the Album 8, it's good but not quite as good as the previous albums. // 8

Lyrics and Singing: Shadow's has the unique ability to make anything work with anything. its amazing to listen to how he can manipulate his voice, words and melodies to make them fit over the harmony underneath.

In Fiction, The Rev having seemingly written the song, has a very good understanding of the melody, Shadows seems to be hanging back and allowing The Rev's voice to be heard over his, opting to play a backing role rather than his usual powerful style.

The lyrics all centre in some way or another to death, as was the original concept to the album, even before The Rev's passing, it was his idea to do a concept album based on that.

there is no fault with the lyrical content or the vocals. So I give it 10. // 10

Impression: If you compare the album to the past 5 albums from Avenged ( Sounding The Seventh Trumpet, Waking The Fallen, City Of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold, Diamonds in The Rough) it sits somewhere between DITR and COF in my opinion, in some respects it's different and slightly progressive of them, but every song is radio friendly and there's nothing to offend.

The best songs on this particular album are (in my opinion), Welcome To The Family, Buried Alive, Nightmare, Save Me.

If the album was stolen I probably would buy it again, not on the strength of the album, but purely because if it's not there my A7X CD's would have one missing.

Overall the album gets 9/10. its good, regardless of the bad points.