In the nearly two decades since its release, Avenged Sevenfold (2007) has stood the test of time as one of the band’s most iconic records. With songs like “Afterlife” and “A Little Piece of Heaven” still resonating with fans, the album’s platinum status underscores its impact. But according to Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows, the journey behind its release was anything but smooth, and some of the frustration still lingers.
In a new interview with Ryan J Downey for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), Shadows spoke candidly about how the band’s then-label, Warner Bros., exerted unprecedented control during the rollout of the album. This was a notable shift from the more autonomous approach the band had taken with Waking the Fallen and City of Evil.
“I love Tom Whalley [former Warner Bros. CEO who helped sign Avenged Sevenfold in the early 2000s]. I think he did amazing things for our career,” Shadows said (via Metal Injection). “He’s still a friend, a close friend – [A&R executive] Andy Olyphant as well. But we brought them in to hear the white album [the self-titled record], and we thought, ‘Afterlife, no brainer, this is a massive song. This is a huge single. This is where we wanna roll.’ We played it for Tom Whalley, and he turned around and he said, ‘That’s a little Warped Tour, isn’t it?'”
According to Shadows, that one remark derailed what the band had hoped would be a clear path forward: “That just took everybody else in the room, everyone in the label, off of it. You could see it shift. Then it started going to these other things that were clearly not the right play.”
The band had previously pushed back when they felt strongly about a single — “Unholy Confessions” and “Bat Country” being examples — but this time, the label took the reins: “We were like ‘Almost Easy’, then we went to something else, and we were all over the place.”
Looking back, Shadows is firm in his belief that the original instincts were right all along. “Afterlife” and “A Little Piece of Heaven” are, to him, the two defining tracks of the album.
“They’re just the lights,” he said. “And then, when we finally did get around to ‘Afterlife’ – it was the fourth single – they cut the solo out. And so it’s one of those things where it’s like, every decision that could be wrong to completely mess up that record and that song was done.”
While the album version of “Afterlife” includes Synyster Gates’ full guitar solo, the radio edit and official video both feature a shortened version, several bars trimmed from the beginning. That move, among others, reflects a string of decisions that still frustrate Shadows years later.
Despite the behind-the-scenes misfires, it is worth noting that Avenged Sevenfold remains a critical and commercial success for the band, and an album we personally love.
