Avenged Sevenfold (The Forgotten Era)

Avenged Sevenfold

Early Career Retrospective (The Forgotten Era)

Sounding The Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen

          Looking back on the early days of Avenged Sevenfold there is just a different picture of a band still in their infancy. Having become one of the biggest legacy acts in the scene now days through triumph and tragedy they have persevered. I would describe their early years as thrash metal mixed with many melodic elements. M Shadows has a tone to his scream that is unique and makes him standout among the crowd. As soon as you hear his roar in the opening notes of “Turn the Other Way” you know it is him.

Taking on both clean and screamed vocals for the record was no small task and he mastered both with evidence of a singer who was still finding his voice in early thrash metal. Having said that I feel like the Era that spanned (1999-2004) has been largely forgotten by fans in favor of their more mainstream sound. Sounding the Seventh Trumpet was an incredible beginning for a band that was finding their footing in the scene. The songwriting for such a young band just appears advanced since it is both raw and polished.

With Waking the Fallen there was simply a natural evolution of their sound. The guitar tones improved and became more technical, the drumming was more polished and on point, and the vocals still had finesse to them but on their second record it appeared to be more refined. Every line was delivered with more confidence after the success of their first record. Waking the fallen brought increased popularity to the band as they were building their fanbase and refining a sound that made them unique. This drive and dedication would propel them to new heights in the future as new mainstays in a genre that needed a voice.

The early catalog documents not only the growth of talented musicians but the transformation of a young band who was truly fearless. They wanted to shape heavy music on their own terms regardless of what the industry said at the time. Their relentless pursuit of evolution is one of the defining factors of Avenged Sevenfold’s formative years and it continues to be one of the reasons they remain successful today.