Review by Mark Davies



Many bands have lost members to the great Rock Show in The Sky but few have survived long enough to pick up where they once were heading before a tragic loss. Avenged Sevenfold drummer ‘The Rev’ left this mortal coil just when the band were entering stadium status, so to come back is a triumph in itself but to come back with an album of this strength and depth is some achievement.

As you can imagine ‘Nightmare’ is thwart with lyrics of angst, bitterness and hurt and is about as heavy as they dare to go. Title track sets the scene with the lyric "You should have known the price of evil, And it hurts to know that you belong here, yeah it’s your fuckin’ nightmare". Read into that what you will but the frustration is plain to see.
 
‘Natural Born Killer’ stomps along like a battering ram headed for a castle door, starting with a thrash-like riff and a double bass beating rhythm it begs to be turned up to eleven just to piss off the neighbors. With drum duties handled by Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy it by no way replicates The Rev’s drumming style but it certainly brings a powerful edge to proceedings. With the album being used to a certain degree to help in the grief process one cannot deny how dark and twistingly beautiful many of the songs are. ‘Victim’ oozes quality in a slow tempo meandering way until that massive guitar solo blasts you from your eloquent slumber. AX7 have brought with their grief a sense of maturity that the proceeding four albums merely hinted at.

Certainly an album of two halves, with the second half taking a deep moody atmosphere. ‘Fiction’ with its piano led melody haunts and scares, while relaxing at the same time. Ending with the eleven minute ‘Save Me’ AX7 have not only made an album of dark, powerful, beautiful, grief-laden tunes but quite possibly exorcised a few demons and frustrations that were lurking deep inside the souls of all band members. As a result they have produced what could possibly be ‘Album Of The Year’… Jimmy ‘The Rev’ would be proud of their achievements, it’s now time for Avenged Sevenfold to move on…

4.5 out of 5

Track Listing:
01. Nightmare
02. Welcome To The Family
03. Danger Line
04. Buried Alive
05. Natural Born Killer
06. So Far Away
07. God Hates Us
08. Victim
09. Tonight The World Dies
10. Fiction
11. Save Me

www.avengedsevenfold.com