Avenged Sevenfold: Life Is But A Dream… track by track
TRACK BY TRACK
Californian heavy metal stars Avenged Sevenfold introduced a progressive edge to their sound on the 2016 album The Stage, but that was a drop in the ocean compared to the mind-melting sonic evolution of Life Is But A Dream… – the band’s most creatively ambitious record to date. In between their seemingly impossible transitions into jazz, classical and electronica, guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance prove yet again that they are one of the finest guitar duos working in modern metal, pairing razor-sharp riffing with the kind of arpeggios typified by shred masters like John Petrucci and Paul Gilbert.
1 GAME OVER
The album kicks off with a mellifluous flamenco style lullaby before erupting into a hellish symphony of distorted guitars and pounding drums. A minute later arrives the first solo from Synyster Gates – asmorgasbord of E minor blues licks, screaming Slayer-style harmonics and frenzied tapping. And it’s at this point halfway into the track where everything calms down and cuts into an almost Sinatraesque ballad section that confirms the next hour or so is, indeed, going to be something of a wild ride. Bring it on!
2 MATTEL
From its opening palm-muted low D chug to the heavily effected rhythms in the verse sections, Mattel is also full of surprises – including the Radiohead-ish moments where M. Shadows sings: ‘Now I know this might sound crazy, but I’ve smelled the plastic daisies’. Some glitchy effects are employed to disguise some of Gates’ leads in amongst the synths, giving the song a very futuristic feel until its dramatic outro, which pairs the sounds of jazz piano with drum loops.
3 NOBODY
There are two things guaranteed to catch the attention of every guitar player listening to this third track – the first being the arpeggio played by Gates during its chorus, which sees him executing a minor and major string skipping licks with a tap for the highest note. And then for the song’s last minute and a half, Gates unveils one of the most indulgent solos of his career to date, throwing in all kinds of modal sweeps as well as diminished runs and chromatic ideas over the Cm-Am7b 5-Gm-A# vamp.
4 WE LOVE YOU
There’s an industrial feel to We Love You that’s part Metallica and part Nine Inch Nails, with a scooped high gain sound that sits alongside the very finest tones the group have ever recorded. Moving from soundtrack-ish calmness to full-throttle thrash, it’s a song that screams for a solo that’s brilliantly unhinged – which is precisely what Gates delivers, frenetically playing over non-diatonic chords from different keys. The outro couldn’t be more different, as he reaches for the bottleneck to introduce some jangly acoustic charm.
5 COSMIC
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