After seven years the wait is over and Avenged Sevenfold have finally released their new album Life Is But A Dream… Avenged Sevenfold have never been a band afraid to change their sound but their new album is a whole new level of change.
Life Is But A Dream… is the band wearing their influences on their sleeve. Similar to how Hail To The King was them going back for a classic 80’s Metallica, Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses sound, this album has elements of everyone from System Of A Down to Daft Punk to Frank Sinatra.
When seeing the tracklist I expected the opening dong ‘Game Over’ to be a call back to their early albums, instead it perfectly sets the tone for this strange album. Spanish style guitar to begin, verses where M Shadows channels Serj Tankian and a signature Synyster Gates solo, the track lets you know you’re in for a wild 50 minutes.
‘Mattel’ is one of the heavier tracks on the album, up until the chorus where M Shadows croons before unleashing a scream that hasn’t been heard on any of A7X’s last albums. The two singles ‘Nobody’ and ‘We Love You’ feature early in the album then it gets weirder.
‘Cosmic’ is not too dissimilar to some of the songs on The Stage. A seven and a half minute epic that resembles the experimental side of Pink Floyd who the band have openly talked about their admiration for and even covered ‘Wish You Were Here’.
This is now where it gets interesting ‘Beautiful Morning’ features huge chugging riffs and vocals that sound like your classic A7X song until the bridge. Here the song slows completely with pianos, vocal harmonies and orchestral parts come in before heading straight back in to a Synyster Gates solo.
‘Easier’ makes full use of vocal effects and electronic sounds and is the perfect introduction for the triple header of ‘G’, ‘(O)rdinary’ and ‘(D)eath’. ‘G’ and ‘Ordianry’ are where the Daft Punk influences really stick out. Complete departures from anything the band have ever released the songs shouldn’t work but they do, a whole Avenged Sevenfold funk album anyone?
‘(D)eath’ is the Frank Sinatra influenced song. Featuring a full orchestra, the song is M Shadows crooning over what could be a 50’s New York big band song. The final track and title track ‘Life Is But A Dream…’ is a four and a half minute piano instrumental, something I don’t think anyone expected on an A7X album but by this point you should be expecting the unexpected.
A weird, genre-bending album Life Is But A Dream… isn’t what anyone thought they were going to get off the band. But it is an album that has something for everyone and it is the band at the very height of creativity pushing boundaries most bands are afraid to. While it may be weird and it might not flow like their other albums, it might just be their best album to date.
Stream Life Is But A Dream… HERE
