April 2026 Feature Release - The Guardians Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Guardians, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is the 2005 3rd album by Californian modern heavy metallers Avenged Sevenfold, City of Evil. With this album, the band discarded all of their earlier metalcore for an amazing near-masterpiece of metal. I would recommend checking it out for anyone up to seeing how well it has after over two decades.

https://metal.academy/releases/5412

Here's my review summary:

Avenged Sevenfold began as a metalcore band in their first two albums. Their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had more of a raw hardcore-leaning sound compared to any of their subsequent works. Vocalist M. Shadows was practically screaming his head off in almost every song. Then came a different direction in their second album Waking the Fallen. They cranked up the metal in their metalcore in the riffing, melodies, and atmosphere. Shadows' cleans became more prominent while mixed with his screaming. Some claim that the reason for the absence of screaming in this album City of Evil is because he blew his voice while performing in Warped Tour 2003 and had to go for surgery. Well that myth has been busted, as he had actually planned to abandon screaming altogether since between those first two albums. City of Evil has basically the classic heavy metal of Iron Maiden and 90s Metallica given a better modern twist. Shadows sounds the best when he's channeling his inner Bruce Dickinson and James Hetfield. Lead guitarist Synester Gates performs some of the greatest soloing and riffing I've heard that can almost rival DragonForce. And there are many melodic moments to adore, including orchestra in some tracks without heading too deep into symphonic metal territory. Many of the tracks are classic anthems that pretty much every metalhead would know and love. Plus an epic trilogy of long songs that make my top 3 favorites of this album. Avenged Sevenfold has proven themselves to be a gamechanger in the 2000s American metal scene. I can really recognize the originality this band has!

4.5/5

Recommended tracks: "Beast and the Harlot", "Bat Country", "Trashed and Scattered", "Sidewinder", "The Wicked End", "Strength of the World"

For fans of: Iron Maiden, 90s Metallica, Trivium's Silence in the Snow

I have to admit that I took my first few listens to an Avenged Sevenfold record this week & quickly discovered that a) I don't think I've ever heard a single song by them in my life & b) I can easily understand why as they are clearly none of my business. "City of Evil" apparently saw them moving away from the melodic metalcore sound of their earlier records with this third full-length seeing the Californians playing with a proggy heavy metal sound that's often infiltrated by a European power metal influence. "City of Evil" is also a dreadfully commercialized slab of metal with the awful backing vocals & cheesy power metal guitar melodies doing nothing for me whatsoever. The vocals of front man M. Shadows are a tall ask for me too as he seems to want to channel Mike Patton's whiny higher register delivery but can't pull it off sufficiently which leaves it sitting pretty uncomfortably over this material. Thankfully, the instrumentalists are seriously good musicians & the record is very well produced which enables songs like "Blinded in Chains", "Betrayed" & the clear album highlight "Bat Country" to dig their teeth in but the rest of the tracklisting does very little for me, particularly the horrendous ballad "Seize the Day" & the woeful chorus of "Strength of the World". I guess Avenged Sevenfold simply aren't for me, at least not in this format.

For fans of Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine & Alter Bridge.

2.5/5