| Clearly, Avenged Sevenfold have thrown away the rulebook. With Waking the Fallen, their sophomore effort for Hopeless Records, Aveneged Sevenfold (or "A7X") shatter preconceptions of punk and metal. Guitar World (March 2003) said the band "completely blur the line between metal and punk." The magazine also noted that the band would "be as comfortable on the Ozzfest stage as it is playing punk rock dives" A7X marks the beginning of a bold new direction for punk rock and metal. "At first, we were nervous about working with a producer because we didn't want our song structures changed. We didn't want to be formatted into three-minute, verse-chorus-verse songs. We told Mudrock that we want to sound epic, with big harmonies, have clean-sounding vocals like Iron Maiden's, and then go into heavy stuff like Pantera. We wanted to use all those influences and still make it work." |
