Since their impressive ascent in the mid-to-late 2000s, Avenged Sevenfold have become one of rock and metal’s most beloved and loyally-defended bands (man, omit their song from a list of tracks about necrophilia and people get pissed). However, it’s been a hot second since the band released a studio record, with 2016’s The Stage being their last. In February, they revealed that their new album is 70% done, and in March the band posted a clip of them recording said record in the studio. But now, in a recent interview, frontman M. Shadows has revealed that Avenged Sevenfold’s long-awaited follow-up to The Stage will be out within the next year.
Speaking on the Louder Than Life festival’s Twitch channel, Shadows explained that he was trying not to talk too much about the new record for fear of the press running away with the news. That said, he could offer a general update about when it would be completed (as transcribed by Kerrang!):
“The reason we don’t say much about the music is because we find that every single word we say about it just gets spun off, and there’s no way to describe music; it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s heavy, it’s fast…’ What are we gonna say about it?” said Shadows. “It’s a work of art that we’ve worked on for a long time, we had a bunch of personal things that we’ll explain later… but we’re booking shows for next summer, and the record will be out before then.”
Check out the whole interview below:
This makes sense, given Shadows’ own professed timelines of events. “It doesn’t make sense for us right now to put out a record and not be able to tour it,” he explained in February, when asked when exactly fans can expect the new LP. “The world has changed. Putting out a record on Spotify without touring for a rock band, it just doesn’t make sense to us. So we’re gonna wait till everything is back, then we’ll come out with the record, finish it up, and all will be good.”
More on Avenged Sevenfold’s new album as it comes.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
