Back in July, Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows offered an update on the state of their new album, saying it would be out before the band embarked on a 2022 summer tour. Now, Shadows has done an extensive interview, in which he describes the record’s process and influences — including one that some fans might not expect.
“We’re very influenced by Kanye West,” Shadows told Metal Hammer. “The thing about Kanye is that he is pulling from such great soul music. I didn’t grow up with that stuff — my dad listened to Boston and Alice Cooper, I didn’t get that taste of black music and old soul. So, diving deep into jazz musicians… we’re not trying to do a jazz record, but the chord changes and progressions are so eye-opening to us.
“In January, we’re going in to finish the strings on the record,” the frontman also said in regards to where the album was at. “The record’s been recorded for a year, but we haven’t been able to put the real strings on it, because we couldn’t fly out to Prague. When an orchestra have to social distance and they aren’t sitting next to each other, they can get out of tune, and we have just finally got to a place where we can use this 70-piece orchestra as we intended. We finish the record in February, mix it in March.”
Shadows also talked about the future of the band, saying, “This next record, I don’t know exactly how it comes out, but the record after that, we have no label. At that point we start implementing all the new ideas of going straight to the base of people that really care more. The new frontier excites us; expect very wacky ideas!”
Keep your eyes peeled for Avenged Sevenfold’s new album announcement in the near future.
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