It’s been three years since 2010. More precisely, it’s been three years since Avenged Sevenfold released Nightmare, the first album from the band recorded without Jimmy ‘The Rev’s drumming due to his untimely passing (however, the band recruited Mike Portnoy to track the drum parts, written as Jimmy had originally intended). Nonetheless, the band had taken a bit of a break after touring in support of the album.
Fast forward to 2013, and A7X are back with a brand new album, refreshed and ready to take on the world. Hail The King is an incredible step forward for the band. The music on this record sounds more like an album that would fit in among artists like Metallica and Iron Maiden. It’s a true heavy metal record.
Hail To The King opens with the sound of a rainstorm that leads into the first track “Shepherd of Fire”, and the band go all out from this point on. One thing that I noticed about this record is that the songs were a bit slower than the usual A7X music that I am accustomed to. I’ve known a lot more of their songs to be very fast paced. With that being said, what the songs lack in speed are made up for with intensity.
While it is a bit of step in a different direction than its predecessors, Hail To The King is a solid record.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hail-to-king-deluxe-version/id672046420?uo=4