M.Shadows (frontman) is known to have problems with his voice, which is mainly due to his singing style, but even so, there was no trace of any trouble.
England, (London), Aug 20, 2008
Reviewed by:
Eps123, on september 19, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Sound: M.Shadows (frontman) is known to have problems with his voice, which is mainly due to his singing style I think, but even so, there was no trace of any trouble. His main singing style these days is his scratchy-semi-screaming voice. He doesn`t scream on the old songs as he does on the record but over the years he has developed a nice way of singing songs like Unholy Confessions in a normal voice, and still making them sound good! Also, during this gig, there was never really any trace of a false note, which has always impressed me: M Shadows sounds exactly like on the 2 last records.
I'm not sure about The Rev and Johnny Christ, but Syn and Zacky both used their signature Schechter guitars, and Zacky has a black and yellow coloured one for the songs in drop-D and a black and grey coloured one for the C# tuned songs, such as Almost Easy. Apart from that, they also have a keyboard player bacstage, Who opens songs like Critical Acclaim and Afterlife. Synyster switched guitars a lot, but they always looked the same.
For this particular band, it is hard to get the sound right, because, the bass drum plays a huge part in this band, and of course both guitars need to be exactly right, because Zacky and Syn solo together very often. Another big challenge for a sound crew would probably be the mics. This band uses 4 mics in total: 1 for M Shadows, 1 for The Rev which has to be slightly less loud than M. Shadows`s mic, but not too low, because The Rev sings some major parts as well. Finally, Syn and Zacky both have 2 mics for background "aaaah"`s and "ooooooh"`s. Naturally a lot of work needs to be donet get the sound exactly right for these guys, and I think they did a great job with that. At some point Syn£s guitar should have been louder, but overall the sound was good, and even the fact that it takes hours to set the stage up for the main band took only 25 minuts in total, which only made things better. My compliments to London and the A7X crew. // 8
Perfomance: This band is one of my favourite bands in the world at the moment, and this was the first time I saw them, so naturally, I was psyched to go and see them and obviously I enjoyed it a lot. They`re not physically energeticon stage, but their music gives the audience all the adrenaline it needs. The set list was a pretty classic A7X setlist for whoever has seen them Live already:
01. Crtical Acclaim: great opener andan immediate example of Syn`s wonderful playing.
02. Afterlife: I was expecting Second Heartbeat as a second song, but that doesnt't really matter because this song istheir new hit single and they played it magnificently, I really enjoyed The Rev`s voice on the background in the bridge. During the solo one of the guitars was too low though and the solo sounded a bit off, which was a shame cos it's a great solo.
03. Beast and the Harlot: at this point I realised that there wasn't going to be a Second Heartbeat, but I didn't care too much then, because this is my favourite song from City of Evil. It shows the potential of both The Rev with his bass drumming and Syn with a solo so hard he claims that he himself still can't get it right.
04. Gunslinger: I did not expect this song to come but it was a nice surprise, because it`s a bautiful song
05. Walk: this was probably the highlight of the evening, because M Shadows had a friend with him: Matt Tuck, frontlan of Bullet for My valentine, and they sang Walk together, and it was amazing, because I love BFMV.
06. Cover of NOFX: didn't really know the song, but I did enjoy getting to know it.
07. Bat Country: hit song from City of Evil, and Synysters solo was amawing, as well as the rest of the song
08. Almost Easy: hit single from Avenged Sevenfold, and they performed it amazingly, M Shads got the crowd going really well.
09. Unholy Confessions: usually their last song, so also the one where everyone went nuts. There were loads of real metal heads there Who were all waiting to see this song, and hell broke loose hen this song started, and I really enjoyed it
10. A Little Piece of Heaven: I never expected to see this song live. It is my absolute favourite off the last record and The Revs singing was great, it all created an immense sound.
Well as I said before, one of the fun moments of the show was that the Bullet frontman suddenly walked on the stage. For the rest it wasn't really a special show, nothing special happened, it was a small room anyway. // 8
Impression: England, London, ULU (Univ. of London Union), August 20 2008. Openers were Year Long Disaster, but I didn't enjoy them. Musically, I think they're a wonderful band, but they didn't fit well with The Music of Avenged. They would maybe be a good opener for Guns n Roses or Oasis or something. As Avenged were the mainact on this gig, they were the thing I most enjoyed, especially Syn, as he is one of my idols. Very special show to me. The ticket cost about 20£ and I was surprised it didn't cost more, as this is a fairly popular band, but it was definately worth it. As soon as they're somewher close to me, I'll definately pay whatever a ticket price is. // 9
Nice to see they played Unholy Confessions, seeing as it's The Law and everything. However, they really ought to put more older stuff in there. I mean, I bet Shadows could still do a damn good Reminissions, or Eternal Rest, snd how about some Streets, or Epic of Time Wasted? I mean, this band is so goddamn versatile that I just know they still slay those old gems. Unfortunately the truth is, they're playing the songs that most people will know which I suppose makes sense in a mass-appeal kind of way, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
very true, and basically, during unholy confessions, m shads did a wonderful job when he screamed sometimes, so they could ave done some of the older songs. but i guess the crowd wouldn have been into that a lot.
I saw them on Taste of Chaos 08, and it was great, singing and screaming. They did play Second Heartbeat, but they don't play anything off the first album anymore because it wasn't the same line-up then and they have much better songs. They played Reminissions last October and that sounded pretty killer.
Nibblerdude :
Nice to see they played Unholy Confessions, seeing as it's The Law and everything. However, they really ought to put more older stuff in there. I mean, I bet Shadows could still do a damn good Reminissions, or Eternal Rest, snd how about some Streets, or Epic of Time Wasted? I mean, this band is so goddamn versatile that I just know they still slay those old gems. Unfortunately the truth is, they're playing the songs that most people will know which I suppose makes sense in a mass-appeal kind of way, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
totally agree, waking the fallen is possibly my favourtie album ever, they shouldn't neglect it, they should play i won't see you tonight more often, IMO its the best song they've ever written
lol.