Hail to The Kings?

Avenged Sevenfold's sixth studio album, Hail to The King was introduced to the world via a free Itunes stream on Monday. After listening to the album a few times, and having some time to absorb it, I'm ready to give my review.

Shepherd of Fire sets the tone for the album, and is going to be a great song to open up concerts, with the ominous tolling of a bell and the sound of rain falling in the beginning. Their first single, and the title track Hail to The King has grown on me, and is a pretty damn catchy song. Doing Time checking in at 3 1/2 minutes is the shortest A7X song. It sounds like it would belong on Appetite for Destruction. This Means War follows in the footsteps of Metallica's Sad But True, and is the heaviest song on the album. Requiem finishes out the first half of the album strong, and is my favorite song so far. It is the most original song on the album, and I like M Shadows chanting/singing here. Synyster Gates adds a sick solo to the song.

Crimson Day is your typical rock-ballad. I think it's easily Avenged's worst ballad. Dear God, Seize the Day, and So Far Away blow this out of the water. Heretic is a good song, but sounds out of place on this album, It sounds more like a track from City of Evil, but that's not a bad thing. Coming Home is another solid track, but nothing really special. This is where the album falls off a cliff in my opinion. Planets isn't bad instrumentally, but I don't like anything about the lyrics or Shadows singing here. Acid Rain wins an award for the worst Avenged Sevenfold song ever. It sounds like a bad pop-rock song, and would be better on a Nickleback album.

I was skeptical about the album, hearing the band talk about putting out a stripped down record, and emulating the bands they grew up listening to. My hopes were raised when I heard critics praising the album as the band's best work. A7X is always evolving as a band, constantly experimenting and tinkering their sound, so hopefully this was just a bump in the road. To me though, this sounded as if Avenged Sevenfold were a cover band of 80's and 90's metal. They took out all the things that separated Avenged Sevenfold from every other band, the dueling guitars, fast drums, harmonizing vocals, and threw them out the window.

Overall I would give Hail to the King a 6/10. The album starts off really well, and Crimson Day is an average ballad, but the last two tracks were so bad, it knocks it down from an 7.5 to a 6 in my opinion. Shadows said in a few interviews that the writing process was tough without the help from Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan for the first time in their careers, and it showed here. Don't get me wrong, even though this album disappointed me, I still and am and will be an Avenged Sevenfold fan foREVer.

Jets Preseason Under Way

The Jets season unofficially started on Friday night with their first preseason game against the Lions. While the final score of these games don't matter, it is important to see who is improving or declining, and look at various position battles. I'm going to break it down into 3 categories, the good, the bad, and the buttfumbles.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!

Good

• I really like what I saw from our new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. For the first time in God knows how long, the offense looks fluid with a good mixture of passing and running plays. Mornhinweg's West Coast offense is a quarterback-friendly system, with a lot of high percentage passing plays.
• The 7-play, 80-yard touchdown drive late in the first quarter. Sanchez bounced back nicely from a terrible interception, capping it off with a 26-yard strike to tight end Jeff Cumberland. 
• Kellen Winslow looked really good on Friday night. If the 9-year veteran can stay healthy he could be the most explosive weapon on this offense. 
• The defense did a good job of getting after Matt Stafford. Quinton Coples and Mo Wilkerson provided a consistent pass rush. Rex has a lot of young talent to work with in the front seven.
• Dee Milliner looked good in his first taste of NFL action, tipping a pass away in the end zone. The first-round pick from Alabama has a lot of expectations, replacing Revis Island, who is now a butt-pirate. 

Bad

• Jet Nation held their collective breath when we saw Geno Smith hobbling away after diving out of bounds on a play early in the 3rd quarter. Geno finished his day 6-7 for 47 yards, however only led the team to two first downs on 3+ possessions before his injury. The good news is he is reportedly in pads for Sunday's practice, so hopefully we'll get a better look at the rookie on Saturday. 
• Mark Sanchez looks like an assclown with that long hair and goatee. He is doing naked butt dances in ladies apartments, so what the hell do I know?
• The running game had a rough time getting going, with 16 carries for only 37 yards. Chris Ivory and Joe McKnight were held out of the game though, with injuries.  
• I don't know what the coaches were thinking leaving Braylon Edward on the field late into the 3rd quarter. I understand that they would want Geno Smith to work with our best wide receiver, but after he went down it was an unessacary injury risk. 

Buttfumbles

• On the offense's first possession of the new season, we started off right where we left off last year. Mark Sanchez was under duress, and threw a pass right into the hands of Ziggy Ansah, who returned it 17-yards for a touchdown. The only other player near the ball was Ndamukong Suh, another Lions defensive lineman.
•  The backup offensive line was getting Greg McElroy murdered. McElroy took a couple huge hits, and also fumbled the ball once.