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.