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Avenged Sevenfold

Life Is But A Dream...

Written by: PP on 12/11/2023 14:25:21

"Life Is But A Dream..." is the eighth album by Avenged Sevenfold and follows after a seven-year break from their fantastic "The Stage", a reinvigorating album that reinvented the band through a genius mix of arena metal and progressive metal in one go. It would have been a safe bet to assume it is henceforth the Avenged Sevenfold sound, but alas, the band decided to go in a different direction on the new album.

Here, they present a weird metamorphosis of experimental composition and multiple musical styles and genres into a quagmire of see-saw genre shifting often within the same song. It's experimental to the extreme end of the word, which sees a multitude of influences merge together into a cacophonic soundscape that doesn't really know where it wants to be so it goes everywhere at once.

Take "Cosmic", for instance. It starts out by being a Rush-like progressive rock emblem with plenty of 70s vibes, before transitioning into their signature style of metallic shredding and soloing, and onwards to piano-backed contemporary music right after. Similarly, "Mattel" sources its main inspiration directly from Queen, before throwing itself into thumping industrial metal, before a back-chilling climax of electrified hammond and M Shadows' crescendoing vocals finish the song off in more Queen worship.

Or what about "We Love You"? It's an incredibly frustrating track because while it has plenty of great moments instrumentally, it also breaches those with some purely idiotic Five Finger Death Punch-level punch-bag lyrics ("More power, more pace, more money, more taste, more sex, more pills...").

Fortunately, the record isn't a mess throughout. "Nobody" is probably most akin to how the band used to sound like "The Stage", here offering swirling riffs over an epic, almost symphonic atmosphere. "Beautiful Morning" is one of the highlights thanks to its thrashy riffs and slowed-down chorus, "youuuuu walk on water... but the water... swallows youuuu" in one of the most memorable moments of the whole record. Here, the band sticks to one style and it just works.

Given the brilliant pipes of M. Shadows, however, it does mean that most tracks are solid despite the genre mish-mash weirdness. He saves a track like "Easier" - which toys with electronic effects as a contrast for crunchy riffs - through his magnificent delivery. The Queen-inspired moments give him plenty of room to shine in general. Did we really need to hear his vocals autotuned though on "(O)rdinary"? Unnecessary.

"Life Is But A Dream..." is an extremely ambitious album. It's an attempt to flourish as musicians by spreading out into all different directions and styles all at once. Unfortunately, that's also where it falls flat. It lacks the majestic composition of "The Stage" and its wildly successful progressive rock transitions into arena metal masterpieces. Instead, it feels like a weird concoction of unconventional ideas put together, which is something you might expect from Omar Rodriguez-Lopez on his solo material but is less something you necessarily want to hear on an Avenged Sevenfold record. Alas, it contains a few golden tracks but otherwise isn't going to capture the wider audiences like its predecessor did.

Download: Beautiful Morning, Game Over, Mattel, Nobody
For the fans of: Metallica, Queen, Five Finger Death Punch
Listen: Facebook

Release date 02.06.2023
Warner