First impressions are not all that good.. the first listen was painful... i hated every second of it!!!

But after a few more listens i really started to appreciate the album for what it is... 100% A7X (this describes everything about them).

A band producing a record all on thier own is often a bad thing... but in this case everything fits perfectly... Although it never meets or even compairs to the greatness of 'City Of Evil'.

Theres only two downfalls as far as the album is concerned...

1. Little Piece Of Heaven doesnt fit into the album, it cuts the consistancy of the album to a hault! It shouldnt have been part on the album in my opinion.

2. This Album isnt as metal as the band made out!! The first song is deffinately old school a7x, heavy, angry, screamy etc... but the album becomes more mellow as you go through the tracks... it becomes less metal as the album progresses.

Its Deffinately worth a buy... but if you want a masterpeice than this album is not for you ... You would be better of buying 'City Of Evil' or 'Waking Then Fallen'..

Okay so a7x are massive worldwide. Sold out tours, a massive fanbase, and 2 great albums under their belt.
So where did they go wrong with this self titled effort?
With waking the fallen they unleashed pure metalcore brilliance. With the follow up city of evil the screaming was scrapped ... but they found a new sound that was equally engaging.
But here ... they just don't provide the same listen that makes you want to put the cd back on repeat, or restart a song to hear that moment of pure brilliance in the middle of one chorus.
Don't get me wrong, there are some good songs on this album, personally I am a fan of 'scream'. But for the most part the album seems too 'pretty' ... just like the band are these days. M Shadows' vocals are too whiny, and I just don't feel compelled to listen to this album.

However if you are a massive fan of the singles, this album may be for you. In my opinion, it is the bands worst work to date and worth borrowing off a friend, not buying.

Oh my gosh. I absolutly love this album. Different from their usual stuff. i could listen to 'Dear God' all day and night. YOU MUST BUY THIS!!!!!!!

i bought this album because i loved "afterlife" and "almost easy" but all the songs on this album are amasing and i love both "dear god" and "lost" as they are very different from the usual avenged sevenfold stuff.
deffinate buy

I personally love love love this album. Avenged Sevenfold have changed since City Of Evil, which was a downright masterpiece in itself. They have moved away from the screamo, heavy metal genre to a more alternative genre, with such songs as "A Little Piece Of Heaven," and "Dear God" with elements of country and broadway, but yet still has the good ol' Avenged Sevenfold songs we know, such as "Almost Easy" and "Scream." My personal favourite song is "Unbound (The Wild Ride)" because it has excellent riffs which make you want to sing along. I would recommend this song to any self-respecting Avenged Sevenfold fan, because it is excellent. And if you like a band which make you think, dance, scream, sing and think all at once, this is for you. And at £9, it's a done deal. Click buy now, or forever hold your peace.

Never liked Avenged before my sister played me this album, and after a few listens i have just went and purchased their city of evil album. 1st half of the album is very good, 2nd half not quite as good but still decent. excellent riffs.

With 'City of Evil' being one of my favourite albums of yesteryear I always had that thought in the back of my mind that Avenged Sevenfold were going to struggle to reach that level of grandness and all out brilliance which was fully achieved through the 9 minutes epics and punchy rock outs of City of Evil.
Its obvious that Avenged Sevenfold are trying to break through to a number of different audiences here. They are trying to keep the long time fans happy whilst trying to attract new comers to walk their way. This was obvious in City of Evil too with excellent lead singles like Beast and the Harlot with a balancing from all out ballsy epics like Strength of the World and Sidewinder. In this album, I feel that Avenged Sevenfold are, once again, trying to tweak their sound ever so slightly to create something just that little bit fresher but, as a long time fan, I feel as I have been lost with that development along the way.
Most epic brilliance is gone; replaced with ballsy rock out song after ballsy rock out song. The Avenged Sevenfold that I remember and that many others remember just seemed to have went a bit 'lost' on their way to 'growing' their sound. Don't get me wrong, there is a good formula there to make this album great: Shadow's excellent vocals, the guitar wizardry of Zacky and Synester etc. but the formula just does not seem to have been 'mixed well'. The guitars are mostly riffery; not the guitar duet doodling that I remember. My favourite song on this album is 'Lost' simply because it reminds me of the past Avenged Sevenfold.
Some might complain that Avenged Sevenfold are actually trying to be too different. I just don't get 'A Little Piece of Heaven'. The catchy hooks and punchiness is there (a great chorus makes it good fun) but... the orchestra....... why make the song sound like something by Danny Elfman?! Why didn't Sevenfold take up the chance to put this orchestra to good use and create something truly special.
I'm not asking for a 'City of Evil 2'. I would probably find a move like that even more disappointing than this album. I just think 'Avenged Sevenfold' have just tried a bit too much to be that little be different; sorry if anyone disagrees. I dunno if this will actually attract that wider audience that Sevenfold so seek but, for the long time fans, you'll either hate it or appreciate it.

i think that this is their best album, all of the songs are likable however unbound and a little piece of heaven are the best ones ( in my opinion )
this is definitely worth buying!!!

I, being a new A7X fan was not sure on what to expect, this album blew me away. I loved every single second of it.

My favorite track has to be either scream or brompton cocktail! WICKED!

This is the only album i have ever waited to be released in my life and i wasn't disappointed. Avenged Sevenfold are very progressive in there music style and i didn't know what to expect, but what i got was a new, more melodic sound to the album. It doesn't rely so much on guitar as the previous outings, but on the song. Anything written by the Rev is incredible, Afterlife is by far the best, and A Little Piece of Heaven is like a Tim Burton movie on Broadway in a song which you would never put to a band of the heavy metal background they have. Still, great album.
(You need the explicit version for the full effect of some of the songs, mainly ALPOH)