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**Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King**
★★★½

When Avenged Sevenfold lost their powerhouse drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan to an accidental overdose in December 2009, the Huntington Beach quintet faced their darkest hour. Sullivan wasn't just the band's rhythmic backbone – he was their creative catalyst, a madcap genius whose songwriting contributions helped define A7X's theatrical metalcore sound. His death during the recording of *Nightmare* left the band reeling, and by 2013's *Hail To The King*, they were ready to shed their skin entirely.

What emerged was both a bold reinvention and a calculated retreat. Gone were the prog-metal flourishes, the operatic vocals, and the circus-tent atmospherics that had made albums like *City of Evil* and *The Stage* so polarizing. In their place, A7X delivered something that sounded less like the future of metal and more like its glorious past – a love letter to the titans who built the genre's foundation.

*Hail To The King* finds Avenged Sevenfold channeling their inner classic rock gods with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to a stained-glass window. The album opener and title track swaggers in with a riff that Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi would gladly claim as his own, while M. Shadows' vocals have shed their banshee wail for a more grounded, Hetfield-esque bark. It's immediately clear this isn't the same band that once made concept albums about artificial intelligence.

The influences wear their hearts on their sleeves throughout the record's 55-minute runtime. "Doing Time" cribs so liberally from Guns N' Roses that it practically demands royalty payments, while "This Means War" sounds like what might happen if Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" had a particularly aggressive younger brother. Some might call it derivative; others will recognize it as reverent homage from a band finally comfortable in their own skin.

The album's strongest moments come when A7X stops genuflecting at the altar of their heroes and remembers what made them special in the first place. "Shepherd of Fire," with its apocalyptic imagery and crushing groove, perfectly balances nostalgia with the band's natural flair for the dramatic. "Planets" showcases Synyster Gates' considerable guitar prowess without drowning the song in unnecessary pyrotechnics, while the acoustic-driven "Acid Rain" provides a much-needed emotional release valve in an otherwise relentlessly heavy affair.

M. Shadows deserves particular credit for his vocal evolution here. Having largely abandoned the screaming that defined their early work, he's developed into a surprisingly versatile frontman, equally comfortable delivering the anthemic chorus of "Coming Home" as he is growling through the verses of "Requiem." His performance throughout *Hail To The King* suggests a singer who's finally found his natural register.

The rhythm section of bassist Johnny Christ and new drummer Arin Ilejay (who replaced The Rev's temporary successor, Mike Portnoy) provides a rock-solid foundation, even if they occasionally feel like they're playing it safe. Ilejay, in particular, faced the impossible task of filling Sullivan's kit, and while he lacks his predecessor's manic creativity, his straightforward approach serves these songs well.

*Hail To The King* polarized fans upon its release, with longtime devotees crying sellout while newcomers embraced the band's more accessible approach. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle. This is undeniably a simpler, more direct Avenged Sevenfold – one that trades complexity for immediacy and innovation for craftsmanship. Whether that's a fair trade depends largely on what you want from your metal.

A decade later, *Hail To The King* feels less like a creative misstep and more like a necessary palate cleanser. It proved that A7X could succeed outside their comfort zone while laying the groundwork for future experimentation. The album's massive commercial success – it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 – validated their instincts and bought them the creative freedom to take bigger swings on subsequent releases.

*Hail To The King* may not be Avenged Sevenfold's most adventurous album, but it's arguably their most confident. Sometimes, stepping backward is the only way to move