Nightmare

'Nightmare' was produced by Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem) and mixed by noted engineer Andy Wallace. read more..

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The Best of the Best by METALHEAD
One word. "WOW." That one words somes it up. Wow for the melodies, wow for the instrumentation and lyrics, and wow for the heavy emotional impact. This album is one of, if not THE best piece of work A7X has put together. It has elements from all of their previous efforts, and some new sounds. Best of all, they went back to their roots in some areas (M. Shadow's amazing screaming.) Mike Portnoy is a fantastic drummer, and I believe his performance on the album is a great tribute.

1 - Nightmare 5/5 - A great way to start the album, wth haunting notes and a pounding riff. It's great as well, because it was supposed to be a b-side, but they included it for The Rev because he liked the lyrics.

2 - Welcome to the Family 5/5 - This song starts with a riff that is very reminiscent of "Scream" or "Afterlife," and the chorus makes you think of "Beast and the Harlot." A great song.

3 - Danger Line 4/5 - A very good song about being a soldier, with great solos and marching snare at the end.

4 - Buried Alive 3/5 - Probably the weakest song on the album, but still a good song. The beginning is kind of slow paced and melodic, until the halfway point when the beat picks up and the solos wail....then...a pounding riff that immediately reminds you of Metallica's "Ride the Lightning."

5 - Natural Born Killer 3/5 - Another decent song, but still pretty good.

6 - So Far Away 5/5 - This is the first song on the album that is a balad. With The Rev being gone, the impact this song has is even more moving.

7 - God Hates Us 5/5 - Amazing. This song has killer riffs that remind you of Pantera's work. The best part: Shadows does amazing screaming in this song. It's a very sinister sound, and it sounds great. I'm glad they incorporated their early work with this. Fantastic.

8 - Victim 5/5 - Another ballad that rminds you immediately of The Rev. A great chorus.

9 - Tonight the World Dies 4/5 - A very dark and haunting melody.

10 - Fiction 6/5 - This is a masterpiece. The final song The Rev ever wrote. There aren't any guitars, only haunting piano with drums and orchestra. This song moved me to the brink of tears, and as soon as I heard The Rev's voice, I was just stunned. It's a very erie thing here, becase this song is about dying, and he wrote it 3 days before he died. It's very surreal. The lyrics are amazing and very heartfelt, like "I Hope You Find Your Own Way, When I'm Not With You," and "Now I think I understand - How this world can overcome a man." It's sad, very sad, beautiful and moving. It almost seems like he knew he was on his way out. Shadows did a great job covering the majority of the vocals, with little bits here and there from The Rev.

11 - Save Me 5/5 - The epic end to an amazing record. The songs leads off like "Beast and the Harlot," moves into something very dark and menacing, and leaves you with the line "Tonight we all die young." An epic and incredible song.

So overall, this album is a complete master work. It's hard to say that, since The Rev isn't playing on it, but he helped write it, and that's the main part.

Though I was very eager to hear this album, after I did, I realized I may not have been quite ready. It's still very hard to swallow the fact that Jimmy's gone. It feels like his presnce is still very strong with the music, though. "Fiction" is a song that I will probably never be able to listen to casually, like driving to work or with a bunch of people. I don't want to sound like all of those people who say "Oh no, my life is over now." I didn't know him personally, though we all knew him through his music, and hearing that song, basically his goodbye, is something that is emotionally heavy. Right now, I have to listen to it alone, and try to adjust to the emotion. It'll take time to get used to some of these songs.

Anyway, this album is just simply WOW. There aren't very many albums I absolutley love on the first listen, but this is definitely one of them. The messages of each song are conveyed very clear, and none of these songs need time to grow on you. They're amazing the first time through, and many more times after that. To conclude, Avenged Sevenfold and your amazing music lives om. Thank You. R.I.P.

Fans and newcomers alike will love this album. A great work of art.