From
the very beginning Waking The Fallen is encased by a very mysterious
air. It being the second instalment in the career of Huntington Beach rockers
Avenged Sevenfold, it is important that this album leaves its mark among the
metal world and ensures the band is one to watch out for. And with the most
simplistic of intros – a merge of demonic screams and some seriously low-end
bass guitar and drum work, it leaves the listener both intrigued and slightly
creeped out. The ending few seconds hears front man M Shadows tear out the
words ‘no one can touch us’. Throughout this album, that statement is proved
accurate over and over again.
The
intro leads onto the brilliant ‘Unholy Confessions’, with an unforgettable riff
and a chorus that will have fans singing along whenever they hear the first few
chords. With its fluent style and dark lyrics, it’s a definite single-worthy
song.
‘Remenissions’
and ‘Chapter Four’ deliver some great moments. With thrashy musicianship
and exciting riffs, they harbour some very eerie concepts about religion and
the end of the world, with the words, ‘I don’t know the answers but neither
do you’. Both are songs that are sure to get a crowd and your head moving.
‘Desecrate
Through Reverence’
holds the title for having the darkest riff on the album, which bleeds into
some great guitar work (delivered by lead guitarist Synyster Gates) and
devil-like screaming. It is also the song you will be most guilty of head
banging to, with one of the best choruses the band have ever created, ‘Darkened
eyes you’ll see, there is no hope, no saviour in me,’ is one of the
best lines of the album. The song blends into ‘Eternal Rest’- without
doubt the heaviest song on the album. From the get-go, it’s straight in your
face with a pounding and thrilling guitar solo and some of the most brutal and
evil vocals you will ever hear. The song is pure genius, passionate, intense
and melodic at the same time. In all honesty ‘Desecrate...’ and ‘Eternal
Rest’, although both great songs in their own right, would have been even
more amazing if they had formed to make a near eleven minute song, which would
have worked very well for the album.
Both ‘I
Won’t See You Tonight Part 1’ and ‘Second Heartbeat’ could be
considered the very best song on the album. Both filled to the brim with
desperation and a passion un-matched by other bands. The latter of the two
being the heaviest, with an addictive riff and chorus that seeps through the
song to make it so great. With some incredible drumming, that is both fast and
inventive. Along with a ferocious guitar solo saved for the very end of the
song to end on a high. It sweeps through with pace and style.
‘I
Won’t See You Tonight Part 1’ is
an entirely different song. It starts off with an incredible piano piece that
ends as the music blasts off into some melodic and fervent guitar work. The
usually up-beat music is replaced with a simple drum beat and soft yet
devastating vocals that showcase just how powerful M Shadows’ voice is. Unless
you can’t appreciate what a spectacle of a song this song is, it will have you
choking up before it’s even finished. It is simply one of the most beautiful
songs ever made with some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written.
The
last few tracks, ‘Clairvoyant Disease’ and ‘And All Things Will End’
may not be the best tracks on the album, but they do nothing to deter away from
the power and greatness of it.
On
every track within Waking The Fallen, the arrangements are so near
perfect that you have to wonder just how talented the band is. And how they can
make songs with arrangements so great, lyrics so dark and devastating and music
that is simply at times breath taking. The mix of shouting and singing is nothing
new in the music world, but Avenged Sevenfold seem to have created their own
brand of it and mastered it.
What
separates them from other bands is their willingness to try new things. They
have the perfect formula for an album and present the music so brilliantly. The
amount of talent and creativity shown on each of the twelve tracks within the
album proves that they are the band to look out for and also, that no one can
touch them.
* * * * *
- Amy Parker
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