Avenged Sevenfold have come a long way since its earliest days on the OC Metalcore scene. Affectionately known as A7X, the band is one of the premiere acts in any sub-genre of Rock, beloved the world over, and is officially a Grammy nominated act. This all comes thanks to a string of blockbuster albums, including their 2005 platinum-selling breakthrough, City Of Evil, 2007’s platinum-selling Avenged Sevenfold, and two consecutive No. 1’s on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart: 2010’s Nightmare and 2013’s Hail To The King. So writing a hit song, or album, is not that of a mystery to Avenged. Black Reign, in and of itself, is a great listen, and I believe before anyone can develop an opinion on it, they should give this EP a try.

The first song on the album is actually a single but nonetheless they put it on the album for a reason. The song is called “Carry On.” The song is about their struggles in the loss of James Sullivan ‘The Rev:” their drummer. He was the founding member of the band, songwriter, and the backing vocalist. So of course, his loss heavily impacted both the band, and its way to go in the future. “Carry On” was written in 2012, whereas Sullivan’s death occurred in 2009. So like many other bands whom have lost one of their members, it took them awhile to come to terms with themselves as musicians, without their drummer.

In terms of meaning, or symbolism, this album lacks a lot of that compared to the previous. That’s because the song was written to be a track to the newest edition to the Call of Duty franchise. As fans of the game and as world class musicians, Avenged Sevenfold has demonstrated an innate ability to convey the emotion and raw power of the Call of Duty Zombies experience. “We’re introducing fans to a new cast of characters in Black Ops 4 and delivering the biggest Zombies experience to date. With IX we knew we needed something epic and A7X delivered.”

For the upcoming Black Ops 4, the band composed the brand-new original, “Mad Hatter,” which was recorded in Los Angeles this past March with The Stage’s producer, Joe Barresi. It is a song that pulsates and throbs through its hills and valleys, with massive sonic layers that also possess a delicate Soundgarden (“Black Hole Sun”) influence embedded in its chorus. As always, fans can expect nothing less than magnificent guitar work from the exceptional Synyster Gates, as his equally talented bandmates experiment with a multitude of sounds throughout this one offering – including Shadows going up into the highest reaches of his vocal register to do his best Axl Rose.

Overall, The Black Reign is most certainly a powerful album, and it will go down as one of Synyster Gates’ best guitar tracks of all time.

Black Reign by Avenged Sevenfold – 8/10