Everything starts with a fitst-degree song. We have to say Nightmare, Avenged Sevenfold fifth album, was made with pain, due to Jimmy Sullivan’s death, drummer who died at the age of 28, lastDecember. Entirely composed before the one we called The Rev took his leave, Nightmare was such a difficult record to finish : a real Nightmare where some guardian Angels nevertheless bent down. First, thisamazing tandem made up of the producer Mike Elizondo (a multi-instrumentist with an eclectic CV (Switchfoot, Rihanna, etc…)) and Andy Wallace (Slayer, Nirvana), a legend of mixing who chooses hisprojects sparingly. Then, arrived Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Transatlantic), one of The Rev’s favorite drummers, who came to the rescue to implement the demos made by his predecessor. Result : »Nightmare » let us know Avenged Sevenfold is going to win this bet. Without sacrificing the length of their songs, A7X gives enough melody and variety on Nightmare to convince their most resistantlisteners. M Shadows’ band has a reputation of a band destined to the youngest american metal enthusiasts. But with this new album, directly at the first place of US charts, mentalities will change. « Welcometo the family » will probably convert more than one, as well as « Danger Line » with this insistent chorus where guitars sound like … Dream Theater : Avenged Sevenfold takes on today more than evertheir influences, notably Metallica ; we can hear « One » and « Ride The Lightning » in the ending of « Buried Alive », a song which could be sung by Sieur James Hetfield. A7X winks also at the song « WhereverI May Roam » on « God Hates Us », which should go wild on stage ! And we can’t blame the band, who gives us a few metal hits in a row, since there are some slow songs with a beautiful musicality (« SoFar Away », and « Tonight The World Dies »). And don’t forget « Fiction », the hypnotizing and annoying song composed by The Rev a few days before he passed away (it was supposed to be titled « Death » …)…