Now, I’ve always passed Avenged Sevenfold off as a manufactured put together kiddie metal band and have avoided them like the plague. So, why the change of heart I hear you cry? Well, I was intrigued when Mike Portnoy was asked to join them for this recording, and the following tour after the death of The Rev. So I bought the CD and was pleasantly surprised. This version is a recent reissue if anyone was wondering, and it is not a bad album at all.

The title track opens up the album and Portnoy is all over this tune. The riff and groove are simple and kicks ass. Welcome To The Family is a full on Portnoy intro. The heavy kicks are what make this tune, and the pop hook and chorus is what I was expecting from these guys. Danger Line starts with a military drum and guitar and then goes into euro speed metal territory. A lot of parts to this one make it more of a Prog metal vibe. Great track! Buried Alive has a nice quiet guitar intro (very reminiscent of a certain Metallica tune) and then the song changes completely with some killer riffage. Natural Born Killer is probably the fastest Portnoy has drummed in his life with blast beats a plenty, and those kicks! This is my favourite track as it has a killer groove with a huge riff, and I love the vocal melody.

So Far Away is ballad time and where I usually switch off, the only thing stopping me from doing that is the tasteful guitar solo and the killer ending. God Hates Us really explodes after the quiet intro. This baby pounds along with an old school riff to die for. There are parts of this song that remind me of Dream Theater in their heavier moments. Victim is a slower tune with a great vocal from MShadows (real name Arthur Spanner… not really, but you get where I’m coming from). For some reason I get a a Queen vibe from this one.

Great intro to Tonight The World Dies; very dramatic and eerie. It’s quite noticeable how the vibe of the album gets more solemn as it goes along, it’s almost an obituary to their brother, and Fiction carry’s on in this vein. The album closes out with Save Me, a quite joyful and uplifting intro before the evil staccato riff kicks in and that demonic vocal.

It’s not a bad album, and I still enjoy listening to it.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.