Life Is But A Dream…

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Bell, Sadie (March 14, 2023). "Avenged Sevenfold announce new album Life Is But a Dream, their first release in years". Alternative Press . Retrieved June 7, 2023. Does this pave the way for ballad Cosmic ? Possibly but if it does so, there is a disconnect between the two. Vocals and guitar team up for an ethereal proclamation of “ left alone I can’t wait too long ”. Eletronica floats through like shooting stars but the lower tones of the vocals pull us from the moment. “ Sometimes we got it right ” seems to be the epitaph of Life Is But A Dream… in general though surmising will come at the end. Christ ’s bassline feels it should reside in a jazz club before Cosmic fades out into a piano ballad. Were it left as “ dancing in the wind as roses born again ”, we would have had no complaints. Vocals melt into a horn section to create a wonderful epic. Yet the envelope is pushed further with electronic vocals which ruins the moment. Although an already common saying associated with nursery rhymes, Shadows aimed to encourage the listener to think deeper about these deceptively simple phrases and maybe even redefine its meaning for them. Enis, Eli (May 13, 2023). "Avenged Sevenfold's First Show in 5 Years: See Videos and Setlist". Revolver . Retrieved May 16, 2023.

He hadn’t always been so certain, though. Before the Huntington Beach metal heroes’ years-in-the-making masterpiece was given the mixing treatment, the frontman found himself questioning if they had even gone far enough (if you’ve heard recent single We Love You, you’ll already know what a genuinely hilarious thought that is). Just going into his studio, it’s like walking into the temple of time in Zelda. The world stops. You just feel like you are in this void.” That’s another thing from our childhood, we would always sing growing up. There’s something that’s very creepy about it. It just seemed like a nice juxtaposition in that song which is one of the more standard on the record.” When reflecting on Life Is But A Dream… in all its spectacularly gutsy glory, perhaps Mike Shinoda says it best of all. Chatting with M. Shadows about the record and giving his assessment, the Linkin Park man recently told Avenged Sevenfold’s singer of the band’s non-conformist approach that it’s like a “splat”. Bear with him on this one – it’s a compliment, honest.

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Trevan, Kelsey (June 2, 2023). "Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is but a Dream (Album Review)". Wall of Sound . Retrieved June 5, 2023. M. Shadows joins us refreshed and renewed, straight from his latest vocal lesson and brimming with excitement for the release of ‘Life Is But A Dream…’, the long awaited new album from Avenged Sevenfold. Mixing together dance influences, heavy riffs and a 78 piece orchestra, it is a sprawling near-concept album exploring that biggest subject of all – what it truly means to be alive and live life to the fullest. Someone else declared, "This is what is must've been like to hear 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on the radio for the first time." Opening with Game Over, a demented metal banger which sounds like Avenged channelling System Of A Down via Danny Elfman, things don’t fly too far off the handle at first: sprinkled around the noise are some delicate acoustic flourishes, a light bit of orchestral mischief, some nice crooning from Shadows to break up the mayhem. Mattel, lead-off single Nobody and We Love You also at least flirt with familiar territory, lurching from driving groove metal to droning doom to spiky thrash, layered with lush strings, tinkly piano, woozy sci-fi effects, ominous horns and subversive choir calls. We felt it was very welcoming”he says on the intro. “It felt very beginning of life. And when you think about the context of the record and how the ending is kind of the curtain call, the end of life…we just felt it was fitting to open that way but then instantly you are thrown into this world of anxiety. This world of chaos.”

Life Is But a Dream... is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released on June 2, 2023, through Warner Records. Its release follows nearly seven years after its predecessor, The Stage (2016), marking the band's longest gap between studio albums to date. It is also the first album to feature contributions from their late drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan since Nightmare (2010). Similar to The Stage, Life Is But a Dream... was produced by the band with Joe Barresi. It marks the band's return to Warner following a legal dispute between the band and Warner Music in the mid-2010s. Life Is But a Dream... received acclaim from music critics for its themes, experimental approach, and blend of influences and genres. Despite the critical praise, the album was less commercially successful than the band's previous albums.I went through a really major injury. An injury where most doctors told me I wasn’t going to sing again. I have to say, purely based out of finding the right vocal coach, working really hard at it and technique, I was able to do something that most doctors said wasn’t going to be physically possible.”

Enis, Eli (May 13, 2022). "Avenged Sevenfold in Las Vegas: See Wild Photos of First Show in 5 Years". Revolver . Retrieved May 16, 2023. Swisscharts.com – Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is but a Dream...". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 11, 2023.It wasn’t the most relaxing night’s sleep. Late one evening after a hard day’s work in the studio, M. Shadows was laying down ready to go to bed when he put on Avenged Sevenfold’s new record. It had just been freshly mixed by Andy Wallace, and the frontman was keen to hear how the songs that comprise Life Is But A Dream… would transition into one another in their final form – specifically the trio of G, (O)rdinary and (D)eath. While the album title may suggest a semblance of serenity, the experience didn’t gently send Shadows into a slumber. On the contrary, it hit him so hard that his heart began to pound. Lista prodaje 24. tjedan 2023. (05.06.2023. - 11.06.2023.)" (in Croatian). Top Lista. June 11, 2023 . Retrieved June 27, 2023. During one such early listen while in the car with guitarist Synyster Gates, M. Shadows turned to his bandmate and asked him: “Is it really that out-there?” For the singer, having lived with it for so long by that point, the impact had dulled somewhat. The album actually felt – god forbid – “normal”.

Things get shitty,” he adds. “You have deaths all the time, and though you know that it’s gonna happen, there will be a point where you lose everybody you love – if you live long enough – or you’ll die yourself. There’s one of two options there. You need to be prepared for that, and you need to know what it means.”And it’s musically inane throughout its entire runtime. “Life Is But a Dream…” is fifty minutes and some change, which is a little on the longer side but nothing crazy, but it feels SO much longer because they never get a handle on any musical idea or even just a catchy melody you would want to listen to more than once. Besides a tempo change and a synth solo, “Mattel” is a fairly standard heavy metal song for the band, but it sounds weirder than it actually is because they never land on a decent tune and the production is bad. That’s another thing, the mixing and production on this record is so god damn ugly, and not ugly in an edgy punk way, it’s ugly in a “we don’t know what we’re doing” way. Nothing’s leveled properly, the cymbals are often the loudest thing in the mix, M. Shadows is barely audible half of the time, the guitars sound dull, the drums sound like they were recorded in a closet on a single SM58, and I don’t believe for a second that anyone in that room had ever touched a synthesizer before in their life. There are other reasons the band modestly point out how Life Is But A Dream… isn’t “perfect”. But not in the way you might think. Take the magnificent Cosmic, for example, which is easily one of Shadows’ most moving recitals on the album. Such a difficult listen, I liked The Stage, but maybe they should have left this music at the Ayahuasca retreat they attended. So disappointing considering it’s been a 7 year wait for new music……," one person criticized. I actually think there are people who put us in [the make-up and duelling guitars] box that don’t like that box who would love this record, that are not gonna give it a chance,” Shadows says. “And there’s a bunch of people that love Avenged Sevenfold that just want the old stuff. And that’s the risk you run, but what are you gonna do?! ( Laughs) You’re gonna go write that stuff again? Or go beg these other people to listen? There’s nothing to do. a b Simon K. (June 2, 2023). "Review: Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But a Dream..." Sputnikmusic . Retrieved June 2, 2023.