City Of Evil

I have to give these guys credit for being the first (mainstream-leaning, US) metal band in a fairly long time to go all-out with shredding guitar solos. It had been like a decade since popular metal bands had done it (notable exceptions being Pantera and almost every European band), and Avenged Sevenfold just appeared out of nowhere with this album. They didn't half-arse it and ease into solos; it was just instant dual-guitar shred. I do have to credit them for that. I also have to say that I really do like the album Nightmare. It rocks start to finish, really gets the blood pumping. Hail to the King is pretty cool too. On this album, I dig the first half, especially beast and the harlot and bat country. That's my only real issue with this album - two songs stick out, the rest is just kinda average metal, and it's a LONG album. Also, here's some extra criticism: this band is FUCKING DUMB TO LOOK AT. I know that's such a shallow thing to say, but oh god the fucking skinny-goth-boy Top Gun look? Spare me. Similarly, the whole military vibe they've managed to build up around themselves, sorta like a less-retarded Five Finger Death Punch... ew. I know it works for them and my opinion doesn't matter, but EW all the same. Also, the singer fucking sucks. He has some weird quality to his voice, like Axl Rose's late-career Mickey Mouse impression. It's bearable, but only just. Despite all that, I still think they're kinda cool. Anyway, those are my conflicted feelings on Avenged Sevenfold. 4/5.

RIP The Rev. This is a classic pop prog metal album. Good stuff, nostalgic, and catchy.

A bit silly but also goes hard AF. If you don't like this then I guess you aren't cool, chill, or fun.

Metal is not my top genre though I don't mind d a little time to time and admire the technical prowess required. I was introduced Teresa's reading about the vocal training the lead did for a different vocal style - but found the results a little hit and miss. Too much Axle Rose nasal whine on a lot of it. Overall solid though and generally enjoyable.

Thought I liked avenged Sevenfold Guess not 2

One of my favourite metal albums of all time. This is a top 25 all timer. Just flawless from start to finish.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Burn it down, Bat country

Late 00s Alt Rock Radio that goes hard the whole way through

found myself liking it more than I would've thought

The first half of City of Evil is really good, modern metal, not old school metal but certainly melodic updated metal with plenty of shredding, more major key than would be expected, but it definitely works. I think Avenged Sevenfold are really a band who made their name off of outstanding singles rather than consistently strong bodies of work; look through their discography and each record has one or two smashes like Bat County, Hail to the King, Welcome to the Family, Nightmare, Afterlife etc, but quite a bit of filler otherwise, and that's where this album loses a couple of marks. The back half really drags because there are five straight songs at 7 minutes or longer and they don't need to be that long. Seize The Day just before it feels too long because the first ninety seconds or so are a waste of time before it rips into an epic crescendo, but maybe I'm being picky because I'd rather have this on the list than hundreds of alt indie rock bands you couldn't tell apart from one another. High 3 or Low 4, good with moments of excellence, lacking consistency in quality and diversity in sound; it's a bit samey.

This is an ok heavy (prog) metal album. For me the artist wants to do too much: ideas, melody changes, instruments, vocals and choirs. It gets on my nerves (while I can take a lot).

I was not looking forward to this at all… but I persevered and it was better than I had thought it was going to be. I’m not totally sold on the vocals, but they were better than the gruff screaming I expected. I also thought there was some fun and retro-feeling guitar antics. Still not my thing really but I didn’t hate it.

Far more major key than I expected from the name. Not for me, but I respect it.

Honestly, and very subjectively, I find this type of heavy metal so cheesy that it's impossible for me to appreciate it unironically. Objectively speaking, however, I recognize that the execution of this album is stellar, whether for the performance or the production values. That won't make me enjoy the music, but that can make me respect it at least. 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2.5). PS: to whoever submitted this album, have you even realized that there are *zero* black artists in your highest-rated selection (whether from the original list or the one of the users), while there are tons of them in your "worst albums" galleries? So what's the story here? Having preferences in certain genres is alright, and you can't pretend you like other ones if you don't, sure. Yet this situation still suggests that opening your shakras *a little* would do you some good, you know. Besides, doing so could at least encourage people like me to open their own shakras re your album selection. Try to think of it. Avenged Sevenfold can do that sort of thing, btw, at least from what I have read online. Once proud Republicans, during the noughts, and unafraid to use the confederate flag in live settings, they have since apologized for that sort of shameful behaviour on their part and labelled it as "ignorant" stuff. It's never too late to learn, right? ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 39 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 48 (including this one, at least if I can bring myself to include albums in the very few subgenres I know I will never subjectively enjoy -- so as to make sure even those are properly represented in my own list). Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 94 ---- Émile, as-tu lu ma dernière réponse sous la review de "Chet" ?

As a guitar player, this one had some really fun technical elements but was sunk by its runtime and rigid adherence to only one sound across the entire LP. If you're going to make an hour+ album, instrumental dynamics and contrast are essential – the base sound here is great, but too much of a good thing would kill any musical effort.

Heavy metal from the 2000s. Great time to be into terrible album covers and also terrible graphic t shirts. This album is an interesting choice as it’s not avenged sevenfolds most popular album. It does have bat country which was a classic from like nhl 2006 but other than that this album was filled too much of high pitched guitar solos and holding notes for way too long. This album isn’t that great overall and not the best A7Fold album. 4.6/10

This falls into the theory of a deadman category of “music that’s cringe and sucks with terrible vocals but nostalgia and decent guitar work force me to be nice to it”. Bat country is the closest this gets to being actually good but even that isn’t great. Also the album art goes hard; can totally imagine it being on a cutoff of the most white trash person you’ve ever seen.

An amazing album that perfectly expresses to the listeners exactly who this band is. Killer tracks, long-lasting impact in their respective era and genre, and all-around good heart-pumping music.

Not on my favorite list, but I should give it a 5 due to the lack of more recent heavy metal on the original 1001 list. Especially more melodic stuff

June 19, 2025 HL: "Beast and the Harlot", "Blinded in Chains", "Strength of the World", "Sidewinder" Look, I'm not an arbiter of good taste, particularly when it comes to metal- but I had fun with this overlong, overblown, delightfully unserious album. Especially because it's from a band I was sure I didn't care for! Apologies to those I judged in grade seven

4.5

Do I really have to face this today. I’m on my holidays 😂 I was too quick to judge. The point of the list is you have to do every day. Give every album the time. This is a lot more lyrical with comprehensible lyrics. Some a bit corny. The drummer is fantastic. I could not imagine him performing a full gig. Maybe there are 2

Thank you, Guitar Hero II.

Nice album, good opening song, and then repeat of it times 10. Classic 2000s metal album. If you were teenager at the time, this record will stay with you for a long time. In my case I liked different bands, but it still brings some melancholy. Cool stuff.

Heavy metal, progressive metal, power metal, thrash metal, hard rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Musically I thought this was fine, with some genuinely excellent guitar work, but I really don't like the vocals. There are plenty of interesting things going on here, but some of these 7-9 minute songs could have been improved if they were just made shorter. It's just so self indulgent. I thought "Seize the Day" was fun in a Guns N' Roses-y kind of way. Fave Songs: Seize the Day, The Wicked End, Sidewinder

I did enjoy it to begin with l, but some of the song lengths were a bit self indulgent

A lot better than I expected

Over 3 beats per second? As Susan Pewter would say, "Stop the Insanity!" I'm usually not a big metal listener, but this one is interesting. The most listened to song (Seize the Day) is a ballad with the obligatory extra long guitar solo that has notes so high only dogs can hear them. Very ironic.

I remember a lot of people in high school liked this album but I was always more of a Slipknot/Metallica fan. Something about the voice, but still a good album! Some great drums I caught this time.

I listened to the song “bat country” 100’s of times when it came out but not the rest of the album. I’d consider myself a casual fan of some of their music. This album was ok if not a bit bland at times.

A very mixed album for me. The Rev’s drumming on songs like Beast and the Harlot and Bat Country were hugely inspirational for me when I was learning, and the guitar playing across the album is fantastic. Unfortunately the songs themselves don’t quite hold up, especially on the second half where the album really meanders. After the big Guns ‘n’ Roses style centrepiece ballad Seize the Day (complete with a soaring guitar solo), every song is about 7 minutes or longer and it’s incredibly uneven (despite some really good moments like the classical guitar outro to Sidewinder) M Shadows’ vocals are also pretty mixed throughout. There are some really powerful moments like the pre-chorus of Trashed and Scattered and the emotional bridge of Seize the Day, but other times where his voice is super whiny (he insists on doing this falsetto overdub on some tracks that just sounds really bad, and he just generally doesn’t sound great on the tonally-confused closer M.I.A). The production is also quite tinny on a lot of the tracks, which is a shame as you end up missing some details of the very intricate drumming. It’s nowhere near as consistent as their self-titled follow-up or Nightmare, but there are some absolute bangers in the first half and some very impressive and influential moments elsewhere.

Opens in archetypal metal style perfectly matched to the cover. Fun lots of guitar driven energy but lost me by Strength of the World where the vocals completely jumped the shark.

Polished, mathy prog metal with frankly underwhelming vocals. Not bad, but not my type of metal.

Surprise, surprise, too long. It really gets boring by about minute 50 and you know what you're going to hear in the next 20 minutes. It's fine overall. Bland and the vocals are weak but otherwise it's just there. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

It was ok.

Scooby Doo chase music with HD graphics. Stupid fun, way too long, hit or miss vocals, band members look like villains from Alvin and the Chipmunks. Sure is an early 2000s metal record.

Thankfully this isn’t like the screamo non-sense of their first two albums. The only person I knew who liked that shit thought trolling people was a personality trait. The music was as annoying as he was. Fortunately, M. Shadows worked with a vocal coach to be more melodic here. This album feels like what I image a speed freak experiences. Unfortunately after 72 minutes I feel like a speed freak in that my heart is going to explode.

That drummer must be exhausted. And very fit.

Mid

This band has always been a bit silly to me. The hypermasculinity and orchestral drama....lol. Aside from that, the instrumentalists are very good

Ultimately a bit boring and self-indulgent. Though it varies tempo and has some more interesting tracks (Bat Country, Seize the Day), too much of it is hard rock that is just loud and long. Its not really bad, but just becomes uninteresting well before the album is over.

Nah, not in the mood for this. Don't think I will even be.

I was expecting better music, I had heard Avenged songs before that were really good so I had high expectations for this album but it fell short.

It's almost a pastiche of everything and the kitchen sink thrown in. The fact they can play and are thinking about what they are doing rather than just a mindless scream saves them from a One star.

Used to be a fan of avenged sevenfold when I was a teenager, listening back now the vocals just go right through me. Can see why this isn’t a band from my youth I revisit often. This album is a bit all over the place.

Never listened to this band. Why is it so long.?. I expected the vocals to be screamy, so that a bonus. Unfortunately metal is a difficult genre for me. Sorry but about 5 songs in, it gets a bit tiresome.

Operatic metal rock that tries a little too hard.

Overblown garbage

Cartoon rock.

Unfortunately this is the type of metal/hard rock that doesn’t really do it for me. While it’s not my primary genre I have seen bands like GnR, NIN, Maiden, Slayer, Anthrax live. There is just something about this harder music from this time period I just can’t get into.

I keep confusing this band with 6 Feet Under so I was relieved to not have to listen to 72 minutes of that band. 72 minutes of this band is still a bit too much though

Oh it's just exhausting isn't it. Just too much..

A bit tame, even by my standards. Not my thing. But I’d really like to know why it was the submitters thing.

Avenged Sevenfold doesn’t seem to know whether they want to be a death metal band or a hair metal band. I know “Bat Country,” and it’s not too bad. But it’s much more consistent than anything before it, which was a constant whiplash of vocal styles.

Every bit the poppy mall metal I expected. It's just boring and cheesy.

If you were growing up in the mid-late 2000s and played enough video games, then you probably came across opening track Beast and the Harlot one way or another. Avenged Sevenfold (A7X if you're cool) effectively took the burgeoning melodic metalcore sound of the 2000s and watered it down to sounds more like generic metal with melodic hardcore elements. Notably, vocalist M. Shadows eschewed the fried metalcore shouting style for a more melodic approach akin to '80s hard rock or power metal. Gives the impression of being cool and badass while also remaining accessible by avoiding the more intimidating death metal influences that would make an album like this a bit better. It's pop metal (no, not the '80s glam metal) that pervaded so much of the post-millennium world: Five Finger Death Punch, Evanescence, and more recently I Prevail and Sleep Token. This album in particularly is overly long and brings very few interesting things to the table. Anything with promise is swamped out by the rest of the song effectively winding from one section to the next with little reason. The product is every song at 5 minutes or longer over 11 songs, do the math, it's over 70 minutes. That's too much man! Equally underwhelming and exhausting, I cannot fathom why Avenged Sevenfold was the band to carry metal's torch into the 2010s as opposed to the much better Mastodon. Oh well. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Spare the people, no!

Never got the hype. Singer sounds so pop-like. Whiny, almost ballad-y. Music is ok, the Rev was a great drummer, but the singer kills it.

Well at least this is better than Hail to the King. The singer is so good and I've seen him go absolutely crackers before. But by god the dude singing in the studio, unscrunch your got dam nose I know you're scrunching that shit.

Awful, it's like an assault on your eardrums. If I could, I would give it a zero

You shouldn't be allowed to participate in communal listening projects where you get to add your opinion.

Cannot countenance. Zero stars.

oh come on. The drum work? incredible. The whole album is basically a sonic time capsule of when pop metal jumped the shark. this is the metal kid equivalent to ska. Mother of christmas I hate that album.

Eugh this is just so boring. It's all the same and it's wet as hell.

Eurgh!

The first track of this shite was enough to convince me to play something worth listening to while I was in the car & relegate the remaining garbage on this album (i.e. all of it) to background noise later in the day when I had a garden bench to sand down & repaint.

Every aspect of this was painful and grating to get through. It sounds like some shitty early 2000s pop punk band trying to be a metal band. At least it was well over an hour long.