Hail To The King (single) - Avenged Sevenfold

‘Hail To The King’ sounds unlike any other Avenged Sevenfold song to date. It’s all there; the frantic guitarwork of Synyster Gates, the raw vocal power of M Shadows, a blistering solo and a truly addictive chorus – but it’s by no means the same old material. Avenged Sevenfold are once again straying into new territory.

            The song opens in a familiar A7X way: a lone guitar slowly being joined by other instruments, a cymbal clash readying the listener for a heavy, powerful core beat, and Zacky V’s deeper, more harrowing chords offsetting the higher notes of the lead guitar. When M Shadows’ voice joins the fray, though, it sounds distinctively different from that of past releases – possibly to match the more classic-rock-oriented tone of the new song.

            ‘Hail to the King,’ he screams as the instruments pick up pace for the chorus. ‘Hail to the one / kneel to the crown, stand in the sun / Hail to the King!’

            Further into the song, theme and tone are hammered in further. A strong sense of historical epics comes though, of wars and battles, of swords clashing on shields.

            With all the focus so far on M Shadows, Synyster Gates temporarily retakes the spotlight. ‘Hail To The King’s guitar solo almost seems reminiscent of Avenged Sevenfold’s older material, and regardless of whether it compares to that of A7X all-time greats like ‘Afterlife’ or ‘Second Heartbeat’, Syn certainly hasn’t lost the edge that helps give the band their unique sound.

            The solo leads straight into a part that hardcore fans may already be familiar with – the barely tamed bridge section that was teased in the run up to the single’s release. Amidst a background of ominous chanting, M Shadows growls that ‘there’s a taste of fear, when the henchmen call / I am fierce to tame it, I am fierce to claim it all!’

            Avenged Sevenfold’s most recent releases – one-off singles for the Black Ops games – have perhaps fallen below the incredibly high benchmark set by 2010's Nightmare. ‘Hail To The King’, however, is a much more promising taste of what could be their best album yet.

            The band’s sixth studio album, also titled ‘Hail To The King’, is released on August 27^th.