As Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows told Revolver back in 2010, he and the rest of the iconic group went into the recording sessions of their City of Evil with one goal in mind: “Let’s make a full-on metal record.” And, damn, did they deliver on that promise.
Though the act had built up a steady following in their Orange County metalcore scene since forming in the late Nineties, A7X’s 2005 major-label debut was a beast (and a harlot) of a different color — especially for Shadows.
The towering guitar tandem of Synyster Gates and Zacky Venegeance bled with elements of hardcore, power-metal, thrash and NWOBHM-leaning harmonies, but Shadows went clean and mean on City, pretty much escaping the fry-heavy sound of his early vocals. And it made everything all the more anthemic.
20 years later, City of Evil has gone down as not just one of Avenged Sevenfold’s most impressive releases, but one of the Aughts era’s most important albums. But breaking it down granularly, what is its greatest track?
We asked Revolver readers to take a trip back through Bat Country to answer that exact question, and these were their five favorite songs.
“The Wicked End”
Fans tend to praise Synster Gates and Zacky Vengeance’s reckless and ripping next-level shreddery so much that it’s sometime easy to overlook how much of a beast bassist Johnny Christ is on his four-string, as well. He quickly spirals “The Wicked End” towards a manic sensory overload of low-end arpeggiating before the rest of the band locks into this thrashed-and-gothic epic.
The fancifully frightening choir in the breakdown is also an Evil highlight, while M. Shadows’ hefty howling assures us he’s not the silent, soulless man he’s crooning of in-song.
“Trashed and Scattered”
One band’s trash is another fan’s treasure.
By the time A7X hit City of Evil, M. Shadows’ vocal journey had pulled him far away from the scream-heavy style of the band’s earliest metalcore experiments. “Trashed and Scattered” puts that into crystal-clear focus, with the frontman overloading its power-metal verses with cloud-bound vocal harmonies. Then again, he later gets his inner Axl on with a raspy-and-sassy, half-spoken sneer.
No matter the approach, Revolver readers suggest it’s never a waste of time to crank up this classic City song.
M.I.A.
When it comes to all-time Avenged Sevenfold tracks, no list would be complete without “M.I.A.”
Though City of Evil’s closing cut is full of soaring six-string melodies and anthemic drive, their freewheeling metal is juxtaposed against Shadows’ intense lyrics, notably penned during the then-ongoing Iraq War. He delivers numerous gut-punches while singing as a conflicted soldier watching the “carnage” unfold in front of him on the battlefield (“Some are scared, others killin’ for fun/I shot a mother right in front of her son”).
While not for the reasons you’d normally expect, it’s undoubtedly one of A7X’s heaviest songs.
“Blinded in Chains”
While you could say this about a ton of Avenged Sevenfold songs, the twin-guitar dynamics are on full, fantastic display throughout “Blinded in Chains.” City of Evil’s third track has Gates and Vengeance linking up for a ton of highly-hummable harmonies and plenty of dexterous, fretboard-scorching runs.
That said, The Rev also double-kicks his way to the forefront through a thunderous drum solo, so its fair to say that the tune — seemingly about war and extremism — finds everyone in A7X firing on all cylinders.
“Sidewinder”
This fan poll found Avenged Sevenfold fans sliding into the comments section en masse to salute the band’s most reptilian ripper, “Sidewinder.”
Shadows injects the song with plenty of serpentine wordplay, ultimately embodying but also warning us of the fang-bearing, venom-tipped terror in our midst. Keeping things on-brand, the rest of A7X shed their metal leanings, if only for a moment, to showcase a downright funky finale of Spanish guitar strumming, unplugged shred-fests and conga drumming.
All these years later, “Sidewinder” remains a City of Evil highlight with plenty of venomous bite.