Avenged Sevenfold

The Profile

Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, known for shifting from early metalcore toward a more classic heavy metal/hard rock approach across their discography.

Publicly verifiable: formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California; commonly abbreviated as A7X; drummer and co-founder Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan died in 2009; the band has released albums including Waking the Fallen, City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare, Hail to the King, and The Stage.

Across these reviews, Avenged Sevenfold come off as a love-or-hate Californian metal band with frequent stylistic pivots. Fans praise musicianship (especially guitars and drums) and big choruses, while detractors call out nasal vocals, commercial moves, and overlong albums. Key flashpoints: the metalcore-era screams (Waking the Fallen), the shift on City of Evil, the post–The Rev era and Portnoy on Nightmare, and the divisive Hail to the King. The Stage is framed as a return to a more inspired, self-referential A7X identity.