Avenged Sevenfold
Live In The LBC & Diamonds In The Rough

THE REVIEW

After about a year since the release of the eponymous album, Avenged Sevenfold returns with a record that collects the unreleased B-sides of the latest work, two covers, a couple of remixes, and two live tracks. Naturally, I don't consider it as a milestone in the band's discography; rather, I think it's right to listen to it with the curiosity to discover what they would offer us in the real album.

We begin with ''Demons,'' an ''Avenged'' style song, with a very catchy melody in the chorus, which perhaps results a bit scattered in its 5 minutes plus duration. The second track is ''Girl I Know,'' really good, the only flaw is a riff a bit too 'inspired' by ''Beast And The Harlot.'' The third track is ''Crossroads,'' another song that contains various elements of their style; particularly, the characteristics of two albums are mixed here, namely, ''Waking The Fallen'' and ''City Of Evil.'' Then we have ''Flash Of The Blade,'' recorded and included in the Iron Maiden tribute album ''Maiden Heaven''; a cover that doesn't stray much from the original, while still having a slight personal touch.

The fifth song is ''Until The End,'' which in my opinion is the true 'diamond' of this ''Diamond In The Rough'': a rock-ballad worthy of a Seize The Day, which would have deserved inclusion in the last album; the listening is engaging, also for the feelings it contains and which are released in the choruses and the solo, always with the typical grit of this quintet. ''Tension'' passes without infamy and without praise, while the seventh song consists of the cover of the Pantera's ''Walk'' recorded and published in 2006 on a compilation by ''Kerrang!'' Magazine. Not as good as the original by Darrel and company, but still well executed and still rich with the 'nasty' sound that made it famous.

The following ''The Fight'' confirms the still good level of this collection, but it is with the next ''Dancing Dead'' that another peak of the work is reached: a powerful riff, a chorus that is hard to get out of your head, and a masterly central break that introduces the solo; all this connects angrily with the previous part of the song and marks its closure, with a mini-section calmer, touching almost 6 minutes.

The last four tracks consist of two renditions of ''Almost Easy,'' an alternative version of ''Afterlife,'' practically identical to the original with some changes in the string parts and guitar lines in the verses, and a ''Bat Country'' from the Fresno concert which, together with Seattle's performance of ''Almost Easy,'' effectively captures the energy that this band conveys in its concerts. I would like to add a few more words about the ''Almost'' studio remix: most of the work, more than on the sound of the instrumental section, was done on Shadows' vocals, made harder and more aggressive.

A record that is easy to listen to; I recommend it to those who already know Avenged Sevenfold and their albums, and who might be curious to expand what they already know about the Californian quintet.