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venged Sevenfold frontman M . Shadows easily remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing when he received the remarkable news a few weeks ago . And it was the last bulletin on Earth he was expecting . “ I was laying in bed , and I was checking my morning e-mails when I saw a ‘ Congratulations ’ from our manager ,” says the SoCal-based singer , who was quickly jolted completely awake that day , no coffee required . “ And I was like , ‘ What the heck ?’ I thought it was a joke at first , but I jumped online , Googled the information , and there we were . And we ’ ve had a few # 1 records and some big singles , but never once had even a hint of anything like this . I just thought it was never going to happen .”
Yet here the band is , prominently featured on the recent list of Grammy nominees , up for this year ’ s Best Rock Song for the squealing title track to its latest sonically-adventurous outing for Capitol , The Stage . And the usually unflappable Shadows was duly dumbfounded . Over a career spanning 18 years and seven studio albums , he was grateful for all the acclaim he ’ d gotten from diehard fans , plus a booming merchandise business revolving around the group ’ s canny winged-skull logo the Deathbat , a go-to T-shirt design for any serious metalhead . “ But we kind of thought that we had just been forgotten by the Grammys , that we just weren ’ t in the Grammys club ,” he sighs . “ But then to get the nomination all of a sudden , on a record that was critically-praised but difficult for the fans to digest ? It was justification for us – or verification – that we ’ d made a cool record , that people in the industry liked it , and they proved it to us with their vote to put us in the Grammys . It was a huge honor .”
VERIFICATION
By Tom Lanham photos by Jeff Forney
And The Stage certainly stands out among 2017 hard-rock releases . Clocking in at over 73 minutes , it ’ s an ambitious concept album with planet Earth as the socalled stage and narcissistic , artificial-intelligence embracing humankind as its ostensibly doomed protagonists . With cold , clinical precision it examines esoteric subjects like nanotechnology ( a chugging “ Paradigm ”), still-looming atomic-age implications ( the punchy “ Fermi Paradox ” assault , a Middle-eastern-filigreed “ Sunny Disposition ”), plus the Richard Dawkins / Christopher Hitchens-inspired case for clear-headed atheism ( a bluest “ Angels ,” the snarling “ God Damn ” anthem , the slow / fast metalcore staple “ Creating God ”), and a 15:41 Rush-exotic centerpiece , “ Exist ,” that ’ s rooted in the Big Bang theory – the real universe-spawning one , not the goofy TV series . To underscore its deep-thinking points , the disc even employs prickly horn sections , velvety strings , and a just-issued expanded edition showcasing the group ’ s equallyelevated musical influences with covers of Del Shannon ’ s “ Runaway ,” Mr . Bungle ’ s “ Retrovertigo ,” The Rolling Stones ’ “ As Tears Go By ,” The Beach Boys ’ “ God Only Knows ,” and Pink Floyd ’ s “ Wish You Were Here .” Also included : Four Stage tracks , recorded in concert at London ’ s sprawling 02 Arena .
“ Well , I like our taste in music ,” explains Shadows , 36 , of the new bonus cuts , which might surprise some thrashminded followers . “ And as songwriters , one thing we ’ ve never stopped doing was dissecting great songs , and seeing how the chords are put together , the key changes , the modulations , and how much an arrangement helps the song . And I think sometimes in heavy metal we get so focused on throwing heavy guitars into everything that you lose a lot of those dynamics . You lose that real human feeling that humans connect to .” And when you break down a “ Runaway ” or a “ Wish You Were Here ” to its most skeletal elements ; he adds , only then can you appreciate its true splendor . “ And you can see that , beneath it all , those songs do everything right , everything perfectly . And there ’ s a method to that madness – it ’ s not just these crazy musicians throwing together whatever they want . They know this way to do things correctly , so I think you can only learn from those guys .”
Ergo , there ’ s a great deal of artistic growth within Avenged Sevenfold , which started out back in 1999 as a bunch of California buddies from Huntington Beach , with their current – and sounddefining – guitarist Synyster Gates only joining after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet released in 2001 . By its third set , 2005 ’ s City of Evil , the initially-indie outfit was snapped up by major imprint Warner Brothers , leading to a Best New Artist trophy at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards . On its self-titled 2007 follow-up , the group was already tongue-in-cheek mocking the illusion of music-industry popularity with singles like “ Critical Acclaim .” But the pitbull-gnashing Shadows ( born Matthew Charles Sanders , who adopted his stage name to cultivate an air of mysterious menace ) had already begun upping his vocal game by regularly seeing a top-flight vocal coach who had tutored two of his heroes , Axl Rose and the late Chris Cornell ( whose signature primal wail Shadows ’ often closely resembles on The Stage ).
“ I ’ ve been working on my vocals for the last 12 years with Ron Anderson , and I ’ ve finally gotten to a place where I ’ m singing more in the ‘ head voice ,’ which is a much safer place to sing from than the bottom , in singer-speak ,” says the rocker . He underwent vocal surgery in 2003 after repeatedly bursting blood vessels in his vocal cords . “ And once that ( operation ) happened , I had three weeks of no talking and about six months of recovery , so I went to Ron , which was the greatest thing I ever did in my life . It took me years and years , but I learned the true technology of how to sing , so now I ’ m singing from the top , and I have much healthier vocal cords – it ’ s all about dealing it in and treating your voice more like an athlete ; like a sport . You ’ ve really got to take care of it .”
From the iconic Deathbat insignia alone (“ They call it the ‘ Nike swish ’ of hard rock , but we just always enjoyed bands with logos , like Megadeth , Iron Maiden , and The Misfits , and we wanted to be represented by a logo , not necessarily the band name ,” Shadows elaborates ) you might expect Avenged Sevenfold ’ s leader to be a bit vampire-like himself , or at least as ominously spooky as his name implies . He is none of these things . In fact , he ’ s far less Tim Burton ’ s neighborhood-rattling Edward Scissorhands and more like the warm , friendly pastel neighbors depicted in the film . A real backyard-barbecuing , family guy whom you wouldn ’ t mind living next door to . Okay , well maybe a cookout is pushing it . But the man is well-read , conversational on almost any subject , and admits that collecting Bitcoin is his only real vice . “ I ’ ve really gotten into cryptocurrencies , so I ’ ve been collecting Bitcoin for about 20 months now , and obviously it ’ s really been taking off recently , so it ’ s been fun ,” he says . Shadows and his wife Valary ( whose sister
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22 illinoisentertainer . com january 2018