By Conner Balladares, Digital Music Librarian
Sep. 1, 2026
This album is one of the largest sound changes in the last decade. Avenge Sevenfold is known for their intricate guitar riffs in the heavy rock genre but has somehow managed to release an electro pop rock album. While this album was an obvious attempt to try and rebrand themselves, it was one of the worst attempts that I have ever seen. From the first few seconds of the album, you could tell that they were trying something new but had no clue to achieve these ideas they were having. I fully wanted to give this album a fair chance – even if it’s not what most people are looking for out of Avenge Sevenfold, but it doesn’t even deserve that. My only guess on how this album could have come to be, would be that their label gave every member of the band a new electro instrument that they have never touched before and told them that they needed to make an album in a month. Like it has some element of knowing how to make music and knowing some music theory but not exactly having the skill to achieve that.
The main issue I have with this album is not that it is trying a new genre or sound, but that whatever they are trying does not sound good at all. One of the biggest things I have heard people complain about, alongside me, would be the overuse of vocal effects. They are very poorly applied and don’t bring the effect they are attempting to create in this sort of cyber-pop-rock sounding song. It just sounds like they were senselessly flipping switches and turning knobs while in the studio, and wherever they land is how the effect was going to sound for that word.
Even with how much of musical genius’ Avenged Sevenfold has been in the past, it feels as if they just forgot what they were capable of. When the band that has written multiple songs for call of duty releases an album, you would expect something heavy, fast, and melodically intracity. While it’s unclear if Avenged Sevenfold is going to continue this new sound, most people have made it clear that they weren’t the biggest fans of it. Hopefully this is just an
experimental EP, and they don’t try to make this a complete rebrand of themselves.
Overall, there are minimal features that anyone can appreciate, so the only rating I can give is 2/10.