Quite how it’s been 10 whole years since Avenged Sevenfold unleashed City Of Evil onto an unsuspecting metal public is beyond us, but their smash-through opus remains as enthralling and ludicrous a listen as it did back in June 2005. The Orange County heavyweights’ third opus was one of the most radical departures of its time, progressing the previously metalcore-slanted upstarts at warp speed into a glammed-up, solo-heavy, hook-spewing rock’n’roll monster.
It proved the spark that would send them into the stratosphere and landed them their debut Hammer cover story, featuring this very shot showcasing the band of brothers striking a menacing pose in Atlanta, Georgia.
“It was the natural evolution of the band at the time,” recalled bassist Johnny Christ for our retrospective Avenged cover story last year. “We were ready to party and we were gonna do it in our songwriting, too!”
Needless to say, it was a move that worked wonders. In a year that saw the likes of Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine also help usher in a new generation of metal big-hitters, Avenged’s fearless approach to expanding their repertoire won them a new level of critical respect and, most importantly of course, opened their fanbase up to a new world of heavy metal excess.
In success terms, they haven’t looked back since./o:p
