Avenged Sevenfold frontman M Shadows says a compilation album announced by their former label Warner Brothers was an attempt to “undercut our sales and confuse casual fans.”
The band are locked in a legal dispute with Warner Brothers and last week sneak released their new album The Stage via their new label Capitol Records. But as rumours circulated that Avenged Sevenfold were about to reveal details of the new album, Warner announced a 2CD compilation called The Best Of 2005-2013, which is set for release on December 2.
A7X’s ‘deathbat’ logo started appearing in cities around the world last month before Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho, in collusion with Shadows, posted fake details about Avenged’s seventh album, saying it would be called Voltaic Oceans and that is would be issued on December 9.
Shadows says those rumours led to Warner’s decision to release the Best Of and he adds that band have had no input on the compilation, which he describes as a “cash grab” on the part of Warner.
Shadows tells Metal Hammer: “They saw the tweet that Chris Jericho put up, assumed the record was coming out December 9, and tried to undercut our sales and confuse casual fans.
“We didn’t find out it was happening until we saw it online. They’re just trying to make a cash grab. The fans will figure it out, it’s a viral world and people will know. Go on Spotify and make a playlist of those songs, it’s easy.”
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Asked to give an update on the current state of play in regards to their relationship with Warner, Shadows adds: “The reality is we’re still in a lawsuit with Warner Brothers, we’re exercising our right of the seven-year rule which is a law in California that says you can’t be in a contract longer than seven years, and it comes down to feeling that nobody at that company cared or knew about Avenged Sevenfold any more.
“All the higher-ups had gone through multiple regime changes. So we took way less money to go somewhere else, do what we felt was right for our career, take on a lawsuit, than put out a record and let it fall by the wayside.”
The decision to sneak release The Stage came about because Avenged Sevenfold were not keen on drip-feeding songs from the album. They wanted fans to get their hands on it all at once – a move Shadows says Warner would likely have blocked.,
“None of this cool stuff would be happening if it was on Warner Brothers,” he says. “There’s no way they would let us do this.”
The Stage is the follow-up to 2013’s Hail To The King. Avenged Sevenfold released a video for the album’s title track earlier this month.
Avenged Sevenfold tour dates 2017
Jan 10: Glasgow SSE Hydro
Jan 12: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Jan 13: Birmingham Genting Arena
Jan 15: Sheffield Arena
Jan 16: Manchester Arena
Jan 18: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Jan 19: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Jan 21: London O2 Arena
Jan 22: London O2 Arena
Feb 12: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Feb 13: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
Feb 15: Berlin Arena, Germany
Feb 16: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Germany
Feb 18: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Feb 20: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
Feb 21: Milan Forum, Italy
Feb 23: Vienna Wiener Stadthalle, Austria
Feb 25: Munich Zenith, Germany
Feb 26: Zurich Halle 622, Austria
Feb 28: Lille Zenith Arena, France
Mar 01: Luxembourg Rockhal, Luxembourg
Mar 02: Paris AccorHotels Arena, France
Mar 04: Copenhagen Valby Hallen, Denmark
Mar 07: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
Mar 09: Stockholm Ericsson Globe, Sweden
Mar 10: Oslo Telenor, Norway
Avenged Sevenfold: the first reaction to their new album The Stage
