50 Fun Facts About Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold took their name from the Book of Genesis story of which pair of biblical brothers?

Cain and Abel supplied the name: the phrase 'avenged sevenfold' appears in Genesis 4:24. Singer M. Shadows chose it even though the band is not a religious one.

Avenged Sevenfold's hit 'Bat Country' takes its title and drug-fueled theme from a 1971 novel by which author?

Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the song's title is a direct quote from the passage where Raoul Duke heads for the city while high.

Which astrophysicist reads a spoken-word piece to close 'Exist', the 15-minute finale of Avenged Sevenfold's The Stage?

Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote his closing speech specially for the album. The music before it was built to evoke the Big Bang and then the formation of Earth.

Avenged Sevenfold wrote 'Not Ready to Die' and 'Mad Hatter' as hidden songs for Zombies maps in which game series?

Call of Duty has used the band's music since Black Ops in 2010. After the credits of Black Ops II, the group appears on screen playing 'Carry On' with two of the game's characters.

Which film composer's work inspired The Rev to write Avenged Sevenfold's macabre, horn-laden 'A Little Piece of Heaven'?

Danny Elfman and his band Oingo Boingo were the models The Rev named for the song. The band brought in brass and string sections to record it, and its members have compared it to an eight-minute movie.

Mike Portnoy, who drummed on Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare after The Rev died, co-founded which progressive metal band?

Dream Theater was a major influence on The Rev, which is why the band turned to its drummer. Portnoy finished the album's drum tracks and toured with the group to the end of 2010.

Avenged Sevenfold beat Rihanna, Chris Brown and James Blunt to which prize at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards?

Best New Artist went to the band for the 'Bat Country' video, even though they had formed in 1999 and were already three albums in.

Avenged Sevenfold's surprise 2016 release The Stage is a concept album built around which emerging technology?

Artificial intelligence and the self-destruction of society drive the record, whose lyrics drew on the writings of Carl Sagan and Elon Musk.

The tombstone on the cover of Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare honors The Rev by stressing three letters of which word?

Forever is carved on the stone with REV picked out, for the drummer who died during the album's production. The whole record is dedicated to his memory.

What name do Avenged Sevenfold give their winged-skull logo, projected across London, Berlin and Paris in 2016?

Deathbat is the name of the skull-and-wings emblem. Those 2016 projections signaled that a new album was close, weeks before it appeared without warning.

Avenged Sevenfold formed in 1999 in which Orange County city, where singer M. Shadows went to high school?

Huntington Beach is the band's hometown, and bassist Johnny Christ was born there. Their first show, in February 2000, was at the city hall of Walnut, California.

Avenged Sevenfold were the main support act on which band's WorldWired stadium tour of North America in 2017?

Metallica took them out alongside Volbeat and Gojira. A year earlier the two bands had shared the first rock concert ever held at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Which British band first recorded 'Wish You Were Here', which Avenged Sevenfold covered for The Stage's deluxe edition?

Pink Floyd's ballad was the last of six covers the band issued through 2017, a run that also took in songs by the Rolling Stones and Mr. Bungle.

Which vocal style did M. Shadows abandon on Avenged Sevenfold's City of Evil after months with a vocal coach?

Screaming vanished from the album by design: before the previous record was even made, he had told producer Mudrock that the one after it would be all singing.

Which genre label fits Avenged Sevenfold's first two albums, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen?

Metalcore describes the debut and its follow-up, though both strayed from it: the first even carries a piano ballad. The third album dropped the style for classic heavy metal.

Which Avenged Sevenfold ballad did Synyster Gates begin for his grandfather and finish as a tribute to The Rev?

So Far Away became the heart of the band's memorials: in concert the crowd holds up lighters or phones while a banner honoring the drummer hangs behind the stage.

Which touring festival did Avenged Sevenfold first join in 2002 and later return to as headliners?

Warped Tour crowds came for pop-punk, and Zacky Vengeance says the band got noticed there by playing the fastest, craziest music on the bill and breaking their instruments.

Avenged Sevenfold's rarities set Diamonds in the Rough includes a cover of 'Walk', a groove-metal anthem by which band?

Pantera's song sits on the disc beside a second cover, Iron Maiden's 'Flash of the Blade', and B-sides left over from the self-titled album sessions.

Brooks Wackerman became Avenged Sevenfold's drummer in 2015 after fourteen years with which Californian punk band?

Bad Religion had Wackerman from 2001, and he also played with Tenacious D. The group worked with him in secret for over a year before announcing the change.

Avenged Sevenfold's 'Beast and the Harlot' retells the fall of which ancient city, drawn from the Book of Revelation?

Babylon stands in for Hollywood in M. Shadows' telling, with its tales of innocents corrupted. The same song supplied the phrase that became the album title City of Evil.

Which Avenged Sevenfold power ballad has a video in which M. Shadows is jailed after a liquor store robbery?

Seize the Day was a City of Evil single in 2006. In its video his bandmates drive off and leave him to the police, and his real-life future wife Valary plays his partner.

Which Waking the Fallen single won Avenged Sevenfold their first mainstream exposure through MTV2's Headbangers Ball?

Unholy Confessions went into rotation on the show in 2004. The band disliked the first video, filmed in an abandoned warehouse, and reshot it as a live performance at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

The Rev sang and Synyster Gates played guitar in which experimental side band outside Avenged Sevenfold?

Pinkly Smooth made avant-garde metal with The Rev out front as lead vocalist and pianist. Talk of a second record ended with his death in 2009.

Avenged Sevenfold singer M. Shadows, who calls himself the group's darker character, was born with which surname?

Sanders is the family name, and the 'M' stands for Matthew, which he kept out of his stage name because he disliked how it sounded.

Besides classical, which guitar style did Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates study at the Musicians Institute?

Jazz, and gypsy jazz in particular, remains one of his loves away from metal. His father, a session guitarist known as Papa Gates, has played on the band's records.

'Malagueña Salerosa', covered by Avenged Sevenfold in 2017, is a traditional huapango folk song from which country?

Mexico is its home, although the song addresses a woman from Málaga in Spain, whom the singer feels too poor to win. It has been covered more than 200 times.

Hail to the King gave Avenged Sevenfold their first number-one album in which of these countries?

Britain put the album at number one in 2013, as did the United States, Canada, Brazil, Finland and Ireland. The band wrote it as a tribute to their classic metal influences.

Which guitarist joined Avenged Sevenfold on stage in 2009 for 'It's So Easy', then put M. Shadows on his solo album?

Slash played the Guns N' Roses song with them in Los Angeles, then gave M. Shadows the lead vocal on 'Nothing to Say' for the solo record he released in 2010.

Avenged Sevenfold topped the bill in 2014 alongside Linkin Park and Aerosmith at which English rock festival?

Download gave them its Friday night in June 2014 and brought them back as headliners in 2018, the year they also played Hellfest and Rock am Ring.

Avenged Sevenfold launched The Stage in 2016 with a live-streamed concert on the roof of which Hollywood landmark?

Capitol Records Building was a fitting stage: the album came out through Capitol, and it went on sale straight after the rooftop set with no warning.

Avenged Sevenfold's 'Almost Easy' missed the first film's deadline but made the sequel soundtrack of which franchise?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen carried the song after it was finished too late for the 2007 original. The Rev wrote the track, one of two singles issued ahead of the self-titled album.

Directors from which performance troupe did Avenged Sevenfold hire to design the stage show for The Stage tour?

Cirque du Soleil directors were hired because the band wanted a unique production for the record, which had reached number four in the United States as a surprise release.

Avenged Sevenfold ended 2010 with Mike Portnoy at USO shows for American troops in Kuwait and which other country?

Iraq and Kuwait saw three shows that December, at Camp Adder, Camp Buehring and Balad Air Base. The same month, Portnoy and the band announced he would not be the permanent replacement.

Which guitar maker builds the signature models of Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance?

Schecter makes the Synyster and Vengeance lines, and it also built the Hellwin, a signature amplifier that Synyster Gates helped to design.

Hail to the King is the only Avenged Sevenfold studio album to feature which drummer, formerly of the band Confide?

Arin Ilejay began touring with the band in 2011 and was named a full member two years later. He was let go in 2015, a decision he said came as a complete shock.

Mike Elizondo, producer of Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare and Hail to the King, made his name working for which rapper?

Dr. Dre made Elizondo part of his core creative team at Aftermath, where he co-wrote 50 Cent's 'In da Club' and Eminem's 'The Real Slim Shady' before turning to metal.

Which French author's novella The Stranger shaped the lyrics of Avenged Sevenfold's Life Is But a Dream...?

Albert Camus and his ideas of absurdism run through the 2023 album. Its lead single 'Nobody' grew out of a painting by Wes Lang, who went on to create the cover art.

Which Avenged Sevenfold song, first titled 'Death', was the last one The Rev wrote for the Nightmare album?

Fiction took its final title from a nickname The Rev gave himself. He handed it in as the last song for the record, and he is still heard sharing its lead vocal.

Which major label signed Avenged Sevenfold in 2003 after 'Chapter Four' appeared in Madden NFL 04 and NHL 04?

Warner Bros. signed them that November, soon after Waking the Fallen came out on an independent label. The album sold only 3,000 copies in its first week yet later went platinum.

Papa Gates, the guitarist father of Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates, toured as 'Guitar Guy' with which comedian?

Jeff Dunham featured him in his 2008 Christmas special. Papa Gates has also played on his son's records, including the guitar solo on the Nightmare track 'Tonight the World Dies'.

Avenged Sevenfold drummer The Rev shortened his stage name from 'The Reverend Tholomew' followed by which word?

Plague completed the full name, The Reverend Tholomew Plague. He was far more than the drummer: he played piano, sang backing and sometimes co-lead vocals, and wrote several of the band's singles.

Before co-founding Avenged Sevenfold, The Rev drummed for Suburban Legends, a band that plays which style of music?

Ska punk made an odd apprenticeship for a metal drummer, but his tastes ran wide: his early influences included Frank Zappa and King Crimson.

The twang of Avenged Sevenfold's ballad 'Dear God' came from the band's friendship with which country duo?

Big & Rich left their mark through Shanna Crooks, a singer from their MuzikMafia circle who provides the song's backing vocals.

Which wrestler announced 'Voltaic Oceans' in 2016 as the supposed title of Avenged Sevenfold's next album?

Chris Jericho also posted a release date that was six weeks too late. The real album, The Stage, arrived unannounced on October 28, 2016.

Avenged Sevenfold's debut album first came out in 2001 on Good Life Recordings, a label based in which country?

Belgium was home to the label, which signed the Californian band on the strength of a mailed demo. Within a year they had moved to a US label that reissued the album.

Which independent label reissued Avenged Sevenfold's debut in 2002 and released Waking the Fallen the following year?

Hopeless Records signed the band in January 2002 and put them on its Hopelessly Devoted to You sampler that April. Waking the Fallen went gold in 2009, six years after its release.

Robb Flynn, who dismissed Avenged Sevenfold's Hail to the King as a 'cover album', fronts which metal band?

Machine Head's frontman made the jibe in a blog post, joking that several songs resembled classics by Megadeth and Guns N' Roses. The album still topped the US chart.

The Rev played his final show with Avenged Sevenfold in August 2009 at which festival, held at Knebworth in England?

Sonisphere's British leg took place on August 1 and 2 that year. The Rev died less than five months later, on December 28, 2009.

Which Avenged Sevenfold single, written by The Rev, features a string orchestra on the 2007 self-titled album?

Afterlife was the album's third single, released in early 2008. Its video shows Synyster Gates holding a skull among candles and Johnny Christ releasing a flock of doves.

Avenged Sevenfold's 2017 cover of 'Runaway' revived a 1961 number one first recorded by which American singer?

Del Shannon's hit gave Zacky Vengeance a rare turn on lead vocals, with Warren Fitzgerald of the Vandals adding guitar.