AVENGED SEVENFOLD Is 'A Little Jealous' Of METALLICA's 'Hardwired' Marketing Campaign

December 8, 2016

In a brand new interview with Ireland's Overdrive, AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Synyster Gates was asked what he thought of METALLICA's idea to produce and release a video for every track on the band's latest album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct". He said: "Yeah, that was a stroke of genius. There's nothing like having some healthy competition. We really strive to think outside the box, by taking the standard approach the then twisting it a little all the while trying something new. Then METALLICA comes along and just up the bar again with their promo. We're a little jealous. [Laughs]"

He continued: "To be honest, I personally feel that this is a great time within the music industry as it's forcing people to try unorthodox approaches to what is traditionally a tired model. The business model of the past simply does not apply to the way things are conducted these days. Just take bands like METALLICA and us also — we are really excited about approaching things from a different angle and not afraid to try different things."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's latest album, "The Stage", came out less than two months ago. The group made the album available at midnight on October 27 with almost no promotion beforehand, save for the arrival of a new song one week earlier.

The surprise release of the disc, which was announced the night it went on sale, earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED SEVENFOLD album in eleven years — less than half the tally of its previous two efforts.

"The Stage" is a 71-minute, 11-song concept album centered around the theme of artificial intelligence and inspired by the work of Carl Sagan and Elon Musk. Instead of a science fiction storyline, however, "The Stage" takes what a press statement called "a futurist's look at the accelerated rate at which technology's intelligence is expanding and what that means — good and bad — for the future."

The album's epic 15-minute-plus closing track, "Exist", features a guest appearance by award-winning astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, giving a spoken-word performance he penned specifically for the album.

The marketing plan and launch of the album, the band's first for Capitol Records, was months in the making, starting with the projection of the band's logo, the Deathbat, on buildings in cities around the world. The campaign even included some misdirection, as the group had its friend Chris Jericho "accidentally" leak a fake album title and release date.

Find more on Avenged sevenfold
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).