Avenged Sevenfold is back after a forced hiatus and promises the start of a new era with their new album Life Is But a Dream… , which will be released this Friday, June 2nd. In an interview with Wikimetal , bassist Johnny Christ spoke about the creative process behind this album and plans to return to Brazil soon.
The band had been away from the stage since 2018, enough time for Johnny to see his son born and grow up enough to attend his first Avenged Sevenfold show. After a surprise show for about three thousand fans in Las Vegas, the group performed at the Welcome To Rockville . “I brought my family to Florida. We took a little trip to Orlando, went to Disney World, and then my son, who is now six years old, saw his dad do his first show in many years. So it was a really cool experience on a personal level, and it was also great to be back in front of the fans,” he said with a smile.
Without releasing new music since The Stage (2016), this was the first time Avenged Sevenfold had so much time available to work on a new album in their entire career. The creative process for the follow-up album began shortly after the end of their 2018 tour, but the pandemic coincided with the period in which the band would have entered the studio.
Instead of rushing back to work, A7x looked for the positive side of the delays caused by force majeure circumstances and went in the opposite direction: “We wanted to make sure that everything we did came out perfectly, or at least the way we wanted it to sound on this album,” explained Johnny. “[This period] gave us time to really put into perspective what we wanted to achieve with this album. It happened in a forced way, but it ended up being a good thing. We were more meticulous about the message, the music and everything else.”
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But while Johnny watched his son grow up and Avenged Sevenfold polished the result of This Is But a Dream… behind the scenes, in a careful process of shaping sounds and lyrics, for the fans there was only a void and the desire to receive news about their favorite band – something understandable, but also a constant pressure. “We’ll release the new album when we want. That’s the truth. People seem to think we work for them,” lamented vocalist M. Shadows in November 2021.
With the album's release approaching, Johnny Christ seems more understanding than the frontman regarding the constant questions from the public. In the conversation, the bassist recalls his own anxiety while awaiting the successor to Metallica 's The Black Album . It was five long years until the arrival of Load in 1996. “I remember thinking, 'Wow, are they going to come back? This is crazy.' And now we've done it in Avenged Sevenfold without even blinking. And it doesn't seem that long. It's strange how perception and perspective change as you get older, don't you think?” he reflected.
The first samples from Avenged Sevenfold's eighth studio album seem to have won over the public, but they also managed to surprise. While "Nobody" is initially a tale about the afterlife, with M. Shadows narrating adventures beyond the grave in a familiar melody, there's very little of that feeling in the explosive rollercoaster of "We Love You," capable of mixing lullabies and frenetic metal into a single song.
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The definition of "rollercoaster" is able to describe not only the single, but also Avenged Sevenfold as a whole, and the band is confident that the fanbase is willing to embark on this runaway train to new adventures. "We knew that fans would eventually understand and love this song too because it's a rollercoaster. But that's who we are. I mean, that's how we've always been, right? So, I think it's another great representation of us, once again, taking this creative freedom that our fans have given us to the next level with each release," he summarized. "And they follow us and that gives us confidence that we're going in the right direction. We love that and we try to keep moving forward."
In Life Is But a Dream… , each song promises to be its own unique universe, but without losing sight of Avenged Sevenfold's DNA. Is this the biggest challenge for a band with so many years on the road and a constant desire to expand their horizons? “We work very hard on every detail of what we do as a band, until it becomes a part of us. That's the challenge we've taken on, but it becomes easier because we're always looking for new tools to achieve it.”
The secret to continuing to seek innovation and explore new sonic paths with each album also lies in their camaraderie. Beyond being colleagues, the members of A7x pride themselves on maintaining a true friendship, which is reflected both on and off stage, from surprise visits to fans in their free time to hilarious pranks at shows . “We’re a family, even when we’re not working on new music. I’d still be friends with these guys even without the band; we live close to each other, about a 10-minute walk away. So if we don’t have fun in the process, why would we do it?” Johnny points out.
The message of the new album can be summarized by the title, according to the bassist: life is nothing more than a dream. “It’s about existential crisis, morality, the meaning of life, our philosophies, what we learn from people smarter than us, what we face on a personal level and as a family, realizing that we are here, now, and there is no other option. It doesn’t matter the reason for all this, when we will leave the world or what happens after. You are here now. Some days suck, others are great, you need to keep going,” he summarized.
Regarding plans for an Avenged Sevenfold tour in Brazil, the band is aware of the constant requests for shows here on social media, "even when the post has nothing to do with a tour." Their last show in the country was in 2014, and the idea of a return after a decade seems to make everything more special for Johnny.
“We haven’t forgotten you, we love you. We want to come back, we adore Brazilian fans and the country’s culture, there are great music fans there. So, naturally, we want to come back and we hope it happens next year,” he said. The band’s North American tour only ends in October and Avenged Sevenfold intends to rest until 2024, when they will return to the road “with everything”.
Life Is But a Dream… , the eighth studio album by Avenged Sevenfold, will be released this Friday, June 2nd, via Warner Music.
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