Maps of Music

City of Evil (2005)

Where the lyrics of City of Evil take you, and where it was really made.

Before this record the vocalist spent months with a coach to change his voice, and the band recorded in what the guitarist called the middle of the worst ghetto in Los Angeles.

Key places

Recording studio in Los Angeles (2005)

Recording site Ocean Way Recording — Listed as the recording place for City of Evil in Los Angeles. The pin marks the studio-level coordinates, not a confirmed building address. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• City of Evil: third studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold
• Released June 6, 2005 through Warner Bros. and Hopeless Records
• Co-produced by Andrew Murdock
• Heavier traditional metal and hard rock sound than the metalcore of the band's previous two albums
• Title taken from a lyric in the song "Beast and the Harlot"
• Notable for the absence of fry vocals
• Four music videos, one for each single

Background

• Previous albums: Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001) and Waking the Fallen (2003)
• Waking the Fallen drew several major labels; the band eventually signed with Warner Bros. Records
• M. Shadows worked for months with vocal coach Ron Anderson, whose past clients included Axl Rose and Chris Cornell
• The goal was a grittier voice that still kept its tone
• The Rev practiced for hours to build stamina and speed on the pedals, up to 210 beats per minute
• "Burn It Down" was the first track written for the album

Recording

• Zacky Vengeance described the recording area as the worst ghetto in Los Angeles
• The band worked 14 to 15 hours a day in the studio
• Recording location listed as Ocean Way Recording

Cover

• Cover art depicts a skeletal swordsman flying a steed over the urban inferno of the title, according to AllMusic critic Johnny Loftus

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California, by Matt Sanders, James Sullivan, Zachary Baker and Matt Wendt.
• Name taken from the phrase 'avenged sevenfold' in Genesis 4:24, referencing the story of Cain and Abel.
• Debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet was released in July 2001 on Good Life Recordings.

Members

• Current lineup: vocalist M. Shadows, guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates, bassist Johnny Christ, drummer Brooks Wackerman.
• Drummer James 'The Rev' Sullivan died in December 2009; Arin Ilejay later joined and left before Brooks Wackerman became drummer in 2015.

Career

• Shifted from metalcore on early albums toward hard rock, heavy metal and progressive metal.
• City of Evil (2005) was the major label debut and broke them internationally; the self-titled album followed in 2007.
• Nightmare (2010) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200; Hail to the King (2013) also reached number one.
• The Stage (2016) was a conceptual progressive metal album; Life Is But a Dream... (2023) is their eighth studio album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic (Johnny Loftus): three-and-a-half stars out of five, praising the experimentation as totally metal without jumbled genres
• Rolling Stone: praised the guitar work, three out of five stars
• Metal Hammer: eight out of ten, with Katie Parsons concluding the band had done it their way

Reappraisal

• Guitar World: ranked No. 63 on its 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time
• Kerrang!: ranked No. 35 on its 50 Greatest Metal Albums Ever list in 2016
• Rolling Stone: No. 100 on its 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time

Records

• Billboard 200 debut: No. 30, selling over 30,000 copies in its first week
• Certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States, gold in Canada and the United Kingdom
• Over 1,500,000 copies sold in the United States, 2,500,000 worldwide
• Best-selling Avenged Sevenfold album as of 2020
• "Bat Country" reached No. 2 on Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and No. 1 on MTV's Total Request Live

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• "Burn It Down" was the lead single, but fans received it poorly.
• "Bat Country" was one of the breakout singles of 2005.
• The band won Best New Artist at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, beating Rihanna, Panic! at the Disco, James Blunt, Angels & Airwaves and Chris Brown.
• The penultimate track "Betrayed" is a tribute to Dimebag Darrell, the late guitarist of Pantera.
• "Blinded in Chains" was featured in the video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

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