I usually stick to sports-related blogs, but from time to time I’ll post something about movies, television and music. This is one of those times.
Avenged Sevenfold (A7X), who is one of my favorite bands, released the music video to its first single, “Nightmare,” off its fifth studio album entitled “Nightmare,” which will be released on July 27. The album is the band’s first since drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan’s untimely death last December. The Rev was one of the band’s founding members.
A7X was working on the album prior to The Rev’s death, and lead vocals M. Shadows admitted in an interview that the band contemplated not finishing the album and only finished it in The Rev’s memory. Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy was brought in to finish the album, and later agreed to tour with the band even though he will not be one of A7X’s official and permanent members.
The music video to the “Nightmare” single was released July 17 and depicts a man being wheeled on a gurney through a hospital with demented patients and doctors moments before his death. I don’t know if the song or video’s subject/main character is supposed to represent The Rev because I’m unsure whether the song was written and recorded before or after his death, but I’m not going to argue against either “yes” or “no” opinion.
Obviously, A7X’s members specifically thought through all of the images within the hospital, and two of them reference The Rev. The first shows an empty room with various parts to a drum set covered with blood and have a spider crawling over them (which is briefly shown again later in the video). The clip lasts just a second or two, but it gets the point of death’s occurrence across. The second, which is a great image, is a drum set with the band’s winged skull logo sitting alone in a lighted room during the videos final few seconds. Both representations show the two sides of The Rev’s passing, the death itself and the honored remembrance to the fallen brother. It was a classy move and was a great decision that was well executed.
Also, no other drummer is shown in the music video. A7X’s four remaining members, Shadows, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, lead guitarist Synyster Gates and bassist Johnny Christ, do their normal music video duties by playing their instruments and acting as characters in the video’s story. No drummer is shown, which is another classy and touching move. I doubt a drummer will be shown in any of A7X’s videos from here on out.
Even though the music video is simple, it is effective and is just good. It’s a good watch and tells a good and easy-to-follow story. A7X gets an A for this video.
If the “Nightmare” single and music video are any indication for what the album has in store of A7X’s fans, then this should be the band’s finest album to date.
