Avenged Sevenfold have been at the center of some pretty interesting controversies in the metal world this year. From Rob Flynn of Machine Head saying their new record was basically a bunch of cover songs to the band changing their artwork for Hail to the King record after it got a poor reaction, 2013 has been a newsworthy year for them. Now lead singer M. Shadows is touting their importance as a band once more.
Avenged Sevenfold are featuring as the cover stars on this month's Metal Hammer UK magazine and in a new interview, M. Shadows certainly didn't hold his tongue.
Initially I thought the dude was being kind of a cocky dick, but I think he's just genuinely proud of his band and everything they've accomplished. They sell out places, make a lot of money, and all the stuff most of us sit here wishing we could do. According to a transcription of the interview by Blabbermouth, M. Shadows said about the metal scene in North America:
"To be honest, I think rock music is in a pretty rough place in America today. I don't feel that mainstream America really cares about rock music right now. Honestly, it's a little scary. It'd be cooler if there was a new 'Big Four' leading the charge and taking metal to a new place, but it's pretty obvious right now that metal is taking a beating. We want metal to be dangerous again. How cool would that be?"
And the real reason you're here, the "fuck the haters" thing (which I agree with him on mostly):
"No other metal band is doing what we're doing. We've all heard people in bands who I won't give any publicity to shouting their mouths off in recent months, but fuck the haters. People know that they'll get more attention by talking shit about us and if that's the way they want to run their bands, that's fine, but it's not what we would do. We go out there and kill it every night and you can see what this means to people."
I get it. I get that he's proud and all, but "haters"? C'mon dude, use your big boy words. Also, let's not say Avenged Sevenfold is doing something super unique here. They've got their unique sound and all, but they're not re-inventing the wheel here. I'll give Shadows a solid "B" for this interview. Needs improvement.
