And it’s musically inane throughout its entire runtime. “Life Is But a Dream…” is fifty minutes and some change, which is a little on the longer side but nothing crazy, but it feels SO much longer because they never get a handle on any musical idea or even just a catchy melody you would want to listen to more than once. Besides a tempo change and a synth solo, “Mattel” is a fairly standard heavy metal song for the band, but it sounds weirder than it actually is because they never land on a decent tune and the production is bad. That’s another thing, the mixing and production on this record is so god damn ugly, and not ugly in an edgy punk way, it’s ugly in a “we don’t know what we’re doing” way. Nothing’s leveled properly, the cymbals are often the loudest thing in the mix, M. Shadows is barely audible half of the time, the guitars sound dull, the drums sound like they were recorded in a closet on a single SM58, and I don’t believe for a second that anyone in that room had ever touched a synthesizer before in their life. You come into this world, you learn how we do things here, you learn what’s important here, you learn what success is here. But it really holds no weight outside of this human construct, this society and tribe we’ve built. And then one day you turn off.” M. Shadows has his vocals manipulated again at the start of Easier. This leads to another massive riff that will see heads bang around the world. Just like many other parts of the album, you can’t sit still as the music moves all over the place. If ever there was an album to keep you on your toes, this is the one. There are other reasons the band modestly point out how Life Is But A Dream… isn’t “perfect”. But not in the way you might think. Take the magnificent Cosmic, for example, which is easily one of Shadows’ most moving recitals on the album. No matter what you may think you know about Life Is But a Dream, listening to it from start to finish creates a brand-new world for the listener — one that is far from devoid of chaos and conflict, but one that is clearly of incredible interest to Avenged Sevenfold.

I don’t know how more real it gets than that,” Shadows says. “It definitely felt like the end of everything. But part of human evolution is that we’re able to carry on. At some point you just say that it’s OK to go outside, to talk to people, to write a song.” And on the brink of releasing their most experimental and wide-reaching record yet, it is that connection that is most important to him. Shadows cites records like ‘Kid A’ and ‘Pinkerton’ that were somewhat written off at the time but now are celebrated as modern classics. Half expecting ‘Life Is But A Dream…’ to be similarly unappreciated, he has thus far been pleasantly surprised.

Death is right there and it’s not supposed to be a sad thing”Shadows explains. “You’re here now I’m reminding you that you need to shape up. You need to live your life and do what you want to do. And if you take the record too seriously lyrically, then you are not doing that. We’re having fun making music and it’s our art and there is a message but we can have fun doing it as well.” Offiziellecharts.de – Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is but a Dream..." (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 9, 2023. Iahn, Buddy (March 14, 2023). "Avenged Sevenfold announces eighth studio album, live US dates". The Music Universe . Retrieved March 15, 2023.

That’s not even my best vocal performance,” he counters. “But that was the one that felt real, right? I think that’s an important aspect of making stuff like this. It’s a completely different philosophy from our old, old, old stuff which had to be perfect, and powerful, or whatever. I think there’s something more endearing and cooler in the long-term of having a real performance that isn’t perfect. I’m in a place now where it doesn’t bother me at all – I love it. I’d rather we have what we have than the perfect take that might technically be better.” a b c d e "Avenged Sevenfold Announces 'Life Is But a Dream...' Album, Shares 'Nobody' Music Video". Blabbermouth.net. March 14, 2023 . Retrieved March 15, 2023.But they’re both stoked about where Avenged Sevenfold are at in 2023. Down the road from Syn, sat in his bright house with a scruffy mohawk-mullet and casual white T-shirt, M. Shadows radiates just as much positive energy as his bandmate. These days they take the approach to “not sweat the small stuff” where possible, and while their new music was treated with absolute seriousness, they have a healthy outlook on life and their career. From the off, Avenged Sevenfold have stated that Life Is But A Dream… should be listened to as a whole. The idea of an ‘album’ sometimes feels like a lost art, but it is a joy to see a band fully commit to the ‘album’. It is perhaps a bold choice to make this statement early on, what with the lust for short, sharp hits on streaming services, however, fully immersing yourself in a record is truly rewarding. Indeed, the frontman worked incredibly hard on summing up these swirling thoughts in new and interesting ways throughout Life Is But A Dream… Partly inspired by Albert Camus’ 1942 novel The Stranger (though Syn stresses that it’s a “disservice” to Shadows if people think the album is exclusively pinpointed on that) as well as the work of outsider artist Wes Lang, there’s an absurdist lens with which he frequently used to write, but creativity hit him from plenty of other angles, too. Things get shitty,” he adds. “You have deaths all the time, and though you know that it’s gonna happen, there will be a point where you lose everybody you love – if you live long enough – or you’ll die yourself. There’s one of two options there. You need to be prepared for that, and you need to know what it means.”

Such a difficult listen, I liked The Stage, but maybe they should have left this music at the Ayahuasca retreat they attended. So disappointing considering it’s been a 7 year wait for new music……," one person criticized. Lang turned down multiple offers to collaborate over the years, but the pair still became good friends, often sending each other their latest works, swapping notes on demos and paintings. One such work was an art piece entitled ’Nobody’, that inspired Shadows to write the song of the same name. He hadn’t always been so certain, though. Before the Huntington Beach metal heroes’ years-in-the-making masterpiece was given the mixing treatment, the frontman found himself questioning if they had even gone far enough (if you’ve heard recent single We Love You, you’ll already know what a genuinely hilarious thought that is). Enis, Eli (May 13, 2022). "Avenged Sevenfold in Las Vegas: See Wild Photos of First Show in 5 Years". Revolver . Retrieved May 16, 2023.

Track List

We know what we want it to sound like but it’s not traditional” says Shadows. “We want the bow to be sharper here, the mic to be further down the tuba because we want to hear the breath instead of the softer sound. Whatever it was, we were able to get with a team that allowed us to do that.” Lista prodaje 24. tjedan 2023. (05.06.2023. - 11.06.2023.)" (in Croatian). Top Lista. June 11, 2023 . Retrieved June 27, 2023. a b Simon K. (June 2, 2023). "Review: Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But a Dream..." Sputnikmusic . Retrieved June 2, 2023. OLiS - oficjalna lista sprzedaży - albumy" (in Polish). OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Note: Change the date to 02.06.2023–08.06.2023 under "zmień zakres od–do:". Retrieved June 16, 2023.

David, Maximo (May 31, 2023). "Album Review: Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is But A Dream..." Boolin Tunes . Retrieved May 31, 2023. New Avenged Sevenfold album features music & lyrics written by The Rev". The Point. May 25, 2023 . Retrieved June 5, 2023. Years later, Lang began sending him new art pieces inspired by their music, saying he just simply had to do it this time.

Album review: Avenged Sevenfold have made the craziest album you’ll hear this year with Life Is But A Dream…

Someone else declared, "This is what is must've been like to hear 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on the radio for the first time." And so, afterfinishing the chaotic journey, we stand by these five things we love about Avenged Sevenfold's new album, Life Is But a Dream. Life Is But a Dream isVery, Very Different Does this pave the way for ballad Cosmic ? Possibly but if it does so, there is a disconnect between the two. Vocals and guitar team up for an ethereal proclamation of “ left alone I can’t wait too long ”. Eletronica floats through like shooting stars but the lower tones of the vocals pull us from the moment. “ Sometimes we got it right ” seems to be the epitaph of Life Is But A Dream… in general though surmising will come at the end. Christ ’s bassline feels it should reside in a jazz club before Cosmic fades out into a piano ballad. Were it left as “ dancing in the wind as roses born again ”, we would have had no complaints. Vocals melt into a horn section to create a wonderful epic. Yet the envelope is pushed further with electronic vocals which ruins the moment. Kennelty, Greg (March 27, 2023). "Avenged Sevenfold Vocalist Explains Why "Nobody" Is A Single, How Psychedelic Drugs Influenced New Album". Metal Injection . Retrieved June 8, 2023. Australiancharts.com – Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is but a Dream...". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 9, 2023.