Avenged Sevenfold — 2013 New Album Preview ‘Hail to the King’

Avenged Sevenfold will 'Carry On' with a new album in 2013 titled 'Hail to the King,' marking their second release since the tragic loss of drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan.

A7x had a long, busy run following the loss of The Rev, which started with completing the album he had last worked with the band on. Despite his death prior to the recording of 'Nightmare,' "his contributions in writing were about 100% with what they normally were," as M. Shadows and Synyster Gates told us following the release of the album.

The band soldiered on in his memory, finishing the album and touring with The Rev's favorite drummer, ex-Dream Theter stickman Mike Portnoy. After an extensive year and a half tour -- during which they parted ways with Portnoy and drafted Arin Ilejay as their official new drummer -- A7x took much of 2012 off. They did, however, record a pair of tracks for subsequent 'Call of Duty' games -- 2011's 'Not Ready to Die' and 2012's 'Carry On.'

Speaking with Metal Hammer in late November, M. Shadows revealed that they had begun work on their sixth studio album back in September. When asked if 'Carry On' was indicative of their current direction, the vocalist said, “I would look at it as a one-off, and to tell the truth it sounds nothing like the album," said Shadows. "The new album has a lot more of a Sabbath/Zeppelin feel to it than 'Carry On.' There’s definitely more Sabbath in what we’re writing."

He further detailed the album's sound in a separate interview, saying, "There’s a little bit more groove to it, a little bit more focused on bigger riffs. So that’s where it’s headed – every song has gotta have a huge riff and every song has to have a groove to it.”

Trying to imagine what a grooved out Avenged song, written in the vein of Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, would sound like is enough to make anyone's head explode, so we'll just wait until the new album drops. Avenged Sevenfold have confirmed that they will enter the studio to begin recording in January, setting the likely release date somewhere in mid 2013.

Update (4/11): Avenged Sevenfold have eluded that a new song titled 'It Begins' will be included with the new album. They also recently switched their website so that it only displays their large "deathbat" logo with a question mark under it. In a March interview, M. Shadows said, "I would say that this is the biggest, most focused vibe we've had since 'City of Evil.'" If that doesn't get fans excited, the fact that he also said that the band feels like they're making their "landmark record" should be enough to stir up their anticipation for the tentative 2013 release.

Update (4/15): Avenged Sevenfold have replaced the giant deathbat and question mark on the homepage of their website with an old school radio with the word "Tholemew" on it. If you hit the yellowish power button on the left (toward the middle of the bottom) and play around with the dials enough, you can hear everything from old songs to weird random audio of drunken conversations by turning the left knob. We couldn't figure out what the right knob was for, though. There is also a video of test strips that can be accessed by pressing the yellow button on the right, next to the power. Have fun, kids!

Update (6/26):Avenged Sevenfold have announced that the title of the new album is 'Hail to the King' and that it will be released on August 27th.

Update (7/15): Avenged have released the first single 'Hail to the King,' you can check it out by watching the video below.