AVENGED SEVENFOLD Is 'A Little Jealous' Of METALLICA's 'Hardwired' Marketing Campaign

In a brand new interview with Ireland's Overdrive, AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Synyster Gates was asked what he thought of METALLICA's idea to produce and release a video for every track on the band's latest album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct". He said: "Yeah, that was a stroke of genius. There's nothing like having some healthy competition. We really strive to think outside the box, by taking the standard approach the then twisting it a little all the while trying something new. Then METALLICA comes along and just up the bar again with their promo. We're a little jealous. [Laughs]"

He continued: "To be honest, I personally feel that this is a great time within the music industry as it's forcing people to try unorthodox approaches to what is traditionally a tired model. The business model of the past simply does not apply to the way things are conducted these days. Just take bands like METALLICA and us also — we are really excited about approaching things from a different angle and not afraid to try different things."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's latest album, "The Stage", came out less than two months ago. The group made the album available at midnight on October 27 with almost no promotion beforehand, save for the arrival of a new song one week earlier.

The surprise release of the disc, which was announced the night it went on sale, earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED SEVENFOLD album in eleven years — less than half the tally of its previous two efforts.

"The Stage" is a 71-minute, 11-song concept album centered around the theme of artificial intelligence and inspired by the work of Carl Sagan and Elon Musk. Instead of a science fiction storyline, however, "The Stage" takes what a press statement called "a futurist's look at the accelerated rate at which technology's intelligence is expanding and what that means — good and bad — for the future."

The album's epic 15-minute-plus closing track, "Exist", features a guest appearance by award-winning astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, giving a spoken-word performance he penned specifically for the album.

The marketing plan and launch of the album, the band's first for Capitol Records, was months in the making, starting with the projection of the band's logo, the Deathbat, on buildings in cities around the world. The campaign even included some misdirection, as the group had its friend Chris Jericho "accidentally" leak a fake album title and release date.