AVENGED SEVENFOLD Singer Blasts Music News Web Sites Which 'Blow Everything Out Of Proportion'

November 12, 2018

In the brand new issue of Metal Hammer magazine, AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows was asked if it "really annoys" him when certain music web sites types "blow things out of proportion." He responded: "It annoys me when something cool or relevant happens and it doesn't get written about. Then, other times, they will take one line from some random interview and blow everything out of proportion. Blind follow the blind. If one web site picks it up, then they all have to. Why not write your own articles? I wish press and fans cared more about the songs than other bullshit that comes along with it. A lot of records and bands are successful or fail based off initial sentiment. For instance, you see one article with a strong opinion all over the place and it dominates the narrative. I wish people would think for themselves. There's not a lot of that going on these days."

Back in November 2016, M. Shadows hit out at "web sites that depend on clicks for revenue" over their coverage of the No. 4 debut of the band's latest album, "The Stage", on The Billboard 200 album chart. 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. It sold 76,000 copies in its first week, 73,000 of which were physical.

He wrote at the time: "One thing I have noticed in the last couple of years is that websites that depend on clicks for revenue tend to love weaving narratives that benefit their bottom line. You see it largely in politics and now you see it in metal. I admit that I think these websites are entertaining and don't hate or even dislike the people that run them or their visitors. None of this is to be taken too seriously but when I am sent the same articles over and over that are meant to sell their false narrative about A7X, then I think it's time for the band to speak up."

"The Stage", AVENGED's debut for Capitol Records, sold less than half as many copies in its first week as the group's two previous efforts, 2010's "Nightmare" and 2013's "Hail To The King".

The group made the album available at midnight on October 27, 2016 with almost no promotion beforehand, save for the arrival of a new song one week earlier.

"The Stage" was re-released as a "deluxe edition" in December 2017.

Find more on Avenged sevenfold

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).