AVENGED SEVENFOLD's M. SHADOWS Says Metal 'Should Have No Rules': 'Just Do Whatever You Want'

June 8, 2024

In a new interview with Indonesia's Medcom.id, AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows was asked if he thinks heavy metal music should incorporate other sounds and styles from outside of what many consider to concretely be heavy metal. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, I don't know. I think metal music — I don't really worry about that. I think people should just play whatever they want. And if you wanna be inspired or if you're hearing things from other genres that you like and you want to incorporate it, you should. But if you also wanna play back-to-basics sort of AC/DC album, then you should do that. I just think a lot of genres have rules, and I think metal should be like the anti-everything, and it should have no rules and you should be able to do whatever you want. I think there's a bunch of artists coming up right now — KIM DRACULA, BRING ME THE HORIZON, BAD OMENS, SLEEP TOKEN — there's a bunch of bands that are incorporating all sorts of stuff. So I think there should just be no rules. Just do whatever you want."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD launched the 2024 leg of the "Life Is But A Dream…" North American tour on March 6 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The band's 2024 run included AVENGED SEVENFOLD's first-ever performances in Manchester, New Hampshire; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Newark. The group performed in Des Moines, Iowa for the first time in 18 years; Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the first time in 15 years.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD has been touring in support of its latest album, "Life Is But A Dream…", which sold 36,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD made its first festival appearance in five years on May 19, 2023 at Welcome To Rockville at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's first concert since June 2018 took place on May 12, 2023 at AREA15 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

To date, AVENGED SEVENFOLD has sold over 10 million albums worldwide and earned two consecutive No. 1 albums on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart (2010's "Nightmare" and 2013's "Hail To The King") to go along with over a billion video views and a billion-plus Spotify streams, as well as multiple No. 1 singles on rock radio.

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