If you don¢t understand why Avenged Sevenfold fans are upset, perhaps this will be an enlightening read.

1. Lack of depth: This one is pretty obvious. It¢s hard to sum up nearly 70 minutes of material in 1000 words, let alone a quarter of that. If you¢re looking for something more comprehensive, check out our review of Nightmare here. Of course, brevity can be good; the Times review is simply inadequate, naming just three tracks, and describing only two of them.

2. Lack of research: Kudos to Weiss and the Times for figuring out that Avenged Sevenfold is from Orange County, California (Huntington Beach). That must have taken dozens of seconds of poring through promotional material to uncover. But Weiss betrays his lack of familiarity and unwillingness to research the band when he calls “So Far Away” synthetic, likely because it¢s an acoustic track and he¢s already written the band off as nu-metal. Unfortunately, plenty of Avenged Sevenfold tracks incorporate, or rely nearly entirely on, acoustic guitar – how about the single “Seize The Day”?

3. Lack of focus: When you¢re writing something in an extremely, perhaps even excessively, concise manner, each word counts for a lot. So in a 232-word “review”, why are 79 words (34 percent) dedicated to a promo video for Call of Duty: Black Ops rather than, say, Nightmare? You know, the album you¢re reviewing? Background information is nice, but not at the expensive of valuable content. This seems to be par for the course with Weiss, though – his Teflon Don review doesn¢t mention the album until the 96th word in an amazingly comprehensive 257-word piece.

4. Overenthusiastic name-dropping: Okay, we get it – you¢d rather be a pop culture comedian. Cool, but save that for your own blog. There¢s no reason to include Edward Gorey, Hannibal Lecter, Korn, Linkin Park, Black Sabbath and the Orange County thrash scene in a review that¢s already too light on content and too heavy on attempts to bludgeon readers to death with your pseudo-sophistication. At least pick better examples – you¢d be hard-pressed to find valid similarities between Korn, Linkin Park and Avenged Sevenfold beyond the use of distorted guitars and the fact that your mother can¢t stand them.

5. Lack of lyrical analysis: If a band¢s drummer dies during the writing process for an album, might that be a topic discussed in the lyrics? If you read Weiss¢ review, you¢ll never know, because he doesn¢t quote any lines, not even to back up his “tormented teenage boys” comment. Like many other factors, this indicates a lack of willingness to research and the pressure of knowing it¢s laundry night.

6. Over-generalizing: If you didn¢t get that from the “tormented teenage boys” line, there¢s plenty more evidence, don¢t worry. Weiss summarizes the album as a nu-metal ripoff consisting of “spiraling guitars, avalanche drums and satanic screams,” which fails to take into account tracks like “Fiction,” which is all piano and strings, as well as the numerous instances of acoustic guitar and instrumental breaks. But what would you expect from a sloppy, hurried effort?

And yes, Jeff, I did pick 6 so you could assume I wanted to relate it to 666 while screaming satanically. Better luck next time.

We want to thank everyone who has picked up our cd this past week or spread the word to others. Here's in hopes of... http://mysp.ac/bTzdEN

We want to thank everyone who has picked up our cd this past week or spread the word to others. Here's in hopes of putting metal back on top where it belongs. If you have any fight left in you please tell those who want to be on top along side us to go out and get their copy this weekend. Sincerely A7X