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

Due to technical issues beyond our control, the webcast of Avenged Sevenfold has had to be canceled. We have been working non-stop to resolve these issues however there are circumstances beyond our control.

We realize how disappointing this is to our fans and feel horrible that we could not have these issues resolved in time. We were hoping to make this a special event for M Shadows birthday. Unfortunately he has been trying to resolve these issues when he should be celebrating with his fans.

We will make every effort to bring a live show to the web as soon as possible and appreciate the support of all fans. We are just as disappointed as everyone.

Could Avenged Sevenfold knock Eminem out of the Number One spot?

To the surprise of many (particularly one multi-platinum Caucasian rapper) Avenged Sevenfold’s new album Nightmare could debut at Number One on the Billboard Albums chart next week. That means that the band’s record would knock Eminem out of the top slot, which the rapper has held for five weeks now.

Billboard recently reported that the metal stalwarts are poised to sell an estimated 160,000-180,000 copies of Nightmare in its first week, resulting in the band’s first Number One record. In light of this exciting possibility, we spoke with guitarist Zacky Vengeance about what such an honor would mean to the band. And what he had to say was surprising.

Following the death of drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan last year, Vengeance considers completing and releasing this album, which A7X had begun writing before Sullivan’s death, a huge success in and of itself. “Obviously it left us in a very difficult and sad situation, but we had to let the world hear his music and the last stuff that he’d written with us,” the guitarist says. “So that right there was the way to honor our friend, just by finishing the album and letting the world hear it. We worked so hard on it and the fact that it’s achieving some really great accomplishment and defying some expectations, that’s what really makes us feel good.”

Following Sullivan’s death the group enlisted Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy to record and tour with them. Portnoy played his first live gig with the group last weekend in Montreal and will appear with them during their show in Syracuse on Saturday that will be livestreaming here on MySpace. Nightmare itself is a shift in tone for A7X and Vengeance says the band never embedded any specific message in its song. He just hopes fans take whatever they want away from listening to it.

“We recorded it during the most difficult time of our lives. We documented what we were feeling. Not too many bands are put in a situation where they have to do it and I certainly don’t wish it upon anyone. But sometimes the greatest art comes at the highest price.”

Vengeance says the band has been casually following the news that Nightmare might overtake Eminem’s Recovery for the top slot on the charts, but for him album sales aren’t what constitutes success, especially considering what’s happened to them in the past year.

“I really cared about if our fans liked the album and they’ve been reaching out to us,” he says. “That’s what means a lot to me. Right now it’s a race to the Number One spot, which is fun and exciting. But on the same token everyone is excited that we’ve defied expectations. I’m a huge fan of Eminem—all of us are—I think he’s very talented. If our fans go out there and make us the Number One album, that’s incredible. If not, I already feel like the response to it is as if it’s a Number One album.”

For our part, we would like to encourage all of the band’s fans to do the same. As much as we love Eminem, it would be pretty amazing to see this happen.

Do you have YOUR copy of the new Revolver A7X issue??? http://twitpic.com/2a7aqe