Despite being one of the most popular metal bands on the planet, Avenged Sevenfold are a really tricky group to introduce to someone. Every single one of their albums sounds radically different from the others, and their songs span metalcore, thrash, prog, groove metal, rock balladry and more. So, if you wanted to play one introductory Avenged Sevenfold song to someone who's never heard Avenged Sevenfold, where would you start them off?
For just that sort of situation, Revolver is here to help with our "Point of Entry" series, in which we ask artists to pick the single standout cut from across their entire catalog that they believe is the best place for virgin listeners to begin their journey. Here, A7X frontman M. Shadows does the honors.
"Hail to the King"
Usually, to get people in the door that are not deep in the scene, I just show them "Hail to the King." It's like, they get it. The next time I see them, usually it's in their playlist. It's just one of those things that's easy.
If I want to show somebody a song that I'm really proud of, I would start with "The Stage." And then, I might show them, like, "Buried Alive" or "Exist." But if I'm going to show [my band to] a guy on the golf course or, like, the guy at Ralphs, I just throw him "Hail to the King." And it usually does the trick.
