See Avenged Sevenfold Reveal Korn, Ozzy, Def Leppard Influence on "Save Me"

The latest episode of Avenged Sevenfold's fascinating "Breakdown" video series takes a deep dive into the making of the song "Save Me" from their 2010 LP, Nightmare, a standout cut written in large part by the band's drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, who passed away before the album could be completed. In the clip — the first of two parts — A7X singer M. Shadows and lead guitarist Synyster Gates play back the song while discussing it, director's commentary style. Shadows reveals that, while he doesn't usually have strong memories of the songwriting process, when it comes "Save Me," he remembers it all too well — because the composition was originally "a disaster." The Rev came up with a lot of the parts, but according to the singer, they were arranged in a crazy way, compelling the rest of the band to seriously restructure the tune. Shadows and Gates also talk about some of the influences on the song that they weren't initially aware of, but that in retrospect, seem very obvious, including Korn (specifically, "Blind") and Ozzy Osbourne. The A7X frontman also discusses how randomly hearing Def Leppard's "Photograph" inspired the chorus to "Save Me." Watch the full video above and look out for Part 2, coming soon.