Avenged Sevenfold lead guitarist Synyster Gates is joined by rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance in the latest installment of the group's popular "Breakdown" video series, in which songs from throughout the band's catalog get an intense start-to-finish analysis, spanning from the writing process to the effects used to give the compositions the signature A7X sound.
This episode tackles "Almost Easy," taken from the band's 2007 eponymous fourth album. Written by now-deceased drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, the song is unique in featuring all five members singing simultaneously for a choir-like effect in the second chorus and because it was commissioned by Transformers director Michael Bay for the blockbuster film. Gates and Vengeance joke about the sloppiness of their youthful songwriting back then, as the band members were producing the song themselves and all were just entering their mid-twenties at the time. Covering everything from the progressive drumming to the "weird chords," the duo give an in-depth look at how they managed to create one of their most noteworthy songs, one that helped shoot them into the lasting rock stardom that sustains them even today.
