SYNYSTER GATES picks best AVENGED SEVENFOLD song | Page 2 | Revolver

SYNYSTER GATES picks best AVENGED SEVENFOLD song

Lead axman hails one with "very, very little guitarwork"
Synyster Gates Ollie Millington/Getty , Ollie Millington/Getty Images
Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold
photograph by Ollie Millington/Getty Images

Out of all of Avenged Sevenfold's many songs, you'd expect that the band's lead axman, Synyster Gates, would be most proud of the ones that he fucking shreds over. The A7X guitarist is famous for his mind-blowingly fast journeys up and down the fretboard, as well as his knack for pumping out stadium-filling riffs. That's why it's so surprising to learn that the song Gates considers to be A7X's best ever is a track that barely features any guitar whatsoever.

During a recent interview with 93X Radio (as transcribed by Killer Guitar Rigs), Gates was answering a question about how he's evolved as a musician over time, and toward the end of his answer, he ended up revealing the track that he considers to be A7X's single greatest musical achievement.

"You've got to constantly evolve," Gates said. "If I'm trying to write 'Bat Country' again, or if I'm trying to write 'Unholy Confessions' again, I've failed before I've even started. That's not the mindset. So you got to switch things up.

"And our catalog, I think, is proof of that. You have a song like 'Unholy Confessions,' you also have a song like 'A Little Piece of Heaven' that's a fan favorite, that has hardly any guitar in it. It's just complete devotion to our brother's [late drummer Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan] unbelievable and unique imagination. And that's, to me, the most important thing."

"That's probably our best song," Gates said of "A Little Piece of Heaven." "And [it contains ] very, very little guitarwork. So to me, it's songwriting first and then connecting with your fan base."

At eight minutes in length, "A Little Piece of Heaven" is by far one of Avenged Sevenfold's weirdest and most experimental songs. It's a mini rock opera, outfitted with a grandiose symphony of horns and strings, about a man who kills his girlfriend and bangs her dead corpse, only for her to retaliate in zombie form by killing him and dragging him into the pits of hell where they commiserate happily ever after in brain-eating glee. That's Gates' favorite A7X song. Amazing.

Watch and listen below.