Avenged Sevenfold: new album is best "served as a whole" to "appreciate its musical breadth and sonic depth"

Avenged Sevenfold in 2023
(Image credit: Brian Catelle)

Yesterday (Tuesday March 14), Cali metal overlords Avenged Sevenfold unleashed their first piece of brand new material since 2016's The Stage album, in the form of new single Nobody.

The track, a marching, spacey, prog-metal banger, is the first taste of the band's imminent eighth studio album, Life Is But A Dream, which is released on June 2. The new song was released alongside an accompanying, deliciously macabre claymation video.

While the release of Nobody gives Avenged Sevenfold fans a chance to grab a glimpse into the sound of the band's next chapter, a statement released on Avenged's official merch website suggests that we should wait to hear the full record to truly appreciate the musical direction they have decided to take this time out.

"Avenged Sevenfold's new album, Life Is But A Dream, is best served as a whole and consumed en masse to truly appreciate its musical breadth and sonic depth," the statement reads. "Written and recorded over the span of 4 years, it was produced by Joe Barresi and Avenged Sevenfold in Los Angeles and mixed by Andy Wallace in the Poconos, PA. The album is a journey through an existential crisis; a very personal exploration into the meaning, purpose and value of human existence with the anxiety of death always looming."

Avenged have often liked to dabble in the more philosophical side of things, with The Stage in particular loaded with conceptually heavy musings on the cosmos, artificial intelligence, dystopian futures and the nature of humankind itself. With Life Is But A Dream influenced by, according to the band themselves, the absurdist and existentialist musings of Albert Camus, it's safe to say the five-piece have plenty more ground to cover yet.

Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream tracklist

1. Game Over
2. Mattel
3. Nobody
4. We Love You
5. Cosmic
6. Beautiful Morning
7. Easier
8. G
9. (O)rdinary
10. (D)eath
11. Life Is But a Dream...

Merlin Alderslade
Executive Editor, Louder

Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He is also probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.