How Did You Get Into A7X? Did The Music Help You Cope Ever?

[Daniel Sobota]

So I’ve been listening to metal since I was a very young little boy in the early/mid-2000’s. My sister played me Metallica, SOAD, Deftones and bands like that, while my uncle played me Pantera, Slayer, Celtic Frost and all the other really heavy stuff. Funny thing is, I didn’t get into A7X for real until early 2013 (I remember hearing Blinded in Chains in NFS: Most Wanted years ago, but never really listened to them aside that).
I stumbled upon 20 Best Metal Videos on MTV 2, and one of those videos was none other than Afterlife. I thought the guitars were insane, with the Maiden-esque dual harmonies, and the video was pretty cool as well. Then I checked more of the band online, and found out they had a new album coming out that summer. Then I backtracked all of their work and was hyped for what’s to come with Hail to the King.
As for music helping me cope things, one song in particular is Save Me. That song is magical, that’s the best way to describe it. When I was really depressed few years back, I felt like that song spoke to me in a way no one else could. You can feel Matt’s pain in his vocals, you can feel the desolation in the instrumental… Seriously, I have so much respect for the band moving on after Jimmy’s death and putting out Nightmare, that’s the best decision they’ve ever made, because the world needs a song like Save Me.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Well said, Daniel

 

[Jen Hapke]

I got into Ax7 last summer and I can’t really tell why not earlier because I knew about them.
I can remember cooking for kids on a tent camp about four years ago. There was colleague and we talked about music because we both liked rock and metal and she was totally into Ax7. At that time I knew Hail to the king (song) and that was about it.
After the tent camp I found Buried alive and I loved it and thought that I have to learn to play it some day. But back then I had tried to play guitar about three years erlier and gave it up again.
Somehow I forgot about Buried alive.
About two years ago I started to get into music heavily. At that point I haven’t been at any concert since 2010. I felt the urge to go to some concert and found out about a halestorm conert near me. I wasn’t heavily into Halestorm at all but I wanted to go to a concert and learned most chorus lyrics in two days.
This concert fueled my love for music and I started to listen to everything from rock and metalcore. My wish for more music was pleased by Asking Alexandria, Bring me the horizon, Black stone cherry and so on. But I kept searching for more and finally (re)found Ax7 last summer.
In terms of coping with things music helps me to deal with my feelings all the time. I can motivate myself with music. Music helps me feel less lonly. Music helps me sometimes to feel at all. Music helps me to calm down when I’m angry. Sometimes music makes me laugh.
I studied architecture and many times I felt like I don’t know if I can make it. It kept me stressed all the time. Sometimes I worked on something alone and listened to “Sleepwalking”( Bring me the horizon) in a loop because the song discribed my feelings. After two of my final presentations I started crying immediately. Not because it was so bad (it wasn’t good but ok), just because I couldn’t handle at all. I have low self-confidence and I struggle with it all the time.
But music helps me to get through it. Music really helped me through one of my final works. I had a deadline but I needed motivation so I went to Rock im Park in 2016 only for one day because of the deadline but it helped me so much to finish my presentation.
This wasn’t Ax7 specific because I’m such a new fan.
But music keeps me alive and music makes me feel alive more than most things.
I hope this wasn’t too chaotic to read.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

@Jen it wasn’t chaotic to read at all. It was a nice story. I love reading how people’s lives are enriched through music because it shows me they accept that they have emotions.
It was like when I tried to show Judas Priest’s live version of Diamonds and Rust. Rob Halford’s voice is incredible in that and you feel and hear every emotion. But I try to show that to most people and they just don’t get it. It doesn’t mean anything to them.
So I love hearing other people’s stories

 

[Jen Hapke]

@jak I totally agree with you.
I just watched the video. Thanks for the recommendation. What Rob Halford does with his voice is magic. The acoustic version is awesome, too.
There are so many people that listen to music just for entertainment. But music can be so much more.
I figured out that for me there are two ways how music conveys emotions. The lyrics and the instrumental. Both works and sometimes there are songs with lyrics that mean nothing for me but the instrumental music makes me feel something and the song becomes important for me.

 

[Hayley Frederick]

I got really into them when my boyfriend left for touring and he sent me dear god and it helped me cope with being away from him for so long .. I say I’m general their music helps me with absolutely any situation I’m in . I’m able to relate & escape with majority of their songs

 

[Josh Wright]

It’s a funny story, I was at a church event and we were doing a boys vs. girls challenge. My leader started playing this means war and I really liked it. So I found Avenged Sevenfold in the 7th grade at church.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

@josh OMG that is HILARIOUS!!! What a way to make little kids feel the fire of competition, haha! That reminds me of a time I went to go pick up milk at my farmer’s house. She has this really devout Mormon family and they know I like to play guitar. Well, she had an acoustic and she goes, “Here, play something for the kids until I can get the milk gathered up for you.”
So then, I had a bunch of little adorable Mormon kids sitting around me with a guitar in my hands and I was like, “Um, Ok kids. Have you heard of a wonderful band called Avenged Sevenfold?”

 

[Josh Wright]

Haha, I teach lessons and if I have a student that isn’t really practicing, I play something from avenged until they are impressed and they want to play it, and so I say you can’t get there unless you take the time to practice. So I admit to getting 8 and 9 year olds into avenged.

 

[Faith Williams]

I’ve been listening to A7x for going on 4 years. I wasn’t new to heavy rock screaming music ya know but id never heard of avenged sevenfold. Well in 2014 I met best friend corlee and she had a fucking awesome playlist. The first songs I heard were all from the white album. Dear God, Gunslinger, and a little piece of heaven. And I was stuck after that lol. After that I started doing some exploring on YouTube. Found out who they really were. I fell in love. My favorite songs are by that band. (Buried alive & this means war) I instantly loved Matts voice. And Brian is just fucking amazing. I love the picking intro of buried alive most when it comes to guitar pieces.. But yeah I’m definitely a deathbat for life. #foREVer

 

[Zoltán Barna]

My story:
I was 12 yo. Sitting in my room and watched the MTV channel. I got bored, thought about to turn off the TV but Afterlife came. I said WTF?! It’s a masterpiece. I turned on my parent’s PC went to YouTube, and looked after this band. I loved that music soooo much. After I admired Syn’s solo I decided that I want to do that too. So I called my mum: MUM I WOULD LIKE TO GET A GUITAR! I had no reasons what my mother could understand, but I have a freakin’ awesome stepfather who also likes rock music and He bought my first guitar. After that I played NFS Most Wanted and there was the Blinded in Chains
So this is my A7X story and the story why I started to play

 

[John Tierney]

I started listening to them in High school but in regard to help me cope, I was diagnosed with cancer when I was 17 and seriously came close to dying. When I was up in the hospitals or driving to them for treatment, I listened to music a lot, but couldn’t do guitar because I had no energy what so ever, but got into bass a bit. Any way I listened to their self titled a lot, but when I first heard Hail to the King, I just felt at peace and just thought on what Syn was doing and worked on my ears. And when I first saw Jeff Dunhams Christmas special and Papa Gates came in as his guest I just loved the sketches he did. Essentially if Syn and Papa Gates actually read this or if one of you can get this to them, I just want to say “Thank you for helping save my life.”
I know I’m pouring a lot of myself on here but I’m just so grateful that this exists so we can build each other up and be so supportive, Papa Gates and Syn did so much for me in that time and I never got to say Thank you for helping to save me.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

^fucking beautiful man. So glad you shared that with us. I don’t care how “personal” a story may seem: if you want to share it, go into any and every detail you want. So glad you made it through, buddy.

 

[John Tierney]

^ Thank You Jak, it was seriously really hard for me to do this, same as how its hard for me to put up videos, Im glad that you are so supportive

 

[Jak Angelescu]

It’s so extremely hard to open up oneself because we are really vulnerable to nasty criticism thanks to the internet. But you should never hold back anything. You should feel free to express yourself however you want. I don’t care if I see a brand new beginner struggling with the C major scale. I would rather see a passionate beginner struggling than a confident, arrogant show-off who knows everything

 

[John Tierney]

For what its worth, after certain treatments, the muscles in your hand tense up and I combated this with learning bass and doctors told me I would have trigger fingers in my hands if I didn’t do that. Also on criticism I went back to my former guitar teacher to see how I’m doing and he said that I was using my hardships to one up people and in that moment I realized that I have this community to help and I don’t need that kind of energy in my life. Essentially I want to make people in this school proud because I want to help someone else like Syn and Papa Gates helped me, or you right now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening

 

[Josh Wright]

^ That is seriously powerful. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Israel Stefanello]

Well I had about 13/14 when I changed school due to bullyng and had a colleague that I met in the early days that coincidently was my neighbor on the block and we went to school together every day talking about series and music then in a class talking about music with another friend (who in the end played a band that I joined) spoke of this band of heavy riffs great that they had released an album arrece and that had lost the drummer (the rev RIP) so I asked my friend what the band he gave me a pen drive with all the discography up there including LBC and All Excess I do not know if I wrote it correctly
open the home the pendrive and first song that had Girl i know I gave the play and WOWWWWWW holy shit my world collapsed I researched about the band and listened every day I became a fan when I left so far away the clip I downloaded and I took the class in the cell phone and we were talking a lot about a7x
When I listened to afterlife for the first time I fell in love with that contagious riff and I fell on the ground of synyster gates exploded my mind at that moment the self tituled was what I found a masterpiece since then I became very fan and synyster gates the master influence with him and thanks to avenged that I want to study guitar seeing the interviews of everyone I learned to respect and enjoy rap and some pop thanks to syn entrei in the world of jazz and look for more complex chords and arpeggios woow the arpeggios
so following all the poissiveis information I’ve been loving more and more this band every album for more than some fans want albums more related to the old I admire too much of a different album of the other a7x rises a lot and always conquers its fans and shows for my brothers a7x always a few years enough for my sons and daughters
funny story first avenged show in 2014 think hail to the king tour in porto alegre Brazil left the ticket sale I bought light and I entered the whatsapp group of the show and I made several friends that the group maintains until today some left but there for the first I fell in love with the girl of my dreams in a group of avenged show and in the show I spent some 3 months crazy to see my favorite band and the girl of my dreams I was 18 years old my parents were separating had the enlistment of the army I finished school means everything together
so I was the only one that came from the interior for the show 3 hours of travel I arrived in the morning 6 of the race morning and a very big cold I stood we met we did not kiss kkk the show started and where people were so big I was scared who left worried that she would have hurt (as the girls had preferred we moved away) I spent half of the show looking for her I saw the entry of afterlife and the solo of doing time kkk only after I found her and at the end of the show syn dispensed picks ergui a mao asking please to give the vane to her but unfortunately there was no more syn made a gesture of pity for not having more
we left the show and at the airport I won the uhuuuu kiss! I go back to my city in love and sad because I could not see the show of concern with her I went to see in the city but unfortunately it did not work and I was heartbroken but we are still friends until today
first passion of my life thanks to the avenged
sorry for the huge text but I wanted to tell this story
well thanks avenged sevenfold for making me happy everyday and synyster gates thanks for everything that you and papa gates are doing for us