J
Jak Angelescu
Guest
I’ll admit, I’m a newer fan. I use to live out in Los Angeles from 2005-2010 and I remember seeing them on magazines at nearly every news stand I walked by. I looked at them and said, “Those guitarists have badass makeup!” 
But I didn’t know who they were. When I worked at a rehearsal studio in Hollywood, there were SOOOOO many bands that would gawk at me and say, “How do you not know who they are?” I was really into my 80’s revival thing about GNR, Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant, Def Leppard, Skid Row and bands like that, so I wasn’t really paying attention to newer bands. Also, I couldn’t afford a laptop or a tv so things like MTV videos were out of the question. I was just out of the loop.
Flash forward to 2014. I was in my car that has satellite radio (I moved on up, didn’t I?) and I saw the band Avenged Sevenfold came on with a song called Buried Alive. I immediately fell in love with the picking part. I hadn’t heard ANY band play something that fresh and innovative before. I heard it during a time when rock radio started to be plagued with overly synthetic, ridiculously produced and cliche songs. It was like a breath of fresh air. I also loved the moving bass line. However, all things really changed when I heard the simple drum beat, the “not-overly-produced-and-synthetic” sound of the song, and then when the singing came in, I said to myself “Oh my God. This is the first song I’ve heard in years where the singer doesn’t have a bajillion effects on his vocals, nor is he screaming and shouting everything.” I LOVED the melody. I turned to my singer and said, “Do you know who these guys are?” Because she was singing the song!!! Sure enough she said, “This is the band with the guitarists with the makeup you liked so much.”
I couldn’t believe how the song progressed into a single-kick, chord-chunking sound of headbanging glory. I started looking up all the other albums as much as I could.
Flash forward another year. My mom passed away suddenly and left me an inheritance. With the money I bought my ESP Horizon II guitar and my Schecter Diamond series Demon-6 guitar, every album of Avenged Sevenfold’s and my first tickets to their show. I had been suffering from my mom’s death and like many other fans, I found comfort in “So Far Away”. It was like they put into words and music what I couldn’t say I was feeling. When the song came on and I heard it for the first time, I had to pull over on the side of the highway and cry. It was when those AMAZING harmonies and backup vocals come in at the end. It was so what I needed to hear. It just…. ugh. I can’t describe it. Still to this day, if I’m having a bad day and I feel anxiety or tension coming on, I turn on the final part of “Exist” and listen to that blissful singing, wonderful melodies and music. “Higher” and “Exist” just have these melodies and music that is truly soothing, practically remedial, on a stressful day.
So there’s my story!! I’d love to hear how other people on here got into Avenged, when they realized Synyster Gates was a guitar hero of theirs, and if the band has helped them cope in any way shape or form.
But I didn’t know who they were. When I worked at a rehearsal studio in Hollywood, there were SOOOOO many bands that would gawk at me and say, “How do you not know who they are?” I was really into my 80’s revival thing about GNR, Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant, Def Leppard, Skid Row and bands like that, so I wasn’t really paying attention to newer bands. Also, I couldn’t afford a laptop or a tv so things like MTV videos were out of the question. I was just out of the loop.Flash forward to 2014. I was in my car that has satellite radio (I moved on up, didn’t I?) and I saw the band Avenged Sevenfold came on with a song called Buried Alive. I immediately fell in love with the picking part. I hadn’t heard ANY band play something that fresh and innovative before. I heard it during a time when rock radio started to be plagued with overly synthetic, ridiculously produced and cliche songs. It was like a breath of fresh air. I also loved the moving bass line. However, all things really changed when I heard the simple drum beat, the “not-overly-produced-and-synthetic” sound of the song, and then when the singing came in, I said to myself “Oh my God. This is the first song I’ve heard in years where the singer doesn’t have a bajillion effects on his vocals, nor is he screaming and shouting everything.” I LOVED the melody. I turned to my singer and said, “Do you know who these guys are?” Because she was singing the song!!! Sure enough she said, “This is the band with the guitarists with the makeup you liked so much.”
I couldn’t believe how the song progressed into a single-kick, chord-chunking sound of headbanging glory. I started looking up all the other albums as much as I could.
Flash forward another year. My mom passed away suddenly and left me an inheritance. With the money I bought my ESP Horizon II guitar and my Schecter Diamond series Demon-6 guitar, every album of Avenged Sevenfold’s and my first tickets to their show. I had been suffering from my mom’s death and like many other fans, I found comfort in “So Far Away”. It was like they put into words and music what I couldn’t say I was feeling. When the song came on and I heard it for the first time, I had to pull over on the side of the highway and cry. It was when those AMAZING harmonies and backup vocals come in at the end. It was so what I needed to hear. It just…. ugh. I can’t describe it. Still to this day, if I’m having a bad day and I feel anxiety or tension coming on, I turn on the final part of “Exist” and listen to that blissful singing, wonderful melodies and music. “Higher” and “Exist” just have these melodies and music that is truly soothing, practically remedial, on a stressful day.
So there’s my story!! I’d love to hear how other people on here got into Avenged, when they realized Synyster Gates was a guitar hero of theirs, and if the band has helped them cope in any way shape or form.
