How Avenged Sevenfold’s “Hail to the King” Will Fail to Hail Praise

Avenged Sevenfold’s “Hail to the King” isn’t bad. It’s mediocre.
There are a lot of bad things about some music, most of which come from the popular end of each genre. Bad is not the issue. Mediocre is the issue.
When it comes to “bad” music, you can kind of just sit and laugh. Just play two Dragonforce songs at the time and you’ll agree.
But why is “Hail to the King” mediocre? Avenged Sevenfold has had good moments before. They have even had excellent moments. But their need to play the same old thing over and over again is tiring.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of mediocre things about this album:
1. Their constant need to (childishly) talk about Hell, Satan, demons, and evil. Looks, guys, Slayer has already done it. The difference between you and them is the same as “Twilight” and “Harry Potter,” if you get the drift.
2. The ridiculous guitar harmonies. We understand that this is a staple of Avenged Sevenfold. First, it’s overdone. Second, it loses its effectiveness if it’s done every ten seconds.
3. The ripping off of every other band they can. You’ll hear Metallica, Slayer, Ghost, Dream Theater, Pantera, and yes, even Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” Guys, there’s a clear difference between being influenced by another group and copying them.
However, not everything is black and white, and we certainly can’t complain all day. As mediocre as this album may be, it has a few good points.
“This Means War” has a fairly unique sound, features a choir, and is actually a bit of sound evolution. There’s something that is truly creepy about the song.
The album is not overplayed. At least guitarists only play their annoying harmonies for so long. At least the drums are only so prevalent.
As always, the album features a ballad. For whatever reason, the band always hits the nail on the head with these. Who knows what it’s about, but you could probably have a first dance to this.
Overall, this album is nothing more than 3/10.
“Hail to the King” is the product of five people who sat in the same room for months and decided that they would not reject any bad ideas. A band that has had some great moments (you can’t really forget the “Afterlife” riff and certainly not “A Little Piece of Heaven”) just wrote an entire album that is entirely forgettable.