M. Shadows Admits Avenged Sevenfold “Cut a Little Too Close” to Metallica on Hail to the King

Avenged Sevenfold’s 2013 album Hail to the King attained platinum certification and yielded two No. 1 mainstream rock singles, but has been criticized for containing songs that sound too similar to Metallica. In a new social media post, A7X frontman M. Shadows admits that the album “cut a little too close” to the metal legends.

As Avenged Sevenfold prepare to release their long-awaited follow up to 2016’s The Stage, Shadows took to Twitter to respond to fan commentary on Hail to the King.

It started when one fan defended the album, tweeting, “Hot take: The ‘Hail to the King’ album by @TheOfficialA7X is amazing and deserves respect. So many people chaff at the ‘simple riffs’ and classic hard rock sound, but the album has incredible complexity under the surface, if you really listen.”

Shadows pointed out the the album and its title track are actually among the band’s most successful releases, replying, “‘Hail to the King’ (the song) streams more than double any other tracks we have weekly. The album is on track to out-sell all the others … yet a portion of the fan base acts like it was a failure by all accounts.”

The next day, another fan pointed out the Metallica similarities, writing, “Loved the record. Still do. Although I must know one thing, was ‘Sad But True’ and ‘Enter Sandman’ running through your minds when recording ‘Shepherd of Fire’ and ‘This Means War’?”

To that, Shadows responded, “Yes, in hindsight we cut a little too close. But all you can do is learn and move on.”

Avenged Sevenfold have largely been out of the spotlight for the past four years. The band had to cancel a summer 2018 tour due to Shadows’ vocal issues at the time, and hasn’t played a concert since June of that year. In the meantime, they’ve been toiling away at a new album. A couple weeks ago, drummer Brooks Wackerman posted a photo of the band in the studio on Instagram, simply writing, “Done,” implying that the album was finished.

See M. Shadows’ tweets below, and take a listen to “Shepherd of Fire” and “This Means War” to see if you hear any similarities to Metallica.

Hail to the King (the song) streams more than double any other tracks we have weekly. The album is on track to out-sell all the others…yet a portion of the fan base acts like it was a failure by all accounts. 🤷‍♂️

— M. Shadows (@shadows_eth) October 12, 2022

Yes, in hindsight we cut a little too close. But all you can do is learn and move on.

— M. Shadows (@shadows_eth) October 13, 2022

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