Avenged Sevenfold, 19th June 2024, Helviti, Copenhell Festival, Denmark

Archive photo: Zoran www.sonic-shot.com
(Photographers were banned from Black Sabbath’s Copenhell show)

Sadly Avenged Sevenfold’s career seriously took off after the passing of their drummer The Rev. Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy stepped in for recording and of their fifth album Nightmare, and he also joined the band on the accompanying tour. The album catapulted the band’s career, and the commercial peak came with the release of the additionally approachable Hail to the King in 2013, which basically felt like a love letter to Metallica. Since then, the band has finally managed to land their dream-drummer Brooks Wackerman (ex-Bad Religion) and have released a massive concept album The Stage, which combined most of that, which AX7 has created to that point, but at the same time broadened their creative approach.
The last year’s Life Is But a Dream... was by far their biggest musical leap and as such perhaps the biggest curveball the band has thrown their fans’ way. The massive concept and inspirations from Queen, Genesis, theatrical musicals and what not met a fair dose of praise from the critics, but it generally seems to be too much for the broader AX7 audience to really get into.
Something what was proven last night at their second appearance on Copenhell’s main stage.

The band opened with a couple of new songs, “Game Over” and  “Mattel”, which is bold taking into the consideration the album’s complex nature and the fact that this was a festival gig. The audience looked a bit taken aback, but by the time the band pulled up a few classics, it was clear that that’s what it would take for the band to get the crowd interested. “Afterlife” is a must and “Hail to the King” has become one of the highlights of the band’s shows despite its banality. “Save Me” one of the highlights from Nightmare, went over people’s head due to its long-running time and “Cosmic” closed the set in a somewhat indifferent manner.

And that was a story of the evening as well, with possible exception of “Nobody”, the new songs didn’t get the effect one might have hoped for and playing classics did the trick. Time will tell if Avenged Sevenfold will manage to transition into a band that can put out albums like Life Is But a Dream... and maintain the popularity and interest of the fans. It’s possible to make those shifts and become even bigger, as one of the headliners of this year’s festival, Tool, are testament to. But it’s hard to make those big shifts so late in the band’s career and one thing is sure if, AX7 is going to succeed in that, they need to take the stage looking like they at least partially feel like being on that very stage. Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates in particular couldn’t look less interested in standing in front of thousands of fans and presenting their music. If the band has a hard time coming across as interested, then who can they expect the fans to be.

SETLIST

1. Game Over
2. Mattel
3. Afterlife
4. Hail to the King
5. Buried Alive
6. Fiction
7. Bat Country
8. Nobody
9. Nightmare
10. A Little Piece of Heaven
11. Save Me
12. Cosmic