It didn’t take Avenged Sevenfold long to transcend the Orange County hardcore scene that spawned them. Taking the formative metalcore sound as their base, they began bringing in influences as diverse as Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses and Metallica. It worked: by the time of 2013’s Hail To The King album, they were bona fide festival headliners. But they didn’t stop there – 2016’s The Stage and 2023’s head-spinning new album Life Is But A Dream… have incorporated all manner of weird and wonderful sounds, from epic prog metal to Frank Sinatra-esque crooning and Daft Punk-inspired electronica. But which of the current generation of new bands are following in their footsteps? Here are five new bands every A7X fan should check out…
