“It’s one of the greatest songs ever written, like a Bohemian Rhapsody or a Stairway To Heaven”: What happened when Avenged Sevenfold threw caution to the wind and made an eight-minute necrophiliac symphony

M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold onstage in 2007.

Sounding like the soundtrack to the greatest Tim Burton movie that never was, A Little Piece Of Heaven was the point where Avenged Sevenfold finally went full Oingo Boingo, channelling the eccentric art-rockers to the max by bringing former members Steve Bartek and Marc Mann along for the ride. The result? One of metal’s most, um, unique love songs ever.

Roping in spooky piano tinklings, violas, trombones, clarinets, a choir – hell even a saxophone or two pops up – the 2007 song bounces along with equal parts mischief and melancholy, eventually exploding in a blizzard of demented horns, drum rolls, screams and strings. You may not be too surprised that this song, like so many of Avenged’s more unique moments, came predominantly from drummer Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan.