“There are five million disgraceful heavy metal bands. What’s the point of being just another Metallica imitator?”: how Avenged Sevenfold took on the haters with their epic fourth album

Avenged Sevenfold under a blue sky in 2007.

After emerging from the Orange Country metalcore scene, Avenged Sevenfold rose to become one of the breakout bands of the 2000s. By the time they released their self-titled fourth album, they were ready to take the fight to the haters. Which was a good thing because, as vocalist M Shadows told Metal Hammer in this classic interview from the time, there was only going to be one winner – Avenged Sevenfold themselves. 

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