Avenged Sevenfold’s 2016’s prog-metal masterpiece The Stage might have been a left turn, but nothing could’ve prepared us for its follow-up, Life Is But A Dream... Landing in June last year, their eighth album combined hip hop, classic rock, EDM, thrash metal, classic soul and more, with some hailing it as a masterwork and others condemning it as career suicide. Like all the finest art, it was hated and adored – but never ignored. We spoke to guitarist Synyster Gates about what it was like being in the eye of the storm.
