Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold are a Huntington Beach, CA phenomenon. They apply soaring, pop-punk harmonies to raging power metal licks with chugging hardcore breakdowns. At the start of their career in 1999, it seemed fans of Bad Religion and Iron Maiden finally had something to agree on, but these metalcore stalwarts-turned-mainstream-rock-stars upped the ante on their signature sound, combining a more eclectic range of influences in the hard rock arena, and flipping the ratio of guttural growls to clean singing to include more of the latter and less of the former. In 2005, this new approach saw the release and success of City of Evil -- the band's major label debut, and platinum-selling record. Continuing to conquer the Billboard Charts, A7X returned in 2007 with their self-produced, self-titled hard rock tome containing political outcries and an ode to Pantera.