Avenged Sevenfold - Life is but a Dream

An at-times interesting and at-times bland album.

I always appreciate a band willing to evolve. Avenged Sevenfold has always refused to repeat the same album twice, daring their fans through the years to take some unexpected rides along with them.

Their new album, Life is but a Dream, continues that evolution. The songs, though often proggy in sound, are also more concise than the overlong 10-minute songs that prog albums can often produce. The creative process was reportedly amplified by mushrooms.

There is barely a trace of the metalcore roots that propelled the band to a major label. When there is screaming it often doesn’t work, especially on the dreadful and overly repetitive “We Love You.”

If I have an overarching criticism it’s that some of the songs sound like forced weirdness. Weird only works if it’s listenable. Though concise, a few songs are also bland. “We Love You” is bizarre, but not catchy or particularly interesting. “Nobody,” to me, shouldn’t have been the first single. I find the synths too jarring. One listen was enough.

In songs like these the weirdness makes me think of an aging artist, now wealthy and content, trying to force creativity, but without the youthful vigor or inner pain to truly produce something worthwhile.

When the album peaks, though, it does rank among the band’s best. “Game Over” is a true head banger, “Cosmic” is arguably a masterpiece, and the final trilogy of songs are a spiraling descent to the end of life and civilization. Of those three final tracks my personal favorite is “(O)rdinary,” a lovely ode to Daft Punk.

Well worth a listen, but the hooks are few and far between.

6/10