AVENGED SEVENFOLD Singer Says Metal Will “Always Have a Pulse”, Thinks Genre Could Be More Innovative

avenged sevenfold singer Mr. Shadows was recently the guest of The Bob Lefsetz Podcast. Shadows discussed the current state of metal as a genre, saying that ultimately the genre isn’t going anywhere (despite what Gene Simmons might think). Shadows adds that while the genre isn’t going anywhere, he thinks there could be a bit more innovation. Or in his own words, “a lot of bands of my generation are just treading on the same waters as Metallicit’s already done.”

“I think the pure metal scene will always be there. Like you said, it always has a pulse,” he said. “I don’t think the innovation is there, and I don’t think the ability for fans to have an open mind when something is innovative, something different, is there. I think great songwriting was kinda lost, along with some of those quirky pieces of music.

“When Metallic came out there was no such thing. It seems that a lot of bands of my generation walk on the same waters as Metallicis already done, and I think when you see great artists, a lot of them are not in the metal scene. There’s a lot of awesome art out there, and I would say there’s amazing pop, amazing hip hop, amazing R&B, and artists doing really eccentric stuff.”

Shadows criticism of the genre clearly comes from a place of love. Later in the conversation, he adds that people constantly send him stuff on Twitter and it’s the same thing. “I think it hurts the metal in a way, because I think a lot of times it’s just that regurgitated sound that people are going to praise and then it goes away, because if you’re not in the scene, you don’t care,” he said. Shadows later states that he thinks bands like Deftones and Ghost bring something fresh to metal, but “overall, as a scene, you don’t see the experimentation that I’d like to see.”

In a recent interview, Shadows mentioned avenged sevenfold plans to get back to work on his new album this month, have it mixed in August by Andy Wallace (Killer, burial, more faith), and release it in late 2022 or early 2023.