Almost got it right
Last year I bought the latest Avenged Sevenfold album 'City of Evil' to hear what all the fuss was about. The album was in two halves, the first containing strong cuts littered with catchy hooks and melodies. The latter half was as dull as ditch water, with over long, over blown songs seemingly used as padding.
Thankfully Avenged's new single 'Beast and the Harlot' is taken from the 'good' half of City of Evil, and a sensible choice for a separate release. The problem with this song is it tries so very hard to be metal, but it's like a ferocious beast kept sedated in a cage. The opening riff is a cracker but the guitars are far too quiet leaving the song a little limp where it needs to triumph. A catchy verse melody would be enhanced even further with a more powerful production, but it feels like the band has been steered towards radio/TV country and thus has diluted their sound. The chorus is truly dreadful however; it seems to come out of nowhere and doesn't compliment the rest of the song's metal themes.
Coupled with a great solo suggests that Avenged have the tools in their kit-box to become a great all-round act. But with 'City of Evil' being 9 months old the issue of 'another' single from the album seems pretty pointless, especially as the single is just a cut down version of the album track anyway. Nevertheless this is a decent release that almost hits the mark, but now it's time the band decided whether to keep playing the radio friendly corporate game, or show the world that they are a serious metal band.