Avenged Sevenfold

In addition to getting me into playing real guitar again, Guitar Hero has also managed to get me into listening to rock and metal in a big way for the first time in a long while. And although I don't like a lot of the main setlist for the game (which largely consists of overplayed classic rock tracks), the bonus list and fair amount of downloadable content is much more varied (and recent, an import factor for me). It's here that I found one of my new favorite bands, Avenged Sevenfold.

My first encounter with the band was via their track "Almost Easy" which was featured in one of the downloadable track packs for the game. Although this song didn't blow me away, it was enough to get me to take the time to check out their album on iTunes, where I WAS blown away by the track above, "A Little Piece of Heaven," an epic song which features the band at its most adventurous. While the rest of the album isn't nearly this interesting, most of the tracks feature the same sense of musicality, and that was enough to get me hooked.

So, if you check out the song above, be sure to listen to at least the first three minutes or so to get an idea of its scope. I hope you enjoy! I haven't been able to stop singing along to it in the car, a phenomenon which hasn't happened for me in a long time.