Avenged Sevenfold's new album Life Is But A Dream is going to be pretty heady. According to vocalist M. Shadows in an interview with Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, the album's lyrics and concepts are largely based on existentialism and absurdism. Which isn't too surprising, given references to Albert Camus and Franz Kafka throughout the teases for Life Is But A Dream.
"It's tied together in a way that we're exploring themes about existentialism and absurdism," said Shadows via Blabbermouth. "Some of this stuff is based off of the French philosopher Albert Camus and different sorts of existential ideas. So it all kind of plays together. It's not like we have a song about partying all night and the next song is this really deep song about ego disillusion.
"It all plays within this weighty sort of subject matter. The Stage was the same way, where it wasn't like Operation: Mindcrime, where you're hearing a story all the way through, but it has themes. So this is the same sort of idea, that musically and thematically they're all in line."
Shadows has previously revealed that the new material was influenced by the use of psychedelic drugs, saying it was "this psychedelic experience that took us into this 'be bold [mentality]. Don't do psychedelics and make Pink Floyd. No, do your own thing and make your own stamp.'"
As for the single "Nobody," Shadows revealed that there really isn't a good "single" song from the album.
"I sent this record to a few people that I know, and they'd already heard 'Nobody', and they come back and they go, 'I can't believe where this record takes us.' There was no good song on the record to put out and go, like, 'Oh, this is a representation of… you're gonna understand everything if you hear this.' So we were in a situation where it just doesn't really play by the rules in terms of what's gonna go out on the radio station and everyone's gonna get it."
"The way I would describe it is the record has a bunch of colors and they stretch as far out as possible. Think of the universe, and 'Nobody' sits in the middle and it's kind of like a black hole. It's this big, weighty orchestra-driven existential crisis sucking in everything in its way. But the rest of the record kind of reaches out very widely and paints with bright colors, where this is kind of black-and-white and very dense."
Catch Avenged Sevenfold with openers Alexisonfire at one of the dates below. Get tickets here, and maybe try to win tickets for their New York and Los Angeles shows by spotting some billboards.
7/18 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
7/19 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
7/21 – Québec City, QC – Videotron Centre
7/22 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
7/24 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
7/26 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre
7/28 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7/29 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
7/31 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
8/2 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
8/4 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
8/5 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
8/7 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
