Update: Avenged Sevenfold has deleted all the posts from their Instagram and replaced it with one statement, saying they were "hacked" and directing everyone to their Discord. The band's official website has also been updated with a brand new layout and links to a mailing list, Discord, and the Deathbats Club.
"Our accounts were compromised over the weekend and have now been recovered. Our festival appearances have not been cancelled. For the time being, please go to our Discord at the link in our bio for all future communications. Thank you for your patience."
Original story: It all started yesterday when Avenged Sevenfold announced they wouldn't be playing Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple both on social media and on their podcast. Except that it was all a "hack", the voice on the podcast was an AI facsimile of vocalist M. Shadows, and neither of those festival appearances were cancelled. The whole thing certainly felt like the start of a marketing campaign for Avenged Sevenfold's long-awaited new album, and now the plot has thickened.
Then Reddit user named Libad5343 took to the site to post a photo proving they were the one that "hacked" the Avenged Sevenfold Twitter. Other Redditors noticed there was another site on Libad5343's toolbar named Libad5343.net, and of course everyone went to go investigate. Libad5343 also had PornHub open, which probably doesn't have anything to do with Avenged Sevenfold. Feel free to investigate that one after work.
Libad5343.net is a very old-school looking website with a few articles about some landmark Avenged Sevenfold events and a ton of .gif advertisements that don't actually take you anywhere… but could be new song titles or teasers for the album concept?
There's a hidden crossword embedded in the site, there's an acronym that spells out the quote "The meaning of life is that it stops" from Franz Kafa that touches on the idea that life is meant to be lived, and there's a few commands you can enter into a terminal that offer messages. Fans are also speculating that LIBAD is actually an acronym for the album title, which a few people have guessed means:
- Life Is But A Dream
- Life Is Better After Death
- Living Is Best After Death
- Life Is Birth And Death
Let's put it this way – this website is complicated enough that there's a 45-page document on it right now. There's also a post from u/Libad5343 two days prior to the hack, saying "Throwaway account for obvious reasons. I know I'll get downvoted but hear me out. I obtained the new album from a friend but the audio is embedded with a watermark from Warner Records. If I release any it would be tracked back to him. I'm pretty good with tech and encryption but can't seem to find a workaround.
"Please respond or DM me if you can help or have any experience with this sort of thing. These guys have taken long enough and from what my friend tells me we are gonna be waiting even longer than expected now."
So stay tuned, because Avenged Sevenfold is 110% up to something.
