This is indeed the re-issue of their second album 'Waking the Fallen', which was
the last album released before signing to a major label. This 2003 release was the
first with guitarist Synyster Gates and bass player Johnny Christ and at first
it didn't do a lot. After the band released their first big seller 'City of Evil',
the sales of their second album also went up and exceeded over half a million
copies.
This resurrected album has been out for a week and has already entered the Billboard
top 10, selling over 23,000 albums the first week. This shows that Avanged
Sevenfold is still hot and that there are still fans who don't own the original
2003 album. 'Waking the Fallen" was the last album with the typical metalcore
influences and harsh screaming vocals of M. Shadows, but also the first where M. Shadows
used his cleaner singing more often. Looking back, the album was the first step
towards their new sound, which made the band what they stand for at the moment.
Besides all the songs from the first release there is a lot of bonus material
and that is for the older fan also very attractive. Demo versions of several
songs and I have to confess that I think they sometimes even sound better than
those on the album. The live versions of the songs are well produced and sound
o.k. There is nothing wrong with such releases, although they could have chosen
something else instead of 3 versions of "Second Heartbeat" in my opnion, enough
is as good as a feast.
For the youngsters that stepped in before their first 2 albums this re-issue is
a good opportunity to learn how it all started and for those who find their
latest album 'Hail to the King' an album full of plagiarism perhaps a welcome
gift.
