Nightmare Cover Art Essay

Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. The band was formed in 1999. Presently, they consist of flatness Shadows(Vocalist), Johnny Christ(Bassist), Zacky Vengeance(Rhythm Guitarist) and Synyster Gates(Lead guitarist). Matt Sanders(M. Shadows) the lead singer of the band is one of the original founding members. He came up with the band name on being inspired by the ordinal chapter in the Book of Genesis. It involves God asking Cain where his brother, Abel was. Cain answered that he didnt k instanter, when in fact, he had killed Abel. whoever kills you will suffer seven times the vengeance. (Genesis 415, International example Version). Jonathan Seward(Johnny Christ) is the fourth bassist, and joined the band while he was still in High School in the year 2003.He is the youngest and shortest in the band. Zack Baker(Zacky Vengeance) is the bands left-handed rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist. Zacky was a self-taught guitarist and would s olve his dads right-handed guitar upside-down by watching his favourite bands play and other people he knew that played, and practised as much as he could. Brian Haner Jr.(Synyster Gates) plays the lead guitar, and does backup vocals for the band. His father is Brian Haner. He also plays in both(prenominal) Avenged Sevenfold tracks. He mostly plays acoustic guitar solos that receivablel back and forth with Synysters electric guitar and also helped his son write So outlying(prenominal) Away, a track on the bands latest album that Brian had finished writing in memory of his late best suspensor and band-mate, Jimmy The Rev Sullivan. The Rev was known to the world as one of the large(p)est drummers of all time. He passed away on 28th celestial latitude 2009, due to an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.Avenged Sevenfold kicked off with a metalcore sound on their first album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, which include a lot of screaming vocals and heavy-metal guitar riffs. Th ey then changed their style on their third release, city of Evil, which featured more of a mainstream hard rock style. They fill still retained their heavy metal feel by using blazing guitar solos and blistering double-bass drumming patterns, while keeping their musical belligerence at a minimum level compared to their earlier work which makes their music all the more appealing to the larger crowd. The Rev Seized the Day to conquer the City of Evil in Bat Country, and forced the Beast and the Harlot to Scream their Unholy Confessions.He left them Trashed and Scattered and Blinded In set up with the Strength of the World. He found it Almost Easy and became a Sidewinder and slithered to A Little Piece of Heaven in his Afterlife, now he is M.I.A. and his nightmare has come to pass. RIP Jimmy The Rev Sullivan, youre gone but NEVER forgotten Sevenfold, A. (n.d.). Quote by Avenged Sevenfold. Retrieved December 10th, 2012 from http//www.goodreads.com/quotes/308559-the-rev-seized-the-da y-to-conquer-the-city-ofThis meaningful quote is a tribute to the late legend and also uses quite a few of Avenged Sevenfolds track name as characteristics of the quote to convey a very important message about The Revs personality. Avenged Sevenfold has released five studio albums, xv singles, and one live album/compilation.The album artistic creation of their latest album Nightmare deeply reflects on the music and the bands life without their good friend, The Rev. The musicality has advanced since their emergence and this is their most technically advance album yet. At first glance, its no doubt that the band is Avenged Sevenfold. non just because of the text stating the obvious, but because of their fall guyature symbol that they have made known all over the world as the Deathbat. It was originally designed by their high school friend named Micah Montague. The Deathbat is the key element in almost any Avenged Sevenfold image or poster and has also appeared on every album cov er, many of which were done by Cameron Rackam, a close acquaintance of the band. Another key element in this albums artwork is the noticeable highlighting of the alphabets REV in the word Forever on the tombstone. There is a pretty deep connection through which emotions play a major role as to how the overall message is being conveyed, which in this case is the fact that The Rev who was by no doubt a great person and who was loved by the whole world has moved on into his afterlife and that his memories will be treasured in everyones hearts and minds continuously.With regard to gloss theory, its safe to say that Nightmares album art is analogous in nature. Ranging from the green(dark leaves) end to the blue end of the color spectrum wheel. In terms of temperature, this artwork has been designed to incline more towards the cooler half of the spectrum as it can be easily inferred because of its blue sky, especially at the point where the smoke is lighter in colour, in turn providing a chilled and cold effect. The girls pale skin is also a sign of fear which is a marvellous combination of taking the word cold both, literally as well as metaphorically. The fonts used are pretty flighty too. The frequent uneven thickness in certain parts of different letters in Avenged Sevenfold makes it the most noticeable component of the art. Also, as it is white in colour, it stands out from the rest of the contrasting colours.The red Nightmare is the only warm colour used in the entire cover. It must be so because the artist was trying to convey feelings of passion and love towards their late friend. But also since the font has more edgy feel to it, it could have delicate traces of anger and anxiety too. The deathbat here is no longer just a floating skull with small wings. The symbolism used here shows that the band has grown in maturity as well as musically hence the large deathbat with a cloak covering its presently unknown body. The album is titled Nightmare as it is a dark word that sends shivers down ones spine. Theyve used a good combination of the cold environment in the provide along with the hot portrayal of the album-name(red in colour).It is called so because on the day they completed writing the records lyrics, The Rev admitted that he was totally fire and eager to record this album. But sadly, he passed away three days after that. This came as a shock to everyone and was a nightmare to the band. Hence they sanctified this album to him. Every time I look at the cover while listening to any of this albums songs, it feels as though a story is being told. Every song is a reminder of The Rev and that was another reason why this album topped the billboard charts, standing at 1 in the first week itself. This album really connected to all Avenged Sevenfold fans.