The band was formed in 1999 and hail from Huntington Beach, California.
Avenged Sevenfold's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were eighteen years old. It was originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, the introductory track "To End The Rapture" was re-recorded with Gates playing, and the album was re-released on Hopeless Records.
Their follow-up album, entitled Waking the Fallen, was also released on Hopeless Records and was awarded a positive rating in Rolling Stone magazine. Shortly after its release, Avenged Sevenfold were signed to Warner Bros. Records.
City of Evil, the third album which was released on 7 June 2005, strayed from metalcore, and M. Shadows chose to abandon the screaming from the first two albums. Although Shadows acknowledges throat and vocal cord damage, and the following surgery to help correct the issues, he says that the change in vocal style was not a result. In their new DVD "All Excess", Mudrock, producer of Avenged's second and third albums, said prior to Waking the Fallen, Shadows had stated that he wanted a CD with half-screaming, then one with no screaming, which was achieved in City of Evil, But he maintains that he's able to scream even better than before since the surgery and training with vocal coach Ron Anderson, who worked with various artists, from Axl Rose, to Kylie Minogue, and Chris Cornell.
The self titled album was released out on October 30, 2007. Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" along with its music video, were released prior to the album. An animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven" and was going to be included on the MVI, but due to the song's subject matter (i.e. necrophilia), Warner Brothers released it to registered MVI users over the age of 18 in December of 2007. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Avenged Sevenfold has confirmed that their fourth single is the country rock style song "Dear God".
CURRENT BAND MEMBERS
* M. Shadows - lead vocals
* Synyster Gates - lead guitars, piano, backing vocals
* Zacky Vengeance - rhythm guitars, backing vocals
* Johnny Christ - bass, backing vocals
* The Rev (The Reverend Tholomew Plague) - drums, percussion, vocals, piano
ALBUMS
* 2001: Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (re-released in 2002)
* 2003: Waking the Fallen
* 2005: City of Evil
* 2007: Avenged Sevenfold
Taken from Wikipedia