Get ready for a few surprises on the next Avenged Sevenfold record.

Speaking to Kerrang!, frontman M. Shadows teases the upcoming album, the follow-up 2016’s expansive The Stage, will be going in a “completely new direction.”

“It sounds nothing like anything we’ve done,” Shadows declares. “That’s all I’ll say about it: it’s over the top, and it’s very eclectic and wild!”

As for when we’ll get to hear said eclectic and wild A7X record, Shadows says the band doesn’t want to put a new album out without being able to tour behind it, a prospect that remains uncertain amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If we put that record out and then we’re locked down for another year, as much as people don’t want to believe this, they are not going to give a s*** about a record that came out a year prior when it’s time to tour,” Shadows explains.

“If it’s going to take us two or three years to write a record, we’re not going to put it out if we can’t go play it live,” he continues. “We know the anticipation won’t be there when the tours come around.”

By Josh Johnson
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