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Avenged Sevenfold has evolved from a metalcore band into the mainstream. Their last album, City Of Evil opened the band up to a whole new group of fans and they even had a video on MTV's TRL. That sort of mainstream commercial success will immediately draw accusations of selling out, and Avenged Sevenfold is an extremely polarizing band.

Their latest album is Avenged Sevenfold, and it sees them moving even further away from metal and more into the hard rock genre.

There are still metal moments, and the guitar work of Synyster Gates is excellent, but Avenged Sevenfold delves into several other genres as well. The album ends with a couple of unique tracks. "A Little Piece Of Heaven" is an 8 minute opus with everything from brass to gothic choruses to female vocals to pop hooks. The closer is "Dear God," a twangy country flavored song.

This is probably M. Shadows best vocal performance. There are a few harsher vocals sprinkled in, but melodic singing dominates this album. He shows a decent range and a diverse approach in tone and emotion. Avenged Sevenfold has a couple of really good songs, several that are somewhere in the middle and one or two clunkers. It's an ambitious effort and the band isn't afraid to try to expand their musical horizons, but they don't quite reach the level to which they've aspired.