Avenged Sevenfold discography: History and Key Facts

American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold has released eight studio albums, three extended plays, one soundtrack album, one live album, two compilation albums, 24 singles, seven promotional singles, one video album and 32 music videos. Formed in Huntington Beach, California in 1999, the band originally featured vocalist M. Shadows (Matthew Sanders), guitarist Zacky Vengeance (Zachary Baker), bassist Matt Wendt and drummer The Rev (James Sullivan). Synyster Gates (Brian Haner Jr.) joined as lead guitarist in 2001, just after the group released their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet on Good Life Recordings, which was later reissued on Hopeless Records.

After replacing Wendt with Justin Sane and later Dameon Ash, Avenged Sevenfold settled on Johnny Christ (Jonathan Seward) on bass in 2003 to record Waking the Fallen. The album was released in August of that year, but did not chart at that time. The 2005 follow-up City of Evil reached number 30 on the Billboard 200 US albums chart, and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2009. The single "Bat Country" reached the top ten of the US Billboard Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock charts, while "Beast and the Harlot" topped the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart.

In 2007 the band released its self-titled fourth album, which was the first to reach the top five of the Billboard 200 when it peaked at number 4. The All Excess video, released earlier in the year, topped the Billboard Music Video Sales chart and reached number 2 on the UK Music Video Chart. Avenged Sevenfold was the band's final full release to feature The Rev, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol on December 28, 2009, while they were producing their next album Nightmare. Mike Portnoy performed drums on 2010s Nightmare, which topped the Billboard 200, the first charttopper in the band's career. Lead single "Nightmare" topped the Billboard Heatseekers Songs chart, while third single "So Far Away" became the band's first to top the Mainstream Rock chart. 2011's "Not Ready to Die" topped the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart.

Arin Ilejay joined as The Rev's second replacement in 2013, performing on the band's sixth studio album Hail to the King. The album followed Nightmare by topping the Billboard 200, as well as being the group's first release to reach number 1 on the Canadian and UK Albums Charts. "Hail to the King" and "Shepherd of Fire" both topped the Mainstream Rock chart. In 2014, a re-released Waking the Fallen: Resurrected reached number 10 in the US, 11 years after the original album was released. The album would be certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2021.

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