Within the age of streaming algorithms and generative AI, artists are more and more confronted with the problem of staying true to their artistic instincts whereas navigating public expectations. For Avenged Sevenfold, that pressure is entrance and middle of their most up-to-date and polarizing launch, Life Is However A Dream…
The album, which took 4 years to craft, represents a deep dive into the human situation. Produced by Joe Barresi alongside the band and blended by Andy Wallace within the Poconos, Life Is However A Dream… is something however typical. It is an existential odyssey, exploring themes of mortality, function, and the worth of existence—topics far faraway from the safer floor many rock bands tread.
In a brand new interview with Rock Feed, frontman M. Shadows defined that the band by no means approached this file with fan approval in thoughts. As a substitute, they embraced a riskier, extra introspective path.
“Dave Farrell from Linkin Park — we have been at dinner in all probability a yr in the past and we have been speaking about Life Is However A Dream…, and he mentioned… We have been on this very nice restaurant, and there was a bunch of individuals round. And he says, ‘In the event you have been to take your file proper now, or any file that you simply love, and present it to everyone right here, how a lot weight would you set behind any of those folks’s opinions?’ And the answer is zero,” M. Shadows mentioned (by way of Blabbermouth)
That anecdote set the tone for Shadows’ broader philosophy on suggestions—one which favors boldness over consensus.
“And so, on the finish of the day, we’re not making artwork by committee,” he defined. “This is not artwork by committee. It is not, like, everyone give us your concepts and we’re all gonna form of morph the identical factor. We have now A.I. to do this now; you are gonna be capable to take your favourite information, and A.I. can spit out one thing type of prefer it. However you want artists and creatives to maintain pushing the boundaries. Some issues are gonna work, some issues aren’t. However on the finish of the day, even when one thing would not work, it’d spark in another person, ‘Oh, that was daring. The place can I push limits a little bit extra?’ And I believe that is how this complete house thrives.”
In a panorama the place immediate reactions and sizzling takes usually dominate, M. Shadows has made peace with letting all of it go — good and unhealthy.
“So for me, I could not care much less about different folks’s opinions, however one rule I made myself a very long time in the past is I take heed to the positivity equally to the negativity, that means I do not care about both. If a assessment is a ten out of 10, cool. It could possibly be purchased and paid for. Cool. It would not matter. If it is a zero out of 10, it additionally would not matter. So I believe which you can’t simply stroll round with all of your good things after which ignore the unhealthy. It’s a must to form of ignore them each, for my part.”
Enter your info under to get a each day replace with all of our headlines and obtain The Orchard Steel e-newsletter.
