Breaks Down

AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows spoke to U.K.'s Kerrang!magazine about three of the songs that will appear on the band's sixth studio album, "Hail To The King", due on August 27. The new disc was once again produced by Mike Elizondo and is the first to be wholly written without drummer and key songwriter James "The Rev" Sullivan, who died in December 2009. Sullivan has since been replaced by Arin Ilejay, a former member of CONFIDE. "Shepherd Of Fire" M. Shadows: "This is the very first song. If you just listen to the music, it feels you've been taken down to Hell. From the riffs, to the bells ringing, to the horns, to the drumbeat, it feels like you've been dragged down. It's very like [THE ROLLING STONES'] 'Sympathy For The Devil', in that there's a silver-tongued Devil speaking to you. He's not all about fire and brimstone; he's luring you down and telling you he can make your life better than the guy above. There's a temptation vibe to it, with pure chaos going on behind it."