'Burn It Down' fails to ignite.
Avenged Sevenfold have evolved with their three albums and this single from their first album on Warner Bros Records, shows that they now have a more commercial sound.
'Burn It Down' is packed to the hilt with influences of more bands than I could even try to name, and fires out with an intro very much in the vein of Trivium. However where Trivium thrust a more balls-to-the-wall approach, Avenged Sevenfold slip into a slight melodic twist. Previous albums saw Avenged Sevenfold scream out hard and heavy tracks, now this isn't bland, nor is it Bon Jovi, and you only have to check out the true metal guitar solo and the permanent thumping of the double bass peddle to know that their roots are still deeply in that of true metal. The vocals are a little weak and at times too feminine for a big muscular tattooed guy!
Fans of Avenged Sevenfold - like the fans of AFI - may feel that the edges have been smoothed out a little too much, and the sound has been engineered a little more for the masses, but is this really a bad thing? The argument of whether or not a band's music should or should not go slightly mainstream, is one that will run for as long as time itself, however if your favourite band still makes great music, and the added popularity insures that their shelf life remains, then can this be a negative thing? Please discuss...
So to conclude, 'Burn It Down' is a watered down version of Avenged Sevenfold. Good but not great.