Haven’t been accumulating those Avenged Sevenfold bonus tracks the group has been releasing this year? Not to worry; They’ll all be available soon as part of an expanded, deluxe edition of the group’s latest album, The Stage.
The release, due out December 15, will feature the original 11 tracks plus the covers the group has been releasing this year — the Rolling Stones‘ “As Tears Go By,” Del Shannon‘s “Runaway,” the Beach Boys‘ “God Only Knows,” Del Shannon‘s “Runaway,” Mr. Bungle‘s “Retrovertigo,” the Mexican traditional “Malaguena Selerosa” and the just-released cover of Pink Floyd‘s “Wish You Were Here.”
The album will also include one new song, “Dose,” and live versions of “The Stage,” “Paradigm,” “Sunny Disposition” and “God Damn.”
This is the latest chapter in a saga that began with the surprise release of The Stage last October, and frontman M. Shadows tells us that and releasing the covers has made it an interesting year for A7X:
“I think it was a fun experiment and I think there are ways to experiment with releasing music. Maybe it’s EPs or releasing singles all the time, or records are more of a special occasion sort of thing. But at this point I’m still trying to figure it all out myself, so, yeah, I don’t really have a good answer. I think we had some fun and we took a chance on it, and I don’t know how it’s gonna play out to this day.”
A7X begins a North American headlining tour on January 12 in Nashville, with Breaking Benjamin and Bullet For My Valentine opening.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.