Avenged Sevenfold received its first-ever GRAMMY Awards nomination on Tuesday (November 28), snagging a nod for Best Rock Song for the title track from its latest album, The Stage.

The set was surprise released during October of 2016, debuting at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart. The Stage won the Metal Album of the Year at this year's Loudwire Music Awards, and frontman M. Shadows tells us that the accolades are welcome after trying something different in releasing the album:

"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."

The GRAMMYs will be presented on January 28 in New York City and broadcast live on CBS. A7X begins a North American headlining tour on January 12 in Nashville, with Breaking Benjamin and Bullet For My Valentine opening. It will also be releasing an expanded deluxe edition of The Stage on December 22 featuring the covers songs it's been releasing online this year as well as live tracks and the new studio song "Dose."

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.