SOUND BITES

Anyone can surprise release an album online, but it takes a special kind of trust and coordination to sneak a physical release into stores. How Avenged Sevenfold managed the feat in our spoiler-hungry times boggles the mind, but their seventh record ended up in stores without warning a week ago. It's their first for Capitol Records after an ugly split with Warner Bros., the legal fallout of which is still unresolved. Undeterred, Avenged Sevenfold come out swinging on The Stage , their longest and most complex record to date. It's a sharp about face from the simplified approach of previous album Hail to the King , as that record's hero worship has been replaced with more standard A7X fare: so as to say, epic, prog-leaning metal, albeit with their penchant for melody still more or less intact. At nearly 74 minutes, it's certainly somewhat bloated and self-indulgent (especially on the almost 16 minute closer Exist ), but all of the band's established hallmarks are he...

They can't all be shining examples. Collected below are ten songs/artists that I hesitated to nominate for the Year in Rock awards, but have redeeming qualities to them nonetheless. Some impressed me initially only to have interest wane quickly; others I expected better from. These are Year in Rock 2013's Honourable Mentions:

Stream Avenged Sevenfold's Hail To The King here , courtesy iTunes. As uncool and un-hipsterish as it may be for me to admit on a blog, I'm a fan of Avenged Sevenfold. Their breakthrough album City of Evil and its blistering lead single Bat Country sucked me in, and their varied, multiple era sprawling attack kept me around waiting for more. Their 2007 self titled effort was just as strong in its shameless genre hopping, planting their feet firmly in the technical metal that endeared them to so many while reaching out to explore new sounds. With that said, I felt 2010's Nightmare was a step back; while it had some genuinely thrilling moments, it overall lacked some of the adventurousness that made them so interesting. Upon listening to Hail To The King 's title track for the first time, I was admittedly disappointed by its trite lyrics and (mostly) simplistic musicianship. However, repeated exposure has helped the track age well; once you get past the lyrics ...