Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows Annoyed by Music Sites That ‘Blow Everything Out of Proportion’
Recent years have seen a shift in news coverage across many forms of media, including the music world, where the competition for readers, especially when dealing with social media algorithms, has led to the need for more eye-catching headlines. But the practice of sensationalized pull quotes is not one that's sitting well with Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows, who expressed his displeasure in an interview with Metal Hammer magazine.
In the latest issue, as transcribed by Blabbermouth, Shadows stated, "It annoys me when something cool or relevant happens and it doesn't get written about. Then, other times, they will take one line from some random interview and blow everything out of proportion."
He adds that if the story pops for one site, then others feel the need to follow suit. "Blind follow the blind," says the vocalist. "If one website picks it up, then they all have to. Why not write your own articles? I wish press and fans cared more about the songs than other bullshit that comes along with it."
Speaking more of what he'd like to see in music journalism, Shadows stated, "A lot of records and bands are successful or fail based off initial sentiment. For instance, you see one article with a strong opinion all over the place and it dominates the narrative. I wish people would think for themselves. There's not a lot of that going on these days."
Avenged Sevenfold's year on tour ended early after M. Shadows was ordered to vocal rest earlier this year. However, back in September the band remained in the public eye releasing the song "Mad Hatter" as part of their ongoing collaboration with the Call of Duty video game franchise. The singer received word back in September that he was now cleared to start his vocal recovery process.
"I did two months of no talking or singing and now I need to build it all back up. No damage was done so I'm grateful for that," Shadows told us, later adding, "I'm always on a diet for singing, also acid reflux pills and lots of water. I could probably start singing very soon but I’m going to take this recovery slow just to make sure everything is as strong as it can be. I'll be ready to roll for the next record."
Meanwhile, guitarist Synyster Gates told us in a separate interview, “We’re definitely working on stuff and I’m really excited about the stuff that we’re working on. We’re not full, in the throes, shoulder to shoulder writing music yet but we’re exchanging ideas and hanging and we’re very much interested … in the brainstorming aspect, the meeting of the minds kind of thing that we do before we write a record." Stay tuned to see what 2019 has in store for the band.
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