Avenged Sevenfold are one of the most successful American heavy metal bands of the third millennium, with an estimated 8 million copies sold of their six studio albums. First formed in 1999, in the Orange County town of Huntington Beach, California, A7X, for short, released a pair of independent albums, inspired primarily by the period’s metalcore trends, before moving to a major label for their breakthrough third album, ‘City of Evil,’ released in 2005. This saw the band, consisting of singer M. Shadows, guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ and drummer James “The Rev” Sullivan, embracing a more traditional hard rock and metal sound that persists on subsequent releases. Sullivan died from a drug overdose in 2009, prompting the temporary recruitment of Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy for the recording of 2010’s ‘Nightmare.’ Another blockbuster album, 2013’s Billboard number one, ‘Hail to the King, followed in 2013 and introduced new drummer Arin Ilejay.