CITY OF EVIL

City of Evil is the third studio album and first major label release by American metal bandAvenged Sevenfold. The album was released on June 7, 2005 under the Warner Bros. Recordslabel. Co-produced by Andrew Murdock, City of Evil contains a more hard rock and classicheavy metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold's previous two albums, which showcased a predominantly metalcore sound. The album is also notable for the absence of screaming vocals. M. Shadows worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson, whose clients have included Axl Rose andChris Cornell, for months before the album's release to achieve a sound that had "grit while still having the tone".

The album contains some of Avenged Sevenfold's most popular and famous songs, including "Bat Country", "Beast and the Harlot", "Burn it Down", and "Seize the Day". All four of these songs were released as singles between June 2005 and July 2006. City of Evil was very successful after its release, debuting at #30 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was certified as a platinum record by the Recording Industry Association of America in August 2009, and has gone onto sell over 1,500,000 copies in the United States, and 2,500,000 total worldwide. As of 2010, it remains the best-selling out of Avenged Sevenfold's discography. It is also their longest studio album, tracking at over seventy-two minutes.

Three of the songs off of the album, "Bat Country", "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day", were also released as music videos. Directors for these videos included Marc Klasfeld, Tony Petrossian, and Wayne Isham, respectively. The Rev performs backing vocals on the tracks "Bat Country", "Strength of the World", and "M.I.A."

In 2006, the album was placed number 63 on Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.