Avenged Sevenfold (sometimes abbreviated as A7X) are an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. To date, the band have released seven studio albums, one DVD, and one live album. Two of their studio albums, Nightmare and Hail to the King, have debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts.

Until December 2009, the band’s lineup consisted of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ, and drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, who died of an accidental drug overdose while the band was making their fifth album, Nightmare. For Nightmare, The Rev was temporarily replaced by ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, before the band found a permanent replacement with Arin Ilejay. In July 2015, however, it was announced that the band would be moving forward without Ilejay. He was replaced by Brooks Wackerman of Bad Religion, who made his first contribution in Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s score “Jade Helm” (2015). In October 2016, the band have released their seventh studio album, “The Stage.”