US heavy metal band to play mainland for first time

Avenged Sevenfold

Chart-topping US heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold has announced they will be making their triumphant return to Asia in January 2015. The tour will include shows in South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and for the first time ever, the Chinese mainland.

Avenged Sevenfold's last album, 2013's "Hail to the King", was both a commercial and critical success - topping both the Billboard and UK charts. Still, the underground metal heroes say they may never fully achieve "rock star" status.

The band broke into the music scene around the 2000s, with their impressive double-lead guitar playing that fused old-school metal with hardcore punk influences. But as they continued to record more albums, their sound evolved. Brass instruments were brought in to accompany and sometimes replace guitars. They even wrote a country ballad.

Although the transition from metalcore to a more polished hard rock sound has caused controversy among die-hard fans, Avenged Sevenfold has never been ashamed of taking in influences from successful, mainstream acts such as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Pantera. And the teenage angst that fueled much of their earlier work has also become more mature over the years.

"We learned a lot," M. Shadow from Avenged Sevenfold said. "You listen to bands you're idolizing, then you go and take those bands, you see what their influences were, and see where their chops are from.

"You see Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Guns 'n Roses, Black Sabbath, Pantera and Metallica they're all classical stuff, so for us we're just students of the game. We enjoy so much rock and roll that we try to take the things we like, from all of those bands, mix it in a blender, and putting our twist on them. We're always learning and constantly learning, constantly trying to push ourselves to broaden our influence."

Avenged Sevenfold's 2015 Asia tour kicks off in Beijing on January 8th, followed by shows in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taipei, Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.