Avenged Sevenfold’s seventh studio album, ‘The Stage,’ is celebrating its eighth anniversary today. The album was released secretly, inspired by Beyoncé’s surprise release strategy.
M. Shadows announced the milestone on his X account. A user replied, “I remember this, M. Shadows said he liked how Beyonce secretly released her album, so he wanted to follow suit but ultimately regretted it and said he’d never do it again lol.” Shadows responded, “I take that back now… It couldn’t have happened any other way and I’m so proud of this album and the way it was released.”
Shadows has explained in various interviews why the band decided to be the first metal act to drop a surprise album.
“I think it came down to being off for two and a half years, and sitting at home and watching what other people were doing,” the rocker said. “With a lot of bands, I would get excited by the announcement of a new record, but then there would be teaser after teaser, and three or four singles before the album came out. We didn’t want to do that.”
Eventually, they decided to release the album as a surprise. “It was exciting to us; you had five guys who were actually excited about releasing a record, instead of dreading [having to do] all the advance press and everything that comes with a record release. It’s not that we didn’t want to do the work—it’s that you get asked a bunch of questions by a bunch of guys that have never heard the record.”
Following the album’s release on October 28, 2016, the band released six cover songs throughout the next year. The first additional track, a cover of the Mexican folk song ‘Malagueña Salerosa,’ premiered on Sirius XM Octane on June 8, 2017. The second, a cover of Mr. Bungle’s ‘Retrovertigo,’ was released on June 30. An original song titled ‘Dose’ came out on July 12 as an easter egg in ‘Dungeon Hunter 5.’ The band then released Del Shannon’s ‘Runaway,’ followed by covers of The Beach Boys’ ‘God Only Knows,’ The Rolling Stones’ ‘As Tears Go By,’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here.’
These tracks were later compiled into a deluxe edition of the album, first set for release on December 15, 2017, but was delayed to December 22 due to unforeseen circumstances.
