Unexpectedly hurled into the ether at the end of October, The Stage has already been widely hailed as one of Avenged Sevenfold’s most convincing statements to date. As the one metal band of their generation with genuine stadium-filling potential on both sides of the Atlantic, the Californians could have been forgiven for repeating the thunderous, simplistic anthems of 2013’s Hail to the King, but instead they have blown the creative doors off, cramming an insane amount of ideas into 74 minutes of prog-metal bombast. Their knack for a chorus is as apparent on the shorter, sharper likes of Paradigm and God Damn, but it’s the outrageous opulence of towering ballads Higher and Roman Sky, and the overblown, starry-eyed Muse-ings of 16-minute closer Exist, that make this such a satisfying forward leap. Detractors may point to a triumph of showmanship over soulfulness, but this is so exuberant, preposterous and colourful that the only reasonable response is to stand and applaud.
