Music Video review - Almost Easy
Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold
First of all, let me get my fifteen year old fan girl comments out of
the way. I mean, hey. That's what I am, right? A fifteen year old
female fan. But anyway. The opening shots.
Syn, basking in the evil smoky flames. This is the stuff angels and demons are made of, my pretties.
Zacky's piercings only enhanced his . . . what should I say? Lovely?
Attractive? Handsome? Hawt? (that last one was a joke, kids, don't
worry) Anyway. His piercings only enhanced his -insert adjective here-
profile. That shot should have lasted longer. Much longer.
The shots of Rev's and Johnny's eyes. As soon as a good quality version
of this video surfaces, I will capture them. And they will be mine. All
mine.
M. Shadows has a mohawk? Who saw that one coming? Definitely wasn't me.
But still, it's the same satanic face, same child-like dimples. Same
amazing voice. We love him.
Okay, I'm done. Sorry. On to the real review.
From what we've heard of the new album, lyrics-wise there really hasn't
been any of the Revelation inspired, telling the story of the
Apocalypse type stuff we heard on City of Evil. In fact, the imagery in Almost Easy is almost what one would have expected had a video for Trashed and Scattered or The Wicked End been made.
In the video we find the band rocking out in a hellish place that brings to mind a few lines from Bat Country.
Blackened and dry, the cracked ground looks like Mount Doom, only more
CGI-ish. Evil looking flames run rampant, sometimes wrapping around the
band members, looking almost as though the tattooed men were the source
of the fire.
People are approaching from all sides, surrounding a pit from which the
flames leap out. There is nothing uniform about them, save that they
all seem out of it. Staring straight ahead, expressionless, all that
business. As the people, one by one, walk, fall or leap into the pit,
Shadows dominates the scene. With a demon-like grin and an evil
chuckle, he brings to mind a Satanic preacher, holding up his arms, set
against the red, artificial sky like some sort of anti-Christ.
The only sign of any sort of redemption in this video is a quick flash
of Shadow's silhouette, only this time like white light that disappears
in the sky. If one were to think about it too much, one might come to
the conclusion that it signifies some sort of deliverance. My opinion
on such a thing would be that to think it would be silly. The imagery
here is not supposed to mean anything other than "See Avenged
Sevenfold. See Avenged Sevenfold be bad ass. See Avenged Sevenfold
bring rock music back."
The only thing that I can think of in the video which might mean
anything profound is the presence among the brainwashed crowds of a man
wearing a clergy collar. With the appearance of a Southern Baptist
preacher, this could be taken to signify the corruption of the
Christian religion. Which isn't a point that I'd really argue against.
Those who claimed Avenged Sevenfold weren't a metal band? Watch this
video and think again. This is a pseudo-evil, dark and scary clip to
contest anything Pantera ever did. The difference being that the band
members here are young and good looking, lacking the hair that made
Pantera the stereotype for metal heads everywhere.
All in all, it's a good video. I wouldn't call it amazing, and Seize the Day still takes the place as my favorite Avenged Sevenfold video. But if Almost Easy
is to set the scene for this upcoming stage of Avenged Sevenfold's
career, I think we can all agree with M. Shadow's statement that this
will be their heaviest album yet.
One final note - I've only seen the pirated version of this video on
YouTube. Usually I exercise restraint when it comes to such things. For
instance, I waited until the album version of Almost Easy
was released before I listened to it. But I just couldn't wait for
this. If you think that it was ridiculous of me to type up this review
about two minutes after viewing the video, think how long and involved
this would have been if I'd actually seen it on Fuse?
-SXM (hold me too tight, stay by my side, and let me be the one who calls you baby all the time)
