Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance and bassist Johnny Christ.

Avenged Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet[citation needed], which included screaming vocals and heavy guitar riffs. The band changed their style on their third release, City of Evil, which features more of a mainstream hard rock style.[citation needed] The band continued to explore new sounds with their self titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their drummer, James Sullivan, "The Rev" died of a drug overdose in 2009. Despite this setback, the band continued on with session drummer Mike Portnoy and released their fifth album Nightmare in 2010.

Avenged Sevenfold has released five studio albums, one live album/compilation, and fifteen singles. The band themselves have received much credit for their worldwide mainstream success and were most notably proclaimed as one of the leaders and key bands in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal and were featured as second place on Ultimate Guitar's Top Ten Bands of the Decade.