The 10 Albums That Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows Picks His Favorites
M. Shadows picks his favorite albums ever. Avenged Sevenfold‘s frontman is one of the most famous vocalists around the world. We know he likes to add old-school style to the band’s music albums too.
M. Shadows’s Favorite 10 Albums
Matthew Charles Sanders, better known as M. Shadows, is an American singer and songwriter who was born in 1981. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold.
His interest in rock stemmed from his early exposure to bands such as Guns N’ Roses after his father gave him his first tape, and his passion for heavy metal music expanded as he grew older and began to play the guitar. Shadows also credit his early musical expertise with the keyboard helping him enhance his skills with the guitar and his voice. He went to Huntington Beach High School and was a member of the punk band “Successful Failure” for a short time. Avenged Sevenfold was created in 1999 by M. Shadows and middle school classmates Zacky Vengeance, The Rev, and Matt Wendt.
Also, Avenged Sevenfold‘s upcoming new album “Life Is but a Dream…” will release on June 2, 2023, via Warner Records.
During the interview with Rolling Stone, M. Shadows shares his favorite music albums of all time:
“When I made this list, I was trying to think of records that really impacted me stylistically, like, ‘Wow, you can do that with heavy metal. So I tried to think of those landmark moments in my life when I heard a different sound that sparked something.”
Here are M. Shadows’ Top 10 music albums, along with his thoughts on each. This list is randomly numbered:
1. Helloween – ‘Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II’ (1988)
“Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II” is the third studio album released in 1988 by the German power metal band Helloween. The record did well in sales, and success spread throughout Europe, Asia, and even the United States. The album went gold in Germany and peaked at No. 108 in the United States.
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“I [M. Shadows] heard “I Want Out” at a tattoo shop up in San Jose. I had been going to some record stores up there and picking up Maiden and picking up some different European power-metal things and they were on a compilation. I heard that song and I thought, “There was no way there could be any songs as crisp and clean and cool as this.” I went and bought Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I and II, which came together. and the songs are so well crafted, they could be pop songs. Then you got Michael Kiske, who’s probably one of my favorite vocalists of all time because he’s so smooth – it’s so effortless and his range is just unbelievable.
It never feels like he’s trying. He’s one of those vocalists, to me, that is just so underrated because people never talk about it. I mean this CD, you couldn’t get it at Best Buy forever. I had to order it. It’s finally on iTunes now. But it’s one of those things where the songwriting is brilliant. It’s super polished. It’s like what Iron Maiden would do. If they were doing a more pop version of themselves.”
2. Iron Maiden – ‘The Number of the Beast’ (1982)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“The first Maiden record I ever got was Piece of Mind, and I only got it because I thought the artwork was cool and everyone talked about Iron Maiden. But they weren’t necessarily the most popular metal band in America for a 12-year-old kid when I discovered them. They were having more of a downturn with a different singer. But I would heard about the heyday with Bruce Dickinson.
So I picked up Piece of Mind and it was hard for me to wrap my head around how long the songs were, with so many different solos going on. When I went backwards and started buying more records, I found Number of the Beast, and that record is the one that just clicked with me and made me just a lifelong fan.”
3. Megadeth – ‘Countdown to Extinction’ (1992)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“I remember listening to KNAC, and they played “Sweating Bullets.” It was like, you didn’t know what hit you. Like, “What is this? This guy’s narrating this thing over this creepy music.” So I went out and got Countdown to Extinction the next day. It is funny. I kept it in a Pantera sleeve, which had, like, “F***ing Hostile” on it and all these other things on it. And my dad came in, like, “You’re not listening to that. It says ‘F***ing Hostile.’” And I’m like, “No, it’s not. It’s a Megadeth tape. You gotta listen to it.” He’s like, “I’ll listen to it. If there’s any cussing, you’re not listening to it.” “OK, fine.” The next day, my dad comes back and he says, “That record is unbelievable.”
And he came back and he started buying Megadeth records. It was that accessible, it was that good, but also Dave Mustaine’s voice was so sinister and the recording sounded so polished and perfect. It just sounded so cool.”
4. System of a Down – ‘Toxicity’ (2001)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“I would been going up to San Francisco a lot to get tattooed, and I’d heard the first System of a Down record at the tattoo shop, but it never really stuck with me. But one day I get a call from Brian Haner, who turns out to be Synyster Gates, and he says, “Dude. I just recorded this song on K-Rock by System of a Down called ‘Chop Suey,’” and he says, “It’s unbelievable.”
And when he brought it to my house, it just blew my mind how it can be so melodic and schizophrenic and also intense at the same time. I remember thinking, “Well, there can’t be any songs on this record that are as good as this.” Then we ended up getting the record and you’d hear “Prison Song” and you’d hear all these songs on there and the whole record just blew me away because I’d never heard anything so schizophrenic.”
5. Queensryche – ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ (1988)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“This is one that my dad got me into later. I was talking to my dad about the stuff he grew up listening to, and Operation: Mindcrime is a record that he had always talked about around the house.
He always talked about it as the “greatest concept album of all time.” One day, I started listening to it and it just hit me. I was like, “These songs are all hits. They’re all huge songs.””
6. Pantera – ‘Far Beyond Driven’ (1994)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“The Rev introduced me to this record. He was a huge Pantera fan. At the time I heard Far Beyond Driven, I was listening more to punk-rock stuff like Bad Religion and NOFXs of the world. When I heard the speed of “Strength Beyond Strength” and then the grooves of “Becoming” and “Five Minutes Alone” and all that stuff, and Dime, Vinnie’s recording, Phil’s voice, and way he was not just screaming but hitting notes and making melodies out of this pure aggression, I never looked back.
And I always enjoyed that record more than the previous ones. Even though there’s brilliant songs on Cowboys and Vulgar. For me, Far Beyond Driven just had an oomph that kicked it over the edge and just pure aggression. And I always appreciated that. And I always thought it was pretty balls-out, and it’s always been my favorite Pantera record.”
7. Metallica – ‘Master of Puppets’ (1986)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“The Black Album was my real first introduction to Metallica. I was, like, 12 or 13 at the time. We were just getting into music, and I liked that album a lot, but it didn’t necessarily change my life. But when I started picking up all the other Metallica records, Master of Puppets was the one to me that stuck out with its songwriting.
I had never heard the thrash element used in that way. I was listening to, like, Divine Intervention by Slayer and some Slayer records at the time, and those records were really good to me, but they didn’t quite take it all the way. Master of Puppets had the songwriting with the thrash element that I had never heard before.”
8. Korn – ‘Korn’ (1994)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“I found out it was Korn afterwards, and I talked to everyone I knew about Korn and no one knew who Korn was. So I went to Bionic Records the next day in Huntington Beach to pick up that first Korn record. That was a big moment for me because when I put on that record, I had never heard anything like it.
I guess people called it nu-metal or whatever, but it just sounded different to me. It sounded funky. It sounded tortured. It just had all these elements I had never ever heard before. So that record was a huge moment for me.”
9. Dream Theater – ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory’ (1999)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“This is the first Dream Theater album that I gave a true chance to. I remember being at Warped Tour in maybe 2004, and the Rev was playing it in our van. We had a new CD player and he was playing when he had to drive, and I remember getting that CD, grabbing a Walkman and sitting in the back of the van and just immersing myself into that record.
I loved the story. I loved everything about Dream Theater on that record. Then I was able to go back and now I’m very familiar with their whole discography, but that record to me changed everything because it’s the first time I ever really heard a story on an album.”
10. At the Gates – ‘Slaughter of the Soul’ (1995)
In 2017, M. Shadows told to Rolling Stone:
“One day that he introduced me to At the Gates. I walk in, I go, “What is this?” ‘Cause I was really into punk rock, as well. I was into speed and the ferocity of a lot of that stuff. I was like, “Well, every song can’t be like that. I mean that’s unbelievable.” And he’s like, “No. Get Slaughter of the Soul. Here’s the CD. You’ll thank me later.”
I was in my car, and it was just like you’re just getting smashed in the face with a brick the whole record. Not only that, the riffs were great, the songwriting was great, the recording sounded good. It had its soft moments, but when it did, it would come back and just kick you in the gut again. So for me, that record changed everything for me. Because I realized there’s bands out there that are just doing it heavier, stronger, and better than everyone, but they’re also writing great songs and it’s also very melodic in a way.”
