Avenged Sevenfold Announce New Album, Release Terrible Cover Art

Avenged Sevenfold have announced that their new album will be called Hail to the King, and will be released on August 27. I am sincerely very, very excited to hear it.

I am also sincerely not very excited about the album’s cover art, which looks like it should belong to a horrible band from New Jersey e-mailing MetalSucks to claim that “We’re the next big thing!” because “Our sound is a mix of Guns N’ Roses, Killswitch Engage, and Korn!” One reader who e-mailed us about the cover compared it Iron Maiden’s infamously awful Dance of the Dead album art; I don’t think it’s quite that bad, but I do think the comparison is apt insofar as it’s hard to believe that a professional, successful band approved this.

Part of it is the displeasing color scheme, which is a mix of puke green and pee yellow. Part of it is the cartoonish nature of the drawing, which immediately reminded me of Dragon’s Quest. And part of it is the glow and drop shadow on the band’s name. This just feels like someone said, “Ah, nobody cares about album art anymore, so whatever.” Which is probably true. But doesn’t change the fact that this stinks.