Avenged Sevenfold Have Changed the Crappy Album Art for Hail to the King

Okay, now we’re cookin’ with gas!

Every single Avenged Sevenfold fan with eyes and without denial thought that the band’s cover for their new album, Hail to the King, looked terrible. But in what is either a super-fast reaction to the fans’ complaints or a genuine mix-up in which someone let the cat outta the bag too early, the band now says that that wasn’t the album art at all, but, rather, just a rough version of the album art for the title track’s single. Got all that?

So here’s the original art…

…and here’s the final version:

And while clearly a vast improvement — again, that’s just the art for the single. This, apparently, is the actual, final cover art for the album proper:

I can live with that! It’s simple, sure, but at least it’s not awful. It’s another variation of the album art for Waking the Fallen, which was also converted into the album art for the band’s self-titled release:

So, there ya go. It’s not exactly a Riggs, but it’ll do. And it’s always nice to know that a band is actually taking constructive criticism from their fan base. (Which reminds me, if anyone from Iron Maiden somehow happens to be reading this: it’s never too late to re-do the Dance of Death cover!)

Hail to the King comes out comes out August 27. The band hits the road with the Deftones and Ghost in October; get dates here.

[via Metal Hammer… thanks to Chris for the tip]