Warner Bros. Records Cashing In, Releasing Avenged Sevenfold Greatest Hits Collection
If a record label has the contractual right to release a greatest hits compilation with or without the artist’s consent, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will do so. We’ve seen it happen time and time again. Sometimes it leads to a lawsuit. And sometimes, the label are real dicks about it: in 2011, after losing Between the Buried and Me to Metal Blade, Victory released a BTBAM greatest hits album just two weeks before the band released their debut for their new label.
That’s the route Warner Bros. Records appear to be going with their forthcoming Avenged Sevenfold collection, The Best of 2005-2013: they’ll release the comp on December 2, just a week before A7X release their new album, Voltaic Oceans, on their new label, Capitol Records. This is more than just smart marketing (i.e., riding the wave of promotion the band will have to do for Voltaic Oceans); given the sour note on which A7X and WB ended their relationship, it’s almost surely meant as a final “fuck you” to the band as well.
Although I doubt the band will lose any sleep any over it. These kinds of compilations have never made less sense than they do now. When I was kid, in the olden days before downloading and streaming services, a greatest hits collection might have been ideal for the casual fan who just wanted the most famous songs, completists who buy everything with the band’s name on it no matter what, or novices looking to get into the band and obtain an overview of their career quickly.
Now you can just take five minutes to turn the whole thing into a Spotify playlist. Which is especially easy when there’s no new material on the collection, as is the case here. Look, I already did it for you — the only track it’s missing is their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Flash of the Blade,” which I’ve put directly below the playlist. You’re so welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAChjO9nons
Voltaic Oceans is out December 9. Check out the first single, “The Stage,” here.
[via The PRP]
