Avenged Sevenfold

The band's real breakthrough came with their third album and major label debut. The band achieved mainstream success with their 2005 album City of Evil, which includes singles such as "Burn It Down", "Bat Country," "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day." This record marked a dramatic stylistic shift, as the band's style had evolved by their third album and first major label release, City of Evil, into a more traditional heavy metal style. The momentum continued with their 2007 self-titled fourth album, released through Warner Bros. and Hopeless Records, and recorded as the band's first studio album to be solely self-produced. By this era the classic lineup of M. Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance, Johnny Christ on bass, and The Rev on drums had solidified into one of the defining forces of modern heavy metal, headlining major tours including the 2008 Taste of Chaos run.

The band's history was forever altered in December 2009, when founding drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan died. James Owen Sullivan, professionally known by his stage name The Rev, was an American musician, composer and songwriter, best known as the drummer, composer, songwriter, co-lead vocalist and founding member for the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. Avenged Sevenfold was the band's final full release to feature The Rev, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol on December 28, 2009, while they were producing their next album Nightmare. Rather than disbanding, the group pressed forward, and Avenged Sevenfold continued on with the help of Dream Theater member Mike Portnoy, and released and toured in support of their fifth album Nightmare in 2010, which debuted atop the Billboard 200, their first number one debut. Subsequent drummers included Arin Ilejay and, from 2015 onward, Brooks Wackerman, formerly of Bad Religion and Suicidal Tendencies. The band went on to release Hail to the King in 2013, an album that paid homage to the sounds of classic bands that inspired them, such as Metallica, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden. In the years since, Avenged Sevenfold has continued to evolve while remaining active on record and on the road. With a lineup now featuring drummer Brooks Wackerman, the band has continued to innovate, from the progressive The Stage to the highly experimental Life Is But a Dream… in 2023. That most recent album was produced by the band and Joe Barresi and marked their return to Warner after a legal dispute. Across more than two decades, the band has been widely credited as one of the standard-bearers of modern American heavy metal, known for pushing past genre boundaries while honoring the memory of their fallen bandmate in their music and live shows.

For this archive, Avenged Sevenfold holds a special place among the bands Wayne Dennon spent years documenting from the photo pit. Wayne photographed the band three times between 2006 and 2009, capturing them across three different cities in two states during a period that included the final stretch of The Rev's time with the band. Those nights are preserved in 138 photographs in the archive, images that fans have returned to again and again, racking up over 108,000 views over the years. They stand as a quiet testament to a band whose story, marked by triumph and tragedy alike, Wayne was there to witness through his lens.