An Orange County Hardcore Punk act unafraid to preach their love of Heavy Metal. Their rapid success put the band at the spearhead of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement. Huntingdon Beach's AVENGED SEVENFOLD, taking their title from the Biblical Cain and Abel story and founded as a high school act, would feature tracks on various compilation albums prior to cutting the January 2001 'Warmness On The Soul' EP for Goodlife Recordings. Following these sessions bassist Justin Sane was added and second guitarist Synyster Gates. A full-length album, 'Sounding The Seventh Trumpet' produced by Donnell Cameron and including re-worked material from the EP, was recorded in less than a week and released by Hopeless Records. At this juncture band members were all still in their teens. Subsequently, Dameon Ash took the bass position.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD issued the second Mudrock with Fred Archambault produced album 'Waking The Fallen' in August 2003 through Hopeless Records. The record included a re-recorded version of the song 'Second Heartbeat', which originally appeared on the 'Hopelessly Devoted To You, Vol. 4' compilation. Summer exposure would find AVENGED SEVENFOLD sharing a billing with POISON THE WELL, RANCID, DROPKICK MURPHY'S, THE USED, SUM 41, ANDREW W.K. and LESS THAN JAKE on the roving 'Vans Warped' skateboarding and BMX festival dates. Road work followed through into September as the group formed up the 'Take Action!' tour ranked alongside THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, EIGHTEEN VISIONS and POISON THE WELL. Such was the band's momentum that a signature to major label Warner Bros. was announced in October but continued on with concerts into November, hooking up with MUSHROOMHEAD, THE UNSEEN, SUICIDE MACHINES, WESTERN WASTE and THE AGONY SCENE. A hectic year would be capped with the filming of a promotional video for the track 'Unholy Confessions' with director Thomas Mignone and December East Coast shows alongside FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES.

2004 opened with the band's inaugural journey to the UK in February in partnership with THE BRONX and LOSTPROPHETS. Although AVENGED SEVENFOLD generated print acreage it probably wasn't in the way they had hoped as an after show brawl in London resulted in the arrest of The Reverend Tholomew Plague. Their woes continued when, due to food poisoning afflicting M. Shadows, a gig in Leeds was cancelled. Back on North American soil another round of headline touring led into a re-billing on the Summer 'Vans Warped' gigs, this time sharing stages with BAD RELIGION, GOOD CHARLOTTE, BREAK THE SILENCE, UNDERMINDED, RANCID, FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES, THE CASUALTIES, ATMOSPHERE, THE VANDALS, TIGER ARMY and RISE AGAINST.

Promoting 2005's 'City Of Evil' AVENGED SEVENFOLD joined the cast of the leviathan 'Vans Warped' roving festival. The album sold an impressive 29,000 units in its first week of US sale, debuting at no. 39 on the Billboard charts and peaking at no. 30. Tenaciously, the album clung onto the top 100 for more than four months. US and Canadian headline dates running through October to December saw support from DEATH BY STEREO, SAOSIN and BULLETS AND OCTANE.

January 2006 US shows had CKY as openers. Touring continued throughout the summer, partnering with COHEED AND CAMBRIA and support acts HEAD AUTOMATICA and EIGHTEEN VISIONS. The group recorded an exclusive cover version of PANTERA's 'Walk' for inclusion on UK magazine 'Kerrang!'s 25th anniversary issue cover mount CD, 'High Voltage', issued in May.

The band scored a notable coup in June, opening up for METALLICA's European stadium shows, including a significant appearance at the 'Download' festival in Castle Donington, UK on June 10th. 'Ozzfest' loomed for the US 2006 summer touring season, the group sharing the festival stages with OZZY OSBOURNE, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, LACUNA COIL, DISTURBED, ATREYU, UNEARTH, BLEEDING THROUGH, NORMA JEAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, THE RED CHORD, FULL BLOWN CHAOS, WALLS OF JERICHO, ALL THAT REMAINS, HATEBREED, DRAGONFORCE and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME. A UK headline tour was announced, set to commence on October 21st in Manchester, but then cancelled.

In December 2006 AVENGED SEVENFOLD members M. Shadows and Synyster Gates collaborated with GOOD CHARLOTTE on their single track 'The River'. The pair also appeared in the accompanying promotional video.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD played the Summer Sonic festivals in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan in August 2007. The band supported IRON MAIDEN on European dates in June 2008. Further US touring witnessed co-headline dates aligned with BUCKCHERRY. These shows proved so successful the run was extended into early December, adding SHINEDOWN and SAVING ABEL as support.

The group performed at the inaugural UK 'Sonsisphere' festival at Knebworth Park in August 2009 headlined by METALLICA, LINKIN PARK, NINE INCH NAILS and HEAVEN AND HELL.