Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows Reverses Course on One Past Regret

Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows has revealed on social media that he’s reversed course on one of his biggest regrets concerning the band’s career. He now feels that the decision to surprise release the group’s 2016 album, The Stage, was the correct one.

About The Stage Release

On Oct. 28, 2016, Avenged Sevenfold chose to release their latest album, The Stage, in a different manner than what had become the standard in the music industry.

The album was a concept record delving into the idea of artificial intelligence and the self-destruction of society. But rather than the full build-up with singles, radio play and promotion prior to the record, the band surprised released the album on its street date in late October 2016.

The band celebrated the occasion with a rooftop performance from the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles and Shadows initially stated in interviews that the reason for releasing the album in the way that they did was because doing so in the normal way “completely takes away the mystique of the record.”

The album fell short of initial sales expectations arriving at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart with a significant drop off in first week sales from their previous album. At the time, Shadows expressed some regret in an interview with Inc.com, stating, “We have mixed feelings right now. We know we could have done a boring lead up and taken the No. 1 spot, when you do a three-month buildup you roll pre-orders, singles, etc. into your first week.”

He added, “We knew that could happen, but we felt it was worth the risk. We also take a longer-term view. The average album following a three-month release model typically sees sales drop as much as 80 percent for the second week. We expect some drop off, too… but we also expect our album sales to continue over a longer period of time. It’s mixed feelings, but I’m very excited to be doing new things. I would be depressed if we had done the old buildup process. That feels very 2009.”

In a separate quote addressing the first week sales and his “mixed feelings” comment, he added, “I simply meant that there is a part of me that knows a traditional release would have been easier and we could all parade around with another meaningless No. 1,” and added that he had “never judged an album based on sales. Period.”

READ MORE: We Answer the Most Searched Questions About Avenged Sevenfold

Then, in 2017, Shadows shared with ABC Radio that there was some miscalculation in the approach. “Do I think it was a good strategy for the casual fan? No, it was horrible for the casual fan. Most casual fans don’t even know about it, or they’ve written it off as… ‘Why would you release a record secretly? It must not be good.’ And we weren’t expecting that at all,” said the singer.

“If we were to do it over, I would’ve tried to do something that encompasses the casual fan that’s not living and breathing what bands like us are doing,” he said.

What M. Shadows Is Saying About The Stage Release in 2024

With the eighth anniversary of the album release just passing, fans were commenting on Shadows’ acknowledgement of the album yesterday (Oct. 28). When one fan reflected, “I remember this, M.Shadows said he liked how Beyonce secretly released her album, so he wanted to follow suit but ultimately regretted it and said he’d never do it again lol,” the singer responded.

He explained in a tweet on the X social media platform, “I take that back now…. It couldn’t have happened any other way and Im so proud of this album and the way it was released.”

Why Else Avenged Sevenfold Tried a Different Release Model on The Stage

In addition to providing mystique for the new album, Shadows spoke openly about his frustrations with the standard release model in a chat with us at Loudwire.

“One thing that was frustrating to us, always, was having to do so much press building up an album, and you’re asked so many questions about, you know, is it more melodic, is it heavier, are you doing your old stuff, is it new? And all of the sudden your whole album has like a vibe attached to it, before anyone gets to hear any music,” said Shadows at the time. “Then you feel like, the Internet moves so quickly, it’s kind of like, ‘okay, well thanks for that single last week, but now we need something new, people are getting bored.’ It’s just such a self-defeating process.”

The Stage in Reflection

While the sales numbers may not have met what Avenged Sevenfold was initially hoping for, the album did still hold up well in reflection. The album was chosen as the eighth best metal album of 2016 by Loudwire’s staff, but in the fan-voted Loudwire Music Awards of 2017, The Stage was selected as the Metal Album of the Year. Avenged were also voted as Metal Artist of the Year.

In 2022, Shadows shared during a discussion with Metal Hammer of The Stage, “That’s my favorite record of ours. We were in a moment in time and things were changing. I’m so happy we did it that way; we don’t give a fuck about industry metrics.”