Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance and bassist Johnny Christ. Avenged Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, which included screaming vocals and heavy guitar riffs. The band changed their style on their third release, City of Evil, which features more of a mainstream hard rock style. The band continued to explore new sounds with their self titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their drummer, James Sullivan, "The Rev" died of a drug overdose in 2009. Despite this setback, the band continued on with session drummer Mike Portnoy and released their fifth album Nightmare in 2010. Bat Country was released as the second single from their third album, City of Evil. Avenged Sevenfold won 'Best New Artist' at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards for "Bat Country" and on October 1, 2009, the single was certified gold by the RIAA. 1 - Bat Country 2 - Beast And The Harlot (Live At Warped Tour 2005) Avenged Sevenfold - 2006 - Beast And The Harlot [Single]
Beast and the Harlot was released as a single taken from their third album City of Evil. The song peaked at #19 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and #44 on the UK Singles Chart. The actual song is about the fall of Babylon from the Book of Revelation, (particularly chapter seventeen) from which many quotes are taken, such as "Seven headed beast, ten horns raise from his head", "hatred strips her and leaves her naked", and other references. 1 - Beast And The Harlot [Radio Edit] 2 - Burn It Down [Live] LINK
