Avenged Sevenfold - Beast And The Harlot

Whether in the flamboyant stage shows or hardman posturing, metal is pretty silly. The question is whether you can take a sense of humour seriously. Combining the foot-on-the-monitor headbang with the jump-around-sing-along choruses of pop-punk (an oxymoron if ever there was one), Avenged Sevenfold's Beast and The Harlot from their recent album 'City Of Evil' is utterly ridiculous and over-blown, but also great fun. In a world that can love The Darkness, these guys will surely thrive. [Ali Maloney]