Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows feels that there is no innovation in metal music because fans are not open for it: “When you see great artists, a lot of them aren’t in the metal scene”

Metal band Avenged Sevenfold have been working on their new album during the pandemic, which is almost ready for release. The band have previously said that they took inspiration for the album from rapper Kanye West, and the album also features a string orchestra.

Now, in a recent episode of the Bob Lefsetz Podcast, the band’s frontman M. Shadows shares his thoughts on the state of metal music and the lack of innovation he feels the genre is experiencing.

“I think the purely metal scene is always going to be there. Like you said, it’s always got a pulse. I don’t think the innovation is there, and I don’t think the ability for fans to have an open mind for when something is innovative, something is different, is there. I think the great songwriting has been lost a little bit, as well as some of these eccentric pieces of music”, Shadows says and continues:

“When Metallica came out there was nothing like that. It seems like a lot of bands in my generation are just treading the same waters that Metallica’s already done. And I think when you see great artists, a lot of them aren’t in the metal scene. There’s a lot of great art out there, and I would argue there are some amazing pop, some amazing hip hop, some amazing R&B, and some artists that are doing truly eccentric stuff.”

Part of the reason, Shadows says, is that, in his view, metal fans too easily judge new music as non-metal.