A Little Piece of Heaven Review

If there is one band that epitomizes underrated, it's Avenged Sevenfold. With a rough exterior and outstanding musical talent, Avenged Sevenfold (otherwise known as A7X) has left their mark on the hard rock genre. The quality of their songs far exceeds many other groups, so it's a shame that so few people know about them. Every one of their songs has deep meaning embedded in every arpeggio and vocal. Well, almost every song. There is one particular piece by A7X that has no true meaning, but still manages to be both a lyrical and musical masterpiece.

The title of the song itself is A Little Piece of Heaven. I like to call it the most macabre love story ever told. I will warn you, though. The lyrics to the song are definitely rated R, so it's not recommended to all audiences. This is how the story within the song plays out. A man is having dinner with his girlfriend, and he proposes to her. His girlfriend, however, does not believe they should be married yet, and denies his offer. This sends the man into a fit of madness. He
believes that he may lose his girlfriend if they aren't
wedded, and as such, kills her. He then proceeds to cut out her heart, eat it, and desecrate her corpse. Yeah, like I said, it's got some rated R lyrics. After all of this happens, the spirit of the dead girlfriend re-animates her long dead body, and kills the guy in a similar fashion to how he killed her. At this point, both the guy and girl are in Hell, and end up meeting each other. The guy explains why he did what he did, and the girl offers him a chance to prove his love for her. The guy suggests that they go to a wedding in progress, slaughter the bride and groom, and be wedded themselves. The girl agrees, and they re-animate their corpses once again. Now back in the land of the living, the undead couple completely annihilate a wedding in progress, and are pronounced man and wife by an undead minister. I would be lying if I said I didn't cringe at least a little bit when I first listened to this song. The description of the events that occur are done with such vivid detail that it makes you wonder, "How in God's name did they write this?" An example of this would be the line, "The possibilities I never considered are occuring none the likes of which I'd ever heard. Now an angry soul comes back from beyond the grave to re-possess somebody with which I misbehaved. Smiling right from ear to ear. Almost laughed herself to tears." I would go on, but it would start to get disturbing. However, despite being a thoroughly messed up song, ALPOH has some very descriptive, gritty lyrics that make it both an artistic and atmospheric piece of music. Speaking of atmosphere, the song itself has to be one of the most finely crafted pieces of music I have ever heard.

A7X has always been know for doing big, epic pieces, and ALPOH is no exception. Unlike most of their songs, ALPOH is set up like an opera piece, complete with violins, trombone's, and choir. The song is eight minutes long total, so there is a lot of room for music, an oh, is ALPOH filled with amazing music. From start to finish, this song is packed to the breaking point with symphonies, orchestras, and plenty of other operatic qualities. You might think that with as macabre as the story is, the symphonic tone would be detrimental. Actually, it's the opposite way around. The music does nothing except push the whole feel of the song forward, and does so in spectacular fashion. When listening to it, you really feel captivated by the music and lyrics, and almost feel like you're listening to a five star symphony by the end. The lead singer, M. Shadows, has a voice that's best described as a diamond in the rough. It can be very throaty and scratchy, or it can be smooth and calming. M. Shadows exercises his voice to his fullest extent in ALPOH, and he really manages to capture the essence of the song with it. There are also female vocals done by Shannah Crooks, who also manages to encapsulate the feel of the song with her beautiful voice.

A Little Piece of Heaven is one of those rare songs that is so good, it really can't be described with words. From start to finish, the song is an absolute joy to listen to, and is filled with dark pleasures and joyful madness. The operatic tone and amazing vocals only drive the piece further to it's five star rating. Yes, I am giving ALPOH five out of five stars. Why? Because it shows that even if you are very rough on the outside, you can be a true gem on the inside.