Nightmare
Nightmare moves between theatrical heavy metal and a more exposed expression of grief. Avenged Sevenfold recorded the album after drummer Jimmy Sullivan's death, with Mike Portnoy handling the drum parts. That background is audible in the emotional weight of the singing, though the music also retains the band's taste for elaborate guitars and dramatic contrasts.
The title track begins with a deliberately ominous atmosphere before developing into a confident, tightly played attack. Its central refrain is more blunt than the music around it, but the guitar work gives the song plenty of movement. Welcome to the Family is more immediately satisfying as a whole, putting a memorable hook inside a forceful arrangement without needing the same theatrical introduction.
Buried Alive makes the contrast between restraint and heaviness especially effective. The softer beginning allows the melody to establish a definite feeling before the guitars become more severe. The later attack grows from that tension, giving the change a dramatic purpose beyond simply raising the volume. Natural Born Killer takes a faster route, with Portnoy's precise playing helping the band maintain clarity through the intensity.
The quieter material is less evenly convincing. So Far Away has a directness that suits its subject, while parts of Victim rely on familiar power-ballad gestures without finding an equally distinctive melodic idea. Placing several reflective songs in the latter half also reduces the contrast between them. Their emotional importance is clear, but the musical differences are sometimes less pronounced.
Fiction is more unsettling. The piano setting and Sullivan's retained voice give it an exposed character that the larger arrangements cannot reproduce. Its rougher edges make the performance feel particular to this record. Save Me then closes on a much wider scale, bringing detailed guitar passages, shifting rhythms and a strong melodic conclusion into one extended structure.
Nightmare works best when its emotion changes the arrangement itself. Buried Alive, Fiction and Save Me each find a different way to do that, making the album's grief feel musically specific. Some of the surrounding material is more conventional, but the stronger songs give the record a character that survives its uneven pacing.
