Originally slated for an October 16 release, it was delayed by two weeks in order to provide more time to complete bonus material and production for the record.

[10] Avenged Sevenfold revealed the track listing for the album on their YouTube profile on August 9, 2007, as well as their text messaging service, A7X Mobile.

The band also posted a teaser on a recent YouTube blog featuring an excerpt of vocalist M. Shadows screaming in the studio.

[11] In the weeks leading up to the album's release, a series of ten video clips, called "webisodes", were recorded featuring "Wolfie the Fox".

The clip consists of a pre-recorded phone message from "Wolfie the Fox" and a few scenes of their process of making "Critical Acclaim".

The clips featured a short mock-interview between M. Shadows and Wolfie the Fox, various band members during the making of various tracks for Avenged Sevenfold, and other background videos.

Originally the band intended to release this footage if viewers watched the official music video for the track on YouTube 150,000 times.

To promote their new album, Avenged Sevenfold started their US tour on October 29, headlining in Los Angeles at The Wiltern.

On October 31, 2008, Avenged Sevenfold mentioned that fans of the band were eligible to make their own music video for the song "Scream".

[15] The song received negative attention due to the perceived political nature of the lyrics,[16][17][18] though bassist Johnny Christ explained that it was "more of a human thing", and not a criticism of one group of people.

[22] The USC Trojans Marching Band performed the song "Almost Easy" at the Rose Bowl halftime show on January 1, 2009.

[29][30] "Dear God" was the fourth single and a notable deviation from the band's usual heavy metal style, taking on more of a country feel.

[31] The album represents a further move away from the metalcore of the band's early work, and closer to traditional heavy metal, as opposed to the faster tempos of City of Evil.

[34] The album features The Rev doing co-lead vocals on the songs "Critical Acclaim", "Scream", "Afterlife", "Lost", and "A Little Piece of Heaven".

He also provides vocals on "Almost Easy" and "Brompton Cocktail", as well as the bonus track "Crossroads" (which was later included on Diamonds in the Rough, a compilation of this album's outtakes).

[35] Jason Lymangrover of AllMusic had given the album a rating of three stars out of five and wrote "While their willingness to experiment is admirable, despite the fact that they've gone overboard with their overdubs, the overabundance of studio polish leaves one to wonder if it's not because the songs just aren't as strong this time around".

Club who commented "The catchy Stone Temple Pilots vibe of 'Scream' is enough to put the band back on the charts, but that could happen with more than half of this album...And it probably will".

A much more negative review came from Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic summarising "Avenged Sevenfold resemble a poor man's Hardcore Superstar" and rated the album one out of five.