Formed in Huntington Beach, California in 1999, the band originally featured vocalist M. Shadows (Matthew Sanders), guitarist Zacky Vengeance (Zachary Baker), bassist Matt Wendt and drummer The Rev (James Sullivan).

[1] After replacing Wendt with Justin Sane and later Dameon Ash, Avenged Sevenfold settled on Johnny Christ (Jonathan Seward) on bass in 2003 to record Waking the Fallen.

[2][3] The 2005 follow-up City of Evil reached number 30 on the Billboard 200 US albums chart,[3] and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2009.

[8][9] Avenged Sevenfold was the band's final full release to feature The Rev, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol on December 28, 2009, while they were producing their next album Nightmare.

[18] After four years of writing and recording,[19] the band released their eighth studio album, Life Is But a Dream... on June 2, 2023,[20] and it peaked at number 13 in the US the same month.