Hail to the King is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released on August 23, 2013, through Warner Bros. Records.

Hail to the King was the only Avenged Sevenfold album to feature drummer Arin Ilejay, prior to his departure in July 2015.

It was also the first Avenged Sevenfold album without musical contributions from Ilejay's late predecessor, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan; the bonus track, "St. James", was written in his memory.

It also topped the Canadian, Brazilian, Finnish and Irish album charts, and spawned two number one singles on Billboard's Mainstream Rock, "Hail to the King", and "Shepherd of Fire".

[16] On August 8, 2013, "Shepherd of Fire" was revealed to be the theme song of the Call of Duty: Black Ops II Zombies map "Origins", included in its final downloadable content pack titled Apocalypse.

[21] The album also shows a thrash metal sound, with fast to mid-paced tempos, heavily distorted guitars, and war, religious intolerance or corruption themed lyrics.

[22] The same day, the band revealed a Limited Edition of Hail to the King for pre-order available on their website, much as they did with their previous album, Nightmare.

[25] In a summary of his review, Chris Epting of Loudwire called the album "a modern metal classic that reflects the past while very much embracing the present".

In a very positive review, Dom Lawson of The Guardian judged, "Stripped down to a core of thudding Sabbath-like grooves and brash, spiky vocal refrains, Avenged now sound every bit as vital and imperious as the bands they aspire to emulate.

"The next giant crossover metal band has arrived", reviewer Tom Bryant concluded, giving the album a 4 stars out of 5 rating.

In a mixed review, Jason Lymangrover of AllMusic remarked: "Unfortunately, once they tried to take inspiration from other bands, they mimicked them so well that they lost their sense of identity in the process".

said: "After it concludes, Hail to the King makes it challenging for listeners to recall any specific moment, which defeats the purpose of a pop (metal) album".