James Owen Sullivan (February 9, 1981 – December 28, 2009),[2] also known by his stage name The Rev (shortened version of the Reverend Tholomew Plague), was an American musician, best known as a founding member of the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, where he played drums, piano and provided backing and co-lead vocals.

"[8] Sullivan had a signature drum fill called "the double-ride thing" or "the Double Octopus", as the Rev called it, "just for lack of a better definition":[9] it is a short fill consisting a full bar of sixteenth single notes played unison on double bass drums and two ride cymbals, that can be heard on tracks such as "Almost Easy", "Critical Acclaim", "Crossroads", and "Dancing Dead".

His vocals are featured in several Avenged Sevenfold songs, including "Strength of the World", "Afterlife", "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Almost Easy", "Scream", "Critical Acclaim", "Lost", "Brompton Cocktail", "Crossroads", "Flash of the Blade" (Iron Maiden cover), "Art of Subconscious Illusion", "Save Me", and "Fiction".

He also wrote and composed several songs for Avenged Sevenfold including "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Afterlife", "Almost Easy", "Unbound (The Wild Ride)", "Buried Alive", "Fiction", "Brompton Cocktail", "Welcome to the Family", "Save Me", among others.

The band was formed in the summer of 2001 in Huntington Beach, California, as a side project of the Rev, and originally featured Rev (under the name "Rathead") on vocals, along with fellow Avenged Sevenfold member Synyster Gates on guitar and former Ballistico band members Buck Silverspur (under the name "El Diablo") on bass, as well as Derek Eglit (under the name "Super Loop") on drums.

[14][15] M. Shadows stated in an interview to Hard Drive Radio: "The eeriest thing about it is there is a song on the album called 'Fiction' [a nickname the Rev gave himself] which started out with the title 'Death.'

"[14]The Rev's triple bass drum kit from the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour was donated for display at a Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.