Avenged Sevenfold

The members of Avenged Sevenfold were still attending high school in when they formed their band in 1999. It didn't take long for M. Shadows (vocals), Zacky Vengeance (guitar), Synyster Gates (guitar), the Rev (drums), and Johnny Christ (bass) to make an impression with their aggressive hybrid of metal, hard rock, and punk-pop. The band made its official debut in July 2001, releasing Sounding the Seventh Trumpet on the Good Life label before moving to Hopeless for 2003's Waking the Fallen. Warner Bros. took interest in the band's aggressive sound and issued its breakthrough release, City of Evil, in June 2005. The album reached number 30 on Billboard's Top 200. The music video for Bat Country was heavily rotated on MTV and Fuse, where live appearances also helped boost Avenged's growing profile, and the band won the Best New Artist Award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. On December 22nd, 2009 Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan passed away, leaving the band without a drummer. Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater filled in for him for the rest of the tour until they could find a new drummer. And that is exactly what they did, in January they found a new drummer, Arin Ilejay, who helped record their new single, Not Ready To Die.