The Stage

The Stage is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It was released on October 28, 2016, through Capitol Records, their only release through the label. It is the first Avenged Sevenfold album to feature drummer Brooks Wackerman, who joined the band in November 2015 but was not revealed as previous drummer Arin Ilejay's official replacement until Ilejay's departure in 2015, because the band wanted to find a drummer that would "fit in". Written and recorded throughout 2016, The Stage was musically different for the band, marking a progressive metal sound. It is Avenged Sevenfold's first concept album, with its main theme being based on artificial intelligence and self-destruction of society. It is the band's longest studio album at 73 minutes and 35 seconds, thus beating 2005's City of Evil by almost a minute. In addition to being their longest album, The Stage features their longest song to date, "Exist", with a run-time of 15 minutes and 41 seconds. Upon release, the album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. It received positive reviews from critics. The title track was nominated at 60th Annual Grammy Awards (2018) in "Best Rock Song" category. The Foo Fighters won the award with their track "Run". Background In March 2016, Avenged Sevenfold held "March Mania", a tournament to find the most fan loved Avenged Sevenfold song voted each week by fans. On March 31, 2016, Avenged Sevenfold released a video on their YouTube channel and announced "A Little Piece of Heaven" was the winner, then gave an update on the new album, even giving a small clip of a new song, "Exist".