“I’m a bit of a troublemaker,” says Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows. The self-proclaimed atheist is referring to reactions to a video message he recorded to Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, welcoming the two men home after two years in captivity. Gilboa-Dalal, who was 22 when he was kidnapped by terrorists on October 7, 2023, is a devoted fan of the group. After his return, he noted that their music helped him get through some difficult days in the Gaza Strip, where the war against Hamas was playing out overhead and darkness and isolation threatened below, potentially ending his life at any moment.
Shadows' message – “So glad to hear you're home. What you guys went through is unspeakable and terrible,” said the Huntington Beach, Calif., native – was non-political and intended for an audience of two. But once it was released (with the band's permission), it attracted a lot of attention.
“I won’t worry about it; I know it’s right,” says Shadows. “I think you have to stick to your moral compass, but I've definitely heard it from both sides. To me, this video is just a person doing something for another person. It doesn't take a political stance. It's not in anyone's face. It's really about two people who have been through hell. And if we can't agree on that, then it's really hard to agree on anything.”
Shadows is acutely aware of the divide among A7X fans and the general public when it comes to what he calls “this particular topic.” “You know the hammer is going to fall on the other side. But if you worry about that, then you're just going to live your life in fear and… in an untruthful place. We've done things for a lot of different people, different cultures and different religions. And at the end of the day, if they're fans of ours, we really want to reach out and want to support them in some way. And so it doesn't feel fair – [this idea that] “If you are not on my side, then you are the enemy.” It's really disgusting.”
Avenged Sevenfold has a large following in Israel and the band has performed there in the past. But Shadows says his connection to the country runs deeper. “On October 7, two cousins we were hanging out with when we played in Israel were killed. So it all hit hard,” he says. “Again, there was nothing political about it. These were two girls that we know – sweet, innocent people. Horrible things happened to them and they didn't understand it. I made a post at the time that was very neutral – it's just that our hearts are broken and that's what happened. I mean… words seem so cheap, right?”
Although Avenged Sevenfold are popular in the metal world, touring the world, releasing eight studio albums and amassing a multimillion-dollar social media following, including over 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Shadows keeps their hostage video low-key. “If I were released in two years, the last thing I would care about would be a video of the band’s singer,” he laughs. “But I thought, If you think this will help, then of course I'll do it. We know they care deeply about our group, and we wanted to do whatever we could to give them some reprieve, some relief, or some joy. That's what it came down to.”
Shadowz has experience in the Middle East that dates back to long before the current conflict. As the group matured (they signed with Warner Bros. Records in 2004 and are now fully independent for the first time in 20 years), they performed several shows for U.S. military personnel deployed during the Gulf War. Their songs also feature themes of faith, conflict and country.
“The songs we had about the war around 2005 and 2006, a lot of them had to do with how our friends went to Iraq and were some of the first to arrive in Fallujah,” Shadows says, noting, “We played in Iraq, Kuwait and down to Abu Dhabi. Our whole idea is that we're not some militant band that has this line in the sand. We're We want to play music for every person who wants to come to our concerts.”
To this end, the Shadows sympathize Disturbed frontman David Draiman, who is irritated by his public support for Israel, which led to the cancellation of a concert in Belgium. “I really respect David, not only for his stance, but for the fact that he believes in something and believes in it completely,” Shadows says.
This brings the conversation back to the point. “As a Californian, you have these discussions at the dinner table or you read articles and form these opinions,” says Shadows, whose group is particularly addressed their previous use of the Confederate flag in their images after the Black Lives Matter movement. “There are a lot of people who are on both sides. I've heard from Jews in the music community, and also from a lot of fans in Indonesia and Malaysia, places where we do well that are much more Muslim-dominated, who are extremely disappointed that we're making a video for Israeli prisoners. It was just a humanitarian approach – these people have been through a lot.”
While waiting for Avenged, Sevenfold Shadows is experiencing something of a liberation as an independent artist. “We'll go back to the DIY ethic that bands had to do to make it, because there's no clear way to make it anymore,” he says of the major label system. “Right now it’s very difficult for record labels to find new artists and gain traction in a market that’s so driven by TikTok, memes and quick fixes.” Economics, he adds, don't make sense for a band like Avenged Sevenfold today. “I find it extremely liberating because now it's sort of a fair system,” he says. “It's just about the work you put in, the songs you write and how to perform in front of people. That's my sugar-coated, over-optimistic view of it.”
You could apply the same positivity to Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal. “I haven’t heard anything about them yet,” Shadow says. “But I'm sure we'll play there and do something for them.”
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