Avenged Sevenfold have said their 2013 album ‘Hail To The King’ “cut a little too close” to Metallica.

• READ MORE: Avenged Sevenfold – ‘The Stage’ review

The album went platinum and earned the band two number one singles, but it was often criticised for sounding too much like Metallica.

Now, in a social media post, frontman M. Shadows has admitted that the album did cut “too close” to the band in response to a fan post online.

Shadows said on social media: “‘Hail to the King’ (the song) streams more than double any other tracks we have weekly. The album is on track to out-sell all the others…yet a portion of the fan base acts like it was a failure by all accounts.”

Later, a fan pointed out the album’s similarities to Metallica, writing: “Loved the record. Still do. Although I must know one thing, was ‘Sad But True’ and ‘Enter Sandman’ running through your minds when recording ‘Shepherd of Fire’ and ‘This Means War’?”

Shadows replied to the fan: “Yes, in hindsight we cut a little too close. But all you can do is learn and move on.”

Hail to the King (the song) streams more than double any other tracks we have weekly. The album is on track to out-sell all the others…yet a portion of the fan base acts like it was a failure by all accounts. ?‍♂️

— M. Shadows (@shadows_eth) October 12, 2022

Yes, in hindsight we cut a little too close. But all you can do is learn and move on.

— M. Shadows (@shadows_eth) October 13, 2022

Avenged Sevenfold have largely been out of the spotlight for the past four years. The band had to cancel a summer 2018 tour due to Shadows’ vocal issues at the time, and hasn’t played a concert since June of that year. In the meantime, they’ve been toiling away at a new album. A couple weeks ago, drummer Brooks Wackerman posted a photo of the band in the studio on Instagram, simply writing, “Done,” implying that the album was finished.

Hail to the King (the song) streams more than double any other tracks we have weekly. The album is on track to out-sell all the others…yet a portion of the fan base acts like it was a failure by all accounts. ?‍♂️

— M. Shadows (@shadows_eth) October 12, 2022

Recently, Avenged Sevenfold confirmed that they’d finished writing their new album.

First, drummer Brooks Wackerman posted about the album being almost finished, writing: “Well… this Happened on Tuesday. We-Avenged Sevenfold- started writing this record 4 years ago and I can’t believe we are 90% done…One of the perks-in the creative process- is that we are able to track a 78 piece orchestra on our records.

“The fact that we are able to bring incredible musicians together to enhance our art still gives me chills.. I can’t wait for the the world to hear this.. all I can say it’s unlike Anything we’ve ever released.. ALRIGHT and good night!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brooks Wackerman (@thebrookswackerman)

Next, he later announced the work was  “done” and posted a photo of the band together with producer and mixing engineer, Andy Wallace.

Back in January, the band said their upcoming eighth album had Kanye West as an influence.

In an interview with Metal Hammer, lead vocalist M. Shadows revealed that the band has been “very influenced by Kanye West”. He went on to elaborate: “The thing about Kanye is that he is pulling from such great soul music.”

“I didn’t grow up with that stuff – my dad listened to Boston and Alice Cooper, I didn’t get that taste of black music and old soul. So, diving deep into jazz musicians… we’re not trying to do a jazz record, but the chord changes and progressions are so eye-opening to us,” Shadows continued.