“FoREVer,” the band writes in a tweet, alongside a photo of The Rev in action.

James Owen Sullivan died on December 28, 2009. He was a founding member of A7X and played on the band’s first four albums: 2001’s Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, 2003’s Waking the Fallen, 2005’s City of Evil and 2007’s Avenged Sevenfold.

The Rev also wrote drum arrangements for 2010’s Nightmare before he passed away, and his vocals are included posthumously on the album.

 

 

Following Sullivan’s passing, Avenged Sevenfold recruited Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy to record drums on Nightmare. Portnoy continued to tour with the band until Arin Ilejay officially joined up. He was replaced by the band’s current drummer, former Bad Religion member Brooks Wackerman, who plays on A7X’s latest album, The Stage.

Warner Bros. to Capitol Records

Avenged Sevenfold’s legal battle with former label Warner Bros. could set a new precedent in California’s personal-services contracts.

The band has since moved on — to Capitol, which on Oct. 28 issued the group’s seventh album, The Stage, as a surprise release, promoted with a concert on top of the Capitol building. (Capitol is not named in the lawsuit, and the band didn’t begin discussions with that label until it had left Warner Bros.) On Dec. 2, Warner Bros. released an Avenged Sevenfold compilation, The Best of 2005-2013, which singer M. Shadows has criticized as an effort to undermine the band’s new project.

Now King is making the case — in court and in the media — that the new Avenged Sevenfold album wouldn’t have been worth as much to Warner since, he argues, layoffs have hampered the label’s ability to promote rock acts.

“This case is about Warner’s inability to show damages because they wouldn’t have been able to put out a successful album,” says Avenged Sevenfold’s attorney in the case, Howard King. “The band left because it wasn’t the same label.”

(credit: Billboard / Wjb Radio)