AVENGED SEVENFOLD Shares Video Recap Of First-Ever 'Deathbats Club' Event In New York City

Two weeks ago, AVENGED SEVENFOLD hosted its very first event for members of the band's community-driven NFT project, Deathbats Club, over the span of two days in New York City.

Said AVENGED SEVENFOLD: "We were elated to see DBC members from all over the world come together in person to celebrate the community we've worked to build together. This is only the beginning of the utility that our Deathbat tokens provide.

"Thank you for showing up, sharing your stories, and helping us kick off the first of many intimate gatherings. We came, we tattooed, we partied... Until next time! #DBCNY".

A six-minute video recap of the event can be seen below.

Deathbats Club is a collection of 10,000 unique Deathbat NFTs, made popular by AVENGED SEVENFOLD, flying around the Ethereum blockchain.

This past February, AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows said that the band's new album was "90 percent done" after the band was able to get a 78-piece orchestra to record its parts for the follow-up to "The Stage". A month earlier, M. Shadows told Metal Hammer that the band would complete the mixing of its eighth studio album by March. "The record's been recorded for a year, but we haven't been able to put the real strings on it, because we couldn't fly out to Prague," he said. "When an orchestra have to social distance and they aren't sitting next to each other, they can get out of tune, and we have just finally got to a place where we can use this 70-piece orchestra as we intended."

Regarding the musical direction of the follow-up to "The Stage", M. Shadows said: "There are so many influences… We're very influenced by Kanye West. 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 [and] 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."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD kept a low profile during 2019. A blood blister on M. Shadows's vocal cords forced the band to cancel a summer 2018 tour with PROPHETS OF RAGE and THREE DAYS GRACE.

"The Stage" was surprise-released in October 2016. The release of the disc, which was announced the night it went on sale, earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED SEVENFOLD album in 11 years. It sold 76 thousand copies in its first week, 73 thousand of which were physical.

"The Stage", AVENGED's debut for Capitol, sold less than half as many copies in its first week as the group's two previous efforts, 2010's "Nightmare" and 2013's "Hail To The King".