Avenged Sevenfold have released the first single, ‘Hail to the King’, from their upcoming sixth studio album of the same name, available for streaming on YouTube.

‘Hail to the King’, due for release on August 26th, will be the first album from the Californian metallers to feature new drummer Arin Ilejay, who joined the band as a touring member in 2011, and the first album with no musical contributions from late former drummer Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan, who passed away in December 2009, and whose drums, vocals and lyrics heavily featured on the bands most recent album, 2010’s, ‘Nightmare’.

Following Sullivan’s death, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater recorded the remaining drum components of ‘Nightmare’, and toured with the band before returning to Dream Theater in 2011.
Arin Ilejay, former drummer for Confide, was recommended by studio tech Mike Fasano, and after touring and recording with the band, was confirmed as an official band member in May. Whether he will adopt a biblical stage name like his fellow members is unknown.

Discussing the upcoming album with Kerrang, lead vocalist M. Shadows stated the desire to produce a record with a different sound than previous efforts, and noted the strong influence of blues-rock, and early metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
The full track listing of ‘Hail to the King’ has not been released, however, along with the title track, Shadows revealed that the names of four of the LP’s songs, ‘Shepherd of Fire’, ‘Requiem’, ‘Planets’ and ‘Acid Rain’.

‘Hail to the King’ will be released in the United Kingdom on August 26th.

Listen to the title track, ‘Hail to the King’, here: