Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows revealed on Tuesday (July 6) that the hard rock act's next studio album, the follow-up to 2016's The Stage, will be out in time for the band's return to the concert stage in summer 2022.

The lead vocalist for the "Bat Country" rockers shared the loose timeline during a livestream interview with That Space Zebra Show, but he still kept most of his cards close to his chest. So far, A7X fans don't know a lot about the upcoming effort, and that's by design — even describing the sound of the album was something Shadows was unwilling to do this week, apparently because such a description could get misconstrued.

"The reason we don't say much about the music," Shadows said, "is because we find that every single word we say about it just gets spun off, and there's no way to describe music. It's like, ​'Oh, it's heavy, it's fast…' What are we gonna say about it?" [via Kerrang]

He continued, "It's a work of art that we've worked on for a long time; we had a bunch of personal things that we'll explain later… but we're booking shows for next summer, and the record will be out before then."

That lines up with what Shadows has said over the last year or so. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced most artists to stop performing live throughout 2020, adjacent plans such as album releases often were thrown into a similar holding pattern. That certainly applies to Avenged Sevenfold.

"It doesn't make sense for us right now to put out a record and not be able to tour it," the singer explained in February. "The world has changed. Putting out a record on Spotify without touring for a rock band, it just doesn't make sense to us. So we're going to wait till everything is back, then we'll come out with the record, finish it up and all will be good."

In December 2020, Shadows matter-of-factly established that outlook by saying, "The reality is — and no one wants to hear this — in this day and age, rock 'n' roll just takes too long to make. You know, it's going to be a 3-year record to make. And if we put that record out and then we're locked down for another year, as much as people don't want to believe this, they are not going to give a shit about a record that came out a year prior when it's time to tour."

Watch Shadows' Space Zebra interview by clicking here. The show is hosted by Bobby Schubenski (BlackCraft Cult Clothing), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit) and Josh Balz (Strange Kids, ex-Motionless In White).

Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows Through the Years

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