Zacky Vengeance says that AVENGED SEVENFOLD has commenced the songwriting process for the band's new studio album. The guitarist told Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF that there are "lots of ideas floating around" for the follow-up to 2016's "The Stage". "I think we're all pretty anxious to get back to work," he said. "None of us expected to be sitting on the sidelines for the entire summer, so that kind of started this next process early," he added, referring to the fact that AVENGED SEVENFOLD was forced to cancel its summer tour with PROPHETS OF RAGE and THREE DAYS GRACE after frontman M. Shadows came down with a viral infection that rendered him unable to sing. "Because it's been great being home, but, to be honest, a band like us, we don't like being on the sidelines for too long — we like to get back out there, get back to doing what we love to do, and especially get out there and give some new music and some new concerts to our fans."

Late last month, AVENGED SEVENFOLD released a new version of the song "Mad Hatter" in response to fan complaints over the original version's mix. The track was recorded for the "Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4" video game and was first made available online September 17. The track is included on the band's new EP, "Black Reign", which was issued on September 21.

"Mad Hatter" was recorded in Los Angeles this past March and is the first original new song AVENGED SEVENFOLD has released since last year's "Dose", which originally surfaced in the Gameloft mobile game "Dungeon Hunter 5". It later appeared on last year's "deluxe edition" reissue of "The Stage".

Photo credit: Kameron Pollock