By Amanda Wicks
Avenged Sevenfold will release more details about their upcoming seventh studio album on October 27th, but while fans await the official title (rumored at the moment to be Voltaic Oceans) and drop date, the band premiered their new music video for “The Stage.”
Related: Avenged Sevenfold Unveil Grotesque Political T-Shirt
The over eight-minute-long visual focuses on a marionette stage, where puppeteers act out the history of the world. In each scene, one population oppresses another, beginning with two cavemen fighting during the Ice Age. From there, Egyptians exploit slaves to build the pyramids, Romans watch prisoners die for entertainment, Spanish conquistadors slaughter the Incas, puritans burn witches at the stake, and the bloody battle of WWI segues almost immediately into WWII.
Throughout each moment in history, the camera cuts to a barbaric crowd, eagerly and hungrily watching the turmoil and bloodshed on stage. There’s a big twist at the end, though, when the audience turns into puppets controlled by the puppeteers behind the mayhem who turn out to be a bevy of recognizable political figures.
The band hasn’t been shy about getting political of late. They recently unveiled a t-shirt showing the decapitated heads of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, which would be available to purchase at their shows.