{"id":49514,"date":"2025-10-19T16:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T16:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/19\/avenged-sevenfold-singer-explains-message-to-freed-israeli-hostages\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T16:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T16:59:26","slug":"avenged-sevenfold-singer-explains-message-to-freed-israeli-hostages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/19\/avenged-sevenfold-singer-explains-message-to-freed-israeli-hostages\/","title":{"rendered":"Avenged Sevenfold Singer Explains Message to Freed Israeli Hostages"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\t\u201cI\u2019m a bit of a troublemaker,\u201d says Avenged Sevenfold<\/a> frontman M. Shadows. The self-described atheist is referencing the reaction to a video message he recorded for Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, welcoming the two men home after two years in captivity. Gilboa-Dalal, who was 22 when kidnapped by terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, is a diehard fan of the band, noting after his return that their music carried him through some difficult days in Gaza, where a war against Hamas played out overhead as darkness and isolation threatened below \u2014 potentially ending his life at any moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tShadows\u2019 message \u2014 \u201cSo excited to hear you are home. The things you guys have been through are unspeakable, terrible,\u201d said the Huntington Beach, Calif. native \u2014 was not political in nature and intended for a viewing audience of two. But once released into the world (with the band\u2019s permission), it drew scrutiny.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not something that I\u2019m going to worry about; I know that it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d says Shadows. \u201cI think you have to stick to your moral compass, but I\u2019ve definitely heard it from both sides.\u00a0To me, that video is just a human doing something for another human. It\u2019s not making a political stance. It\u2019s not sticking it in someone\u2019s eye. It really is about two human beings that have been through hell. And if we can\u2019t agree on that, it\u2019s really hard to agree on anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShadows is acutely aware of the division among A7X fans, and the greater public, when it comes to, what he calls, \u201cthis particular subject.\u201d \u201cYou know the hammer\u2019s going to come down from the other side. But if you worry about that, then you\u2019re just going to live your life scared and \u2026 in an untruthful sort of place. We\u2019ve done things for a lot of different people across different cultures and different religions. And at the end of the day, if they\u2019re fans, we really want to reach out and we want to support them in some sort of way. And so it just seems unfair \u2014 [this idea that] \u2018if you\u2019re not on my side, then you\u2019re an enemy.\u2019 It\u2019s really kind of gross.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAvenged Sevenfold has a robust following in Israel and the band has performed there in the past. But Shadows says his connection to the country goes deeper. \u201cOn October 7th, two cousins who we hung out with when we played in Israel, were, you know, murdered. So the whole thing hit home hard,\u201d he says. \u201cAgain, it wasn\u2019t anything political. It was two girls that we know \u2014 sweet, innocent people. Terrible things happened to them and they didn\u2019t make it out. I made a post then that was very neutral \u2014 just our hearts are broken and this happened. I mean .\u2026 words seem so cheap, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs popular as Avenged Sevenfold are in the metal world, having toured globally, released eight studio albums and amassed a social following of many millions \u2014 including more than 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify \u2014 Shadows views his video for the hostages quite modestly. \u201cIf I just got released after two years, the last thing I would care about is a video from a singer of a band,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cBut I was like, if you think it would help, of course I\u2019ll do it. We know they care deeply about our band, and we wanted to do anything we could to give them some sort of reprieve, some sort of a relief, or some sort of joy. So that\u2019s really what it all came down to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShadows has experience in the Middle East that far predates the current conflict. As the band was coming up \u2014 they signed with Warner Bros. Records in 2004 and are now fully independent for the first time in 20 years \u2014 they performed several shows for U.S. service members deployed during the Gulf War. Their songs have also featured themes of faith, conflict, and country.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe songs we had about war around 2005 and 2006, a lot of it had to do with our friends going off to Iraq, being some of the first people into Fallujah,\u201d says Shadows, noting, \u201cWe\u2019ve played Iraq, Kuwait, and further over into Abu Dhabi. Our whole thing is that we\u2019re not some militant band that has this line in the sand. We want to play music for every human that wants to come to our shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tTo that end, Shadows empathizes with Disturbed<\/a> frontman David Draiman, who is feeling the heat for his public support of Israel, which resulted in the cancelation of a concert in Belgium. \u201cI really respect David, not just for where he stands, but that he believes in something and he\u2019s full-force into it,\u201d says Shadows.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhich brings the conversation back around to the matter at hand. \u201cBeing from California, you have these discussions at the dinner table, or you read op-eds, and you form these opinions,\u201d says Shadows, whose band notably addressed their prior use of a Confederate flag<\/a> in their imagery in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that fall on both sides of this thing. I heard from Jewish people in the music community, and from a lot of fans in Indonesia and Malaysia, places where we do well that are much more Muslim-dominant, who are extremely disappointed that we would make a video for Israeli prisoners. This was just a humanist approach \u2014 these people have been through a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAs Avenged Sevenfold looks forward, Shadows is experiencing his own kind of liberation as an independent artist. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be back to those DIY ethics, that bands had to do to break in the first place, because there is no clear-cut way to get traction anymore,\u201d he says of the major label system. \u201cRecord labels have an extremely hard time right now breaking new artists, and gaining momentum in the marketplace which is so driven by TikTok, and memes, and quick fixes.\u201d The economics, he adds, don\u2019t make sense for a band like Avenged Sevenfold today. \u201cI find it extremely liberating, because it\u2019s kind of a fair system now,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just about the work you put in, the songs you write, and getting out there and in front of people. That\u2019s my glossed-over, super-optimistic look on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYou could apply the same positivity to Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal. \u201cI\u2019ve not heard from them yet,\u201d says Shadow. \u201cBut I\u2019m sure we will play over there and do something for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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