Avenged Sevenfold appears to be the victim of an elaborate hack in which AI deepfake technology was used to announce a fake festival cancellation amid a suspected delay in the band’s next album.
As we learned, nothing stated in the original announcement was true, singer M. Shadows confirmed on Twitter.
So what exactly happened?
A one-minute clip listing the key announcements, as reported and transcribed by Metal Injection, has been uploaded to Avenged Sevenfold’s “Trax” podcast via streaming platforms. After all, this wasn’t really his A7X frontman, but his likeness via deepfake/AI/voice-to-speech tech.
A transcript, reproduced below in its entirety, states at the time that the group had opted to cancel their appearances at Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple this May due to “unexpected delays for the new album.” was showing 2016 successor stage.
The fake announcement continues to express the band’s dedication to the new record and that these decisions weren’t easy.
Dear Trax listeners, we apologize for the bad news, but we want you to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Due to unexpected delays in the production of her new album, New decided to cancel her appearances at Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple to focus on finishing. It breaks our hearts to do this, but some things must be done.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Creating new music is a passion to which we have devoted our lives and we believe our fans deserve the best from us. We put our heart and soul into making it the best it can be.
We are working tirelessly on this new music and are committed to getting it to you as soon as possible. We know that canceling more shows would be a huge disappointment. Many of you will be disappointed and frustrated. Deeply apologize.
We appreciate your understanding and support. Your dedication to our music and unwavering enthusiasm for our shows inspire us every day. We promise to make it up to you and we’ll see you soon. We apologize again for the inconvenience caused. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
upon twitter, Shadows was stunned by the news, citing that he tweeted a since-deleted post from Avenged Sevenfold regarding the cancellation of Fest, exclaiming: Not true. we are still playingget to the bottom of this,” he continued another tweet (Linking to the “Trax” announcement in question, “Literally walking down the streets of Mexico listening to this. The actual fuck is… not me!”
It remains to be seen if this hack was actually real, or if it’s an elaborate hype campaign by Avenged Sevenfold.band do Has a history of toying with fans, even with big album news, teasing at first Volta Sea As the title of the last album before the surprise release announced by A7X stage It was released shortly after a 3D 360-degree virtual live stream atop the Capitol Records building.
stay tuned!
We asked an AI chatbot why 20 classic albums are so great – here’s the answer
This is what an AI chatbot had to say about classic rock and metal albums.