The goofy monikers like “Synyster Gates” and “Johnny Christ.” Johnny Christ’s mohawk. M. Shadows’ fingernails-on-a-chalkboard voice. Too emo. Too much eyeliner. Too much looking like Hot Topic catalog model rejects. GN’R wannabes. Or maybe Metallica. But “Load” Metallica, not “Master of Puppets” Metallica. Actually, not really even metal at all. Overly commercial. Except for surprise-releasing “The Stage” without advance promotion — that was dumb because it cost ’em record sales. Oh, also, “The Stage” is too proggy. But “Hail to the King” was too straightforward.
“From Day 1, we’ve always gotten backlash for certain outlandish ideas that we’ve had and presented,” guitarist Zacky Vengeance (“Zacky Vengeance?