"It’s that time of year where Zacky, Johnny and Brooks transform into fiends": listen to Avenged Sevenfold cover Misfits classic Astro Zombies for Halloween (and show Zacky Vengeance is a hell of a singer)
Avenged Sevenfold have continued their annual Halloween tradition of covering Misfits classics with a riotous rendition of the horror punk legends' 1982 bop, Astro Zombies. Last year, Avenged guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ and drummer Brooks Wackerman smashed out their own take on hallmark Misfits anthem Last Caress - also famously cover by Metallica on 1987's The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited - and in 2021 they opted for a version of Hybrid Moments.
While, unlike in previous years, this year's Misfits take sadly isn't accompanied by a video of the band in full accompanying corpsepaint, the cover itself is hella good fun, once again showing off Vengeance's impressive vocals and suggesting he could be a formidable frontman in his own right if he ever fancied it.
Listen to Avenged's version of Astro Zombies below.
Astro Zombies was originally released on Misfits' 1982 debut album Walk Among Us. Though Walk Among Us was the first Misfits full-length to officially see the light of day, it was actually the third album recorded by the New Jersey punks, following Static Age (originally recorded in 1978) and the record that would later be known as 12 Hits From Hell (recorded in 1980). While Static Age would eventually be unveiled almost twenty years after its recording, 12 Hits From Hell would never see an official release in full, with many of its songs seeing release through various Misfits compilations and mixtapes instead.
Avenged Sevenfold released their eighth studio album Life Is But A Dream... earlier this year. Pushing the band's sound further into more surprising and experimental territories, the record was somewhat divisive for fans, but received critical acclaim, with Metal Hammer's Dave Everley rewarding it a 9/10 review and remarking: " Avenged Sevenfold have scaled the mountain and looked out over all that surrounds them, then plunged headfirst into the void, not knowing where, when or even if they’ll land. What kind of madness is this? The very best kind."
