Avenged Sevenfold was seemingly hacked over the weekend by an AI deepfake via their podcast Trax.

The deepfake hack targeted the podcast by uploading a new episode that has since been deleted. The faux episode was transcribed by Metal Injection and claimed the band was backing out of upcoming festival shows due to issue with the band’s upcoming studio album.

“We’ve had some unexpected delays on the new album and have decided to cancel our appearances at Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple to focus on finishing it up,” per the hack-cast, which was allegedly done in singer M. Shadows’s voice. “It breaks our heart to do this, but some things have to be done. I understand this is disappointing news for everyone, and I want to let you know that we are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused … We’ve been working tirelessly on this new music and are committed to bringing it to you as soon as possible. We know that canceling more shows is a major disappointment, and I want to assure you that this is a decision we did not make lightly.”

RELATED: M. Shadows Offers Update on New Avenged Sevenfold Album

After this episode went live, Shadows caught wind of it and shared via Twitter, “Literally walking in the streets of Mexico and listening to this. What the actual f-ck… NOT ME!” He later added in response to a tweet, “Yikes! This is NOT TRUE. We are still playing. Getting to the bottom of this.”

 

While this whole incident is very bizarre, some outlets — including Metal Hammer and Loudwire — have speculated that the whole situation might be an elaborate stunt to help promote their highly-anticipated studio LP. The last album from A7X was 2016’s The Stage, which was a surprise release. This new LP has long been in the works and has had multiple timetables for release. Shadows said in April 2022 the album would drop either in late 2022 or early 2023.

 

Synyster Gates Tattooed A7X Fans While Drunk at Recent Event

There’s no cute way to introduce this story: A drunken Synyster Gates tattooed some Avenged Sevenfold fans at a recent event, and the tattoos are…well…interesting.

The event in question was organized by the Deathbats Club, a unique NFT/blockchain grouping that is limited to 10,000 members and derives its name from A7X’s logo. Gates was in attendance at the event, along with M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, Johnny Christ and Brooks Wackerman.

Gates shared/retweeted a number of photos from the event showing off his drunken tattoo work. Scroll below to see the type of ink some fans received! Once again, they’re interesting.