The band's name is a reference to the book of Genesis in the Bible where Cain is sentenced to live in exile for the crime of murdering his brother. God marked him so that none would kill him on account of his sin; the man who dared to kill Cain would have "vengeance taken upon him sevenfold." The title of Avenged Sevenfold's song "Chapter Four" references Genesis 4:15, the chapter of the Bible in which the story of Cain and Abel takes place. The song's subject also appears to be this story. "Beast and the Harlot", yet another song derived from the Bible, comes from the book of Revelation only it is written in the first person and refers to the punishment of Babylon the Great, world empire and seat of false religion. Another Bible reference occurs in the song "The Wicked End". In the song, several times it is said "dust the apple off, savor each bite, and deep inside you know Adam was right." making reference to Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Although theAvenged band'sSevenfold's title and members' stage names make references to religion, Shadows stated in an interview that they are "not really religious at all." "Anyone that read the lyrics and really knew anything about us, they would know we're not promoting either", he said. "That's one thing about this band that I love is that we never really shove any kind of, like, political or religious beliefs on people. We just, the music's there to entertain and maybe thought-provoking on both sides, but we don't try to, like, really shove anything down anyone's throat. There's too many bands that do that nowadays, I think."

While often categorized as metalcore or hard rock, Avenged Sevenfold's material ranges across many genres, often leaving the concept of genres altogether (especially in their most recent album). For example, Avenged Sevenfold's debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely of a metalcore sound, however consisted of several deviations to this genre, most notably in "Streets" which adopts a Punk style, and "Warmness on the Soul". Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, again, consists of several deviations to less consistent genres and styles, most notably in "Dear God", which adopts a country style, and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which includes elements of broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. The band has, though, changed considerably since its first album, which was characterized as very heavy, to being more of a hard rock type band. Although in disbelief to the public, they had gotten their motivation, and encouragement from the old style punk band NOFX.

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