"A Little Piece of Heaven" is a song by American heavy metal band

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance, ...

. It is the ninth song from their self-titled fourth album. Though not released as a single, the song is one of the band's most popular. In December, 2007, the song received an animated music video. The song was written by the band's drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, and features him on dueling lead vocals with

M. Shadows Matthew Charles Sanders (born July 31, 1981), known by his stage name M. Shadows, is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and a founding member of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. In 2017, Shadows was voted third in th ...

Background

"A Little Piece of Heaven" was written by drummer

The Rev James Owen Sullivan (February 9, 1981 – December 28, 2009), also known by his stage name the Rev (shortened version of ''the Reverend Tholomew Plague''), was an American musician, best known as a member of the heavy metal music, heavy metal ...

. The original version of the song was entitled "Big Bear", which was the name of the cabin the band were staying at when the song was written. The "Big Bear" demo featured The Rev doing all the instruments and vocals. It was originally intended to be on a Halloween EP, but once the band's

Record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

heard it, they insisted it be on the album.

Lyrics and music

"A Little Piece of Heaven" is about a man who murders his girlfriend, eats her heart, and rapes her corpse. The girlfriend then returns from the dead and does the same to him. The two reconcile, get married, and together they begin killing others. Songwriter The Rev stated the song was inspired by the works of

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

and his band

Oingo Boingo Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the ye ...

. The band worked with brass and string sections for the song. The song is supposedly inspired by

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

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, in which horns and orchestral strings replaced the band's lead and rhythm guitars. Members of the band have compared the song to "an eight-minute movie".

Music video

In December 2007, an animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven". The video for the song features a man who, after having his marriage proposal rejected, murders his girlfriend. Due to the song's controversial subject matter, Warner Brothers initially only released it to registered MVI users over the internet. However, it was later released to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on October 26, 2009. The video was directed by Rafa Alcantra.

Critical reception and legacy

"A Little Piece of Heaven" is one of the band's most popular songs, and is considered among their best by fans and critics alike. ''

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off ...

'' and ''Return of Rock'' ranked the song at number 1 and number 3 respectively on their lists of the greatest Avenged Sevenfold songs. ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

'' also ranked the song at number 11 on their ranking of the band's best songs. It has over 130 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

and 97 million views on

. It is the top rated song from its parent album on Metacritic. It was voted as the best Avenged Sevenfold song in an official song tournament during March Madness. The music of the song has been compared to the bands

Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout their career, the band is best known for music created during their most experimental era. During this time, ...

and

My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...

, as well as

. It has also been described as the band's

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...

. The members of

Fearless Vampire Killers ''The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck'' (shortened to ''The Fearless Vampire Killers''; originally released in the United Kingdom as ''Dance of the Vampires'') is a 1967 British comedy horror film directed b ...

had the song in their list of the best Avenged Sevenfold songs, calling it "Like a rock opera within one song". The song has also been compared to the film scores of composer/musician

, specifically his scores to the films

The Nightmare Before Christmas ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick (in his feature directorial debut) and produced and ...

and

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. "A Little Piece of Heaven" has been played 313 times live by Avenged Sevenfold. It is the band's ninth most performed song live overall, directly behind

Buried Alive Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally on the mistaken assumption that they are dead, or intentionally as a form of t ...

. A live performance of the song was featured on the live album

Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough ''Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough'' is the first live DVD, and compilation album by heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold released on September 16, 2008 by Warner Bros. Records. The live DVD features the band's April 10, 2008 show at Long ...

Personnel

All credits adapted from the album's liner notes. ;Avenged Sevenfold *

– co-lead vocals *

– drums, co-lead vocals, piano, percussion *Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitar *

Synyster Gates Brian Elwin Haner Jr. (born July 7, 1981), better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American guitarist, best known for being the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. He ranks No. ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

Johnny Christ Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance, ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals ;Session musicians *Additional vocals by

Juliette Commagere Juliette Commagere is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who was formerly the lead singer and keytar player of the band Hello Stranger. In 2008 she began a solo career with the release of ''Queens Die Proudly''. Commagere has also performe ...

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

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Upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

Miles Mosley Miles Mosley is an American musician, producer and composer from Hollywood, California. He is known for his vocal and bass skills, as well as his abilities as a composer, arranger and music producer. He is also a founding member of the West C ...

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

by Cameron Stone *

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s by Caroline Campbell and Neel Hammond *

Viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

by Andrew Duckles *Choir: Beth Andersen, Monique Donnelly, Rob Giles, Debbie Hall, Scottie Haskell, Luana Jackman, Bob Joyce, Rock Logan, Susie Stevens Logan,

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, Gabriel Mann, and Ed Zajack *

Alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

by Bill Liston and Brandon Fields *

Clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

by Bill Liston and

Rusty Higgins Rusty Higgins is an American music master, saxophonist, arranger, composer, and session musician. As a member of the Bob Florence Limited Edition, Higgins won the Grammy Award in 2000 for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for ''Serendipity 18''. Bas ...

Tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

by Dave Boruff and Rusty Higgins * Bari sax by Joel Peskin *

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Wayne Bergeron Wayne Bergeron (born January 16, 1958) is an American jazz trumpeter. Bergeron rose to prominence as a member of Maynard Ferguson's band in the 1980s. Since then, he has worked on over 400 TV and motion picture soundtracks. As a lead and studio ...

and Dan Foreno *

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

Bruce Fowler Bruce Lambourne Fowler (born July 10, 1947) is an American trombonist and composer. He played trombone on many Frank Zappa records, as well as with Captain Beefheart and in the Fowler Brothers Band. He composes and arranges music for movies, an ...

and Alex Iies ;Production * Produced by Avenged Sevenfold * Engineered by Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman, assisted by Clifton Allen, Chris Steffen, Robert DeLong, Aaron Walk, Mike Scielzi, and Josh Wilbur * Mixed by Andy Wallace *

Mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

by Brian Gardner * Drum tech by Mike Fasano *Guitar tech by Walter Rice *'Fan Producers for a Day' ( MVI) by Daniel McLaughlin and Christopher Guinn

References

{{authority control Avenged Sevenfold songs Songs about infidelity 2007 songs Avant-garde metal songs