"Unholy Confessions" is a song by

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 ...

, released as the lead single from their second album, ''

Waking the Fallen ''Waking the Fallen'' is the second studio album by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released on August 26, 2003, through Hopeless Records. It is the band's first full-length album with new lead guitarist Synyster G ...

''. It is the band's first official single after their 2001 debut EP release '' Warmness on the Soul'', and was the first single by the band to receive mainstream exposure, being heavily rotated on MTV2's '' Headbangers Ball''. The song is about two people, who are a couple, who find out they are both cheating on each other.

Background

"Unholy Confessions" was the first Avenged Sevenfold song to predominantly feature clean singing. The song made its live debut on February 25, 2003, and has remained a permanent staple of the band's live set (though there have been a few occasions where it was omitted). As of June 2018, it has been performed live a total of 807 known times, and is Avenged Sevenfold's most played song live, ahead of the runner-up " Bat Country", which has been played a total of 730 times. It is also the only song from ''

'' to have remained a staple of their live set.

Music videos

The band, along with director

Thomas Mignone Thomas Mignone is an American feature film, streaming media, commercial, and music video director, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing and writing the dark drama ''On the Doll'' and ''The Latin From Manhattan'' and for directing co ...

, filmed the song's concept video on December 7th 2003, featuring the band performing the single at an abandoned warehouse. After a few months, they posted on their website's blog about their discomfort with the video, and the decision to re-shoot the video. The concept video eventually got released on YouTube, along with the 2014 re-release of Waking the Fallen. In February 2004, the band shared the plan to film the new video, which was this time a live performance. The video also features many fans filming at their homes getting ready for the show, whether by promoting, driving to the concert, among other things. The performance was shot on March 6, 2004, at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

Critical reception

"Unholy Confessions" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2020, ''

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, ...

'' and ''

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-of ...

'' ranked the song at number six and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 20 greatest Avenged Sevenfold songs.

Track listing

;12" single ;DVDr ;Promo single

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Avenged Sevenfold *

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 ...

– lead vocals * Zacky Vengeance – guitars, backing vocals *

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 band Avenged Seven ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals * Synyster Gates – guitars, piano, 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 Production *

Andrew Murdock Andrew Murdock (born January 24, 1962), also known as Mudrock, is an American record producer specializing in rock and metal genres. He is best known for producing Godsmack's ''Godsmack'' and '' Awake'' albums. More recently, Murdock has prod ...

– producer,

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

* Fred Archambault – co-producer * Ai Fujisaki – assistant engineer * Tom Baker – mastering engineer * Mike Fasano, Bruce Jacoby, Al Pahanish – drum tech * Stephen Ferrara – guitar tech * Scott Gilman – orchestral arrangements and performance

Certifications

References

{{Avenged Sevenfold 2003 songs 2004 debut singles Avenged Sevenfold songs Songs about infidelity