Avenged Sevenfold Respond To Deepfake AI Technology Attempting To Cancel Gigs

Avenged Sevenfold have been personally affected by deep fake AI technology in an admittedly strange fashion.

On Monday, 27 February, the band’s social media accounts were hacked, leading to someone making a false announcement on the group’s Trax podcast about cancelled appearances at Sonic Temple and Welcome To Rockville festivals.

The hacked episode of Trax has since been taken down, but Metal Injection captured the transcript, which you can read below:

“Hey, Trax listeners, we’re so sorry to bring bad news to you all, but I wanted you to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. 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. 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. Creating new music is a passion we have dedicated our lives to, and we believe our fans deserve nothing but the best from us. We put our hearts and souls into this new project to make it the best it can be.

“We’ve been working tirelessly on this new music and are committed to bringing it to you as soon as possible. We know that cancelling more shows is a major disappointment, and I want to assure you that this is a decision we did not make lightly. Many of you will be let down and frustrated. And for that we are deeply sorry.

“We want to thank you for your understanding and support during this time. Your dedication to our music and your unwavering enthusiasm for our shows inspire us every day. We promise to make it up to you, and we will see you soon. Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and we thank you for your patience and understanding.”

Vocalist M. Shadows heard the falsified podcast episode while walking the streets of Mexico and tweeted, “Yikes! This is NOT TRUE. We are still playing. Getting to the bottom of this.” He later followed up the tweet with another post, writing, “Literally walking in the streets of Mexico and listening to this. What the actual fuck… NOT ME!”

The band addressed the incident on Twitter this morning, writing, “Our accounts were compromised over the weekend and have now been recovered. Our festival appearances have not been cancelled.

“For the time being, please go to our Discord for all future communications. Thank you for your patience.”

Avenged Sevenfold’s unannounced eighth album will be their first since 2016’s The Stage.