Avenged Sevenfold scraps live plans to concentrate on new album

Avenged Sevenfold has now canceled its planned U.S. tour, scheduled for November, in order to concentrate on writing its next album. The band had previously scrapped a fall U.K. run for the same reason, with the band reportedly eager to get into the studio and begin recording the follow-up to 2005's City Of Evil. In a statement, lead singer M. Shadows said, "We love our loyal fans and want to continue giving them the freshest, most awesome show and material possible. We've been playing songs from City Of Evil around the world for 15 months and now feel it's time to bring them something new."

Despite hearing tons of feedback from fans all over the world about Avenged Sevenfold's music, Shadows told us none of that will matter when it comes to writing the new album: "You can't really base what you're gonna do next off of the kids' opinions, you know, 'cause if that was the case, then we'd just be so scrambled, like, 'cause everyone's got their own opinion on the new record and this and that."

Shadows recently told MTV.com that the groups' next effort will surprise fans. He hinted, "All I can say is, it's going to be a different sound for us -- something no one's heard before and no one expects."

Avenged Sevenfold's video for "Bat Country" won the "Best New Artist" prize at last month's 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.

City Of Evil, the band's major label debut, has sold 687,000 copies in the U.S. since its release.