Avenged Sevenfold’s recent podcast episode on streaming services, titled “Important Announcement,” contained a one-minute clip where lead vocalist M Shadows seemingly explained that the band would be canceling their appearances at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals due to needing to complete their new album. However, the band now believes they have been hacked, and the announcement was a fake. The clip has been removed from Spotify, but the full transcript was as follows:
“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.”
M Shadows expressed his shock and disbelief at the false announcement on Twitter: “Literally walking in the streets of Mexico and listening to this. What the actual fuck… NOT ME!” but he reassured the fans that the band will still be performing and promising to investigate the situation.
It seems that the person who recorded the message used deepfake AI voice changing technology, based on the general agreement among people’s reactions. However, some people are speculating that it could be a bad marketing strategy to build hype for the upcoming album.
“weird the hacker would announce and even make an AI Matt voice just to fake a festival cancellation”
