Music shouldn't really work like this. Usually, when a band mixes Danny Elfman-style orchestral swells with death metal growls and a plotline involving necrophilia and a literal zombie wedding, the result is a total mess. But back in 2007, Avenged Sevenfold dropped the self-titled "White Album," and tucked away at track nine was Avenged Sevenfold: A Little Piece of Heaven. It was weird. It was gross. It was, honestly, kind of a miracle of songwriting.
Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, the band's late drummer and the primary architect of this madness, didn't just write a song; he wrote an eight-minute avant-garde horror musical. It’s been nearly two decades, and the track still feels like it belongs in its own genre. While the rest of the metalcore scene was busy trying to sound like At The Gates or Iron Maiden, A7X decided to hire a horn section and a choir.
The Rev’s Macabre Vision
You can't talk about this song without talking about Jimmy. Most people know him as a powerhouse drummer with "The Double Ride" technique, but "A Little Piece of Heaven" proved he was a composer in the truest sense. He didn't write this on a drum kit. He wrote it on a piano. He was reportedly obsessed with Danny Elfman’s scores for Tim Burton movies, and you can hear that DNA in every single bar.
The story is basically a slasher flick turned into a romantic comedy, if your sense of humor is incredibly dark. A man fears his girlfriend will leave him, so he kills her to keep her forever. Then she comes back as a vengeful spirit, kills him, and they eventually decide to get married in the afterlife. It’s absurd. It’s also surprisingly catchy.
There’s a specific nuance to the way the brass section hits during the "Eat it! Eat it!" section. It’s chaotic. It’s also perfectly timed. The Rev took these ideas to the band, and while some members were initially skeptical about whether a metal band should be doing show tunes about murder, they leaned into it. Hard.
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Why the Production Style Matters
The "White Album" was self-produced by the band, and that freedom is exactly why a song like Avenged Sevenfold: A Little Piece of Heaven exists. If they had a traditional "radio-friendly" producer breathing down their necks, the brass would have been buried in the mix. The strings would have been replaced by synth pads.
Instead, they went for authentic textures. They used:
- A full horn section (saxophones, clarinets, trombones).
- Cello and violins that sound jagged and aggressive.
- Female vocals provided by Juliette Commagere, which added a haunting, ethereal contrast to M. Shadows' gritty delivery.
The mixing is intentionally theatrical. When the "protagonist" gets stabbed, the music swells with a cinematic tension that feels more like Sweeney Todd than Waking the Fallen. This wasn't just "metal with some extra stuff." It was a complete pivot in identity. It proved that A7X wasn't just a "hot topic" band; they were musicians with a terrifying amount of range.
The Animated Music Video Factor
Honestly, the video is probably why a lot of us are still talking about this song today. Directed by Rafa Alcantara, the hand-drawn, grotesque animation style was the perfect visual companion. It didn't try to make the story "cool" or "edgy" in a modern way. It looked like a cursed cartoon from the 1930s.
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It’s one of those rare cases where the music and the visuals are inseparable. If you hear that opening "da-da-da-da" rhythm, you immediately see the cartoon heart being ripped out. It became a staple of early YouTube culture and helped the song reach people who wouldn't normally touch a metal record with a ten-foot pole.
Addressing the Controversy and the "Necrophilia" Elephant in the Room
Let's be real: the lyrics are controversial. They're meant to be. The song explores themes of obsession and toxic love taken to the most literal, gore-filled extreme possible. Some critics at the time found it juvenile or needlessly provocative.
But if you look at it through the lens of Grand Guignol theater or classic horror, it’s clearly a parody. It’s a caricature of a love song. The bridge, where the two characters are "reunited," is sung with such genuine melodic beauty that you almost forget they’re both rotting corpses. That juxtaposition is where the brilliance lies. It forces the listener to feel something beautiful for something objectively hideous.
Musical Complexity and Theory
From a technical standpoint, the song is a nightmare to play live. Not because of speed, but because of the cues.
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- Tempo Shifts: It moves from a steady orchestral stomp to a frantic circus-polka.
- Vocal Layering: M. Shadows uses multiple registers, often overlapping with The Rev’s high-pitched, manic backing vocals.
- Harmonic Language: It uses "dark" intervals and chromatic runs that are common in jazz and classical music but rare in standard radio rock.
The Rev’s vocals on this track are particularly poignant now. His "scream" in the background and his melodic lines in the "must have been a dream" section serve as a reminder of his creative peak before his passing in 2009.
The Legacy of the "Little Piece of Heaven"
Whenever Avenged Sevenfold plays this song live today, it's usually the closer or the biggest sing-along of the night. It’s a moment of collective catharsis. There’s something bizarrely unifying about thousands of people screaming "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" in a giant arena.
It also opened the doors for the band to keep experimenting. Without the success of this song, we probably wouldn't have gotten the progressive madness of The Stage or the genre-bending hallucinations of Life Is But a Dream.... It gave the band "weirdness insurance." It proved their fan base would follow them into the tall grass, no matter how strange things got.
How to Truly Appreciate the Track Today
If you haven't listened to it in a while, or if you're a newer fan coming from their recent experimental stuff, do yourself a favor and listen to the isolated stems if you can find them. The arrangement is dense. There are tiny woodwind flourishes buried in the second verse that you’d never notice on a casual listen.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Musicians:
- Analyze the arrangement: If you're a songwriter, look at how the song uses non-traditional instruments to create "weight" without relying on heavy guitar distortion.
- Watch the making-of documentary: The All Excess DVD or the "making of" clips on YouTube show The Rev's process in the studio, which is an incredible look at a creative mind working at full speed.
- Listen for the vocal trade-offs: Pay attention to how the lead vocal shifts between Shadows and The Rev; it’s a masterclass in using two distinct voices to represent different psychological states within a narrative.
The song remains a testament to what happens when a band stops caring about what's "cool" and starts caring about what's "fun." It’s messy, it’s loud, it’s slightly offensive, and it’s a masterpiece.