M Shadows Says Being An Atheist And A Believer Is Essentially Same

Avenged Sevenfold released their latest album, ‘Life Is But A Dream…,’ on June 2. Recently, the band’s vocalist M. Shadows joined an interview with Rock Sound to talk about the record and discuss its religious themes while also admitting how he realized being an atheist and being a believer was essentially the same thing.
During the chat, the singer said he came up with the album’s themes and title while thinking about life and what came after it. Upon that, the interviewer asked him whether the ellipsis at the end also had something to do with that thought.

To answer the question, Shadows said:

“Those three little dots always felt like they fit there to me, and, you know, I was one of those guys that – I’m an atheist, so I would argue with my religious friends all the time, and then, I had this 5-MeO-DMT experience, and it actually made me feel not that I was wrong or that I was right. It made me feel that it didn’t matter. It made me feel that all my friends that have been arguing with me all these years were right and that I was right as well. All that mattered was me giving them a hug and realizing that we were the same sort of thing.”

He then mentioned how this experience helped him understand his religious friends better, and how ‘atheist’ and ‘believers’ were essentially the same:

“So, what it taught me is that we all have these ways we cope with this place. We have these answers we try to find that are probably not answerable, at least yet, and it doesn’t really matter what you think or believe as long as you can, at least for yourself, find some sort of meaning or purpose, and that’s a very personal journey. It’s not somebody handing it to you or whatever. A lot of times that can only be given to you if you realize there is no inherent meaning or purpose. So, the three little dots just mean whatever you want it to mean.”

Apart from M. Shadows’ experiences with drugs, different philosophical ideas and artworks also influenced the songs in the record. The vocalist even told Blabbermouth that existentialism and absurdism were the main themes in ‘Life Is But A Dream…’ and tied the tracks together.

He explained his point by saying:

“Some of this stuff is based off of the French philosopher Albert Camus and different sorts of existential ideas. So it all kind of plays together. It’s not like we have a song about partying all night, and the next song is this really deep song about ego disillusion.”

Now, the band is on the road to promote their newest work. They’ll be touring North America until mid-October.