Unholy Confessions

"Unholy Confessions" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released as the lead single from their second album, Waking the Fallen. It is the band's first official single after their 2001 debut EP release Warmness on the Soul, and was the first single by the band to receive mainstream exposure, being heavily rotated on MTV2's Headbangers Ball. The song is about a couple who find out they are both cheating on each other.

Background
"Unholy Confessions" was written by members Zacky Vengeance, M. Shadows and Synyster Gates. The main riff was written by Vengeance, and had been floating around for a while before the rest of the band completed the song, and the chorus and lyrics were written by Shadows.

"Unholy Confessions" was one of the first Avenged Sevenfold songs to predominantly feature clean singing.

The song appeared on the Metal=Life compilation in 2005.

Music videos
The band, along with director Thomas Mignone, filmed the song's concept video on December 7, 2003, featuring the band performing the single at an abandoned warehouse. After a few months, they posted on their website's blog about their discomfort with the video, and the decision to re-shoot the video. The concept video eventually got released on YouTube, along with the 2014 re-release of Waking the Fallen.

In February 2004, the band shared the plan to film the new video, which was this time a live performance. The video was directed by Greg Kaplan. The video also features many fans filming at their homes getting ready for the show, whether by promoting, driving to the concert, among other things. The performance was shot on March 6, 2004, at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

Critical reception
"Unholy Confessions" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2020, Louder Sound and Kerrang ranked the song at number six and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 20 greatest Avenged Sevenfold songs.

Track listing

 * 12" single


 * DVDr


 * Promo single

Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Avenged Sevenfold


 * M. Shadows – lead vocals
 * Zacky Vengeance – guitars
 * The Rev – drums, percussion
 * Synyster Gates – guitars
 * Johnny Christ – bass guitar

Production
 * Andrew Murdock – producer, mixing engineer
 * Fred Archambault – co-producer
 * THE GATEKEEPERS - recording
 * Ai Fujisaki – assistant engineer
 * Tom Baker – mastering engineer
 * Mike Fasano, Bruce Jacoby, Al Pahanish – drum tech
 * Stephen Ferrara – guitar tech
 * Larry Jacobson Company – management
 * Ryan Harlacher – booking
 * Scott Bradford – legal representation