"The album, the music, and the live show. That's what we're here to do."- Rev

As I sat down with my father on December 28th 2009 to eat dinner he said very non-chalant, "Oh, one of your guys, those avenged guys, yeah he's dead." I looked at him expecting to see a laugh or a smile run across his face. Nothing. I pressed him. "Who, Matt, Johnny, Rev-?" "That's it!" he exclaimed. "That's the one. The Rev guy." I sprang to my laptop as I felt the color draining from my face and a lump build in my throat. I quickly went into Google and just typed, "Avenged Sevenfold Rev" and sure enough the predictive search had in bold letters, "dead". I froze. "See? Told ya." My dad said from the dining room. I couldn't believe it. We had learned about death in my adult development class and I thought about the steps I was going through. I was going through the shock and disbelief. I just kept repeating that "I couldn't believe it" and "Oh he was so young..." At twenty eight James Owen Sullivan had expired and was found in his home unresponsive. I then went online and did what any sensible person would do when one of their favorite celebrities dies, updated my facebook status. If anything it would give the band publicity through a horrible event. None of my friends really listen to them and I was kind of alone when it came to "mourning" as opposed to Heath where it was kind of on a bigger scale. After that I shut my Internet off and opened my itunes and put on a shuffle of A7X songs. I then thought of the making the album videos on Youtube I had watched and how funny he was and how talented he had been. He was so talented. Drums, guitar, and piano had been in his repertoire. He wrote a majority or should I say, co wrote a majority of the songs off of the band's self titled 2007 release. You can read up on all of his accomplishments and musical timeline on any music site or a more extensive site like Wikipedia.
Although I never saw them headline I had the pleasure of seeing them when I was fourteen at Warped Tour. They had high energy and even if I wasn't in to their weight of metal or metal core, I still found some of their songs catchy. It wasn't until I saw the video for Bat Country on MTV2 one morning getting ready for school that I took a real interest and made an effort to learn more and get some of their music. On Christmas that year, I got an ipod and the first song I ever bought off of the site was Bat Country. After that I borrowed CDs from my friend who had Waking the Fallen. From there I received Sounding the Seventh Trumpet from my sister for Christmas and I had bought their self titled album from Target two years after they released it for I had forgotten about their album in the latter part of high school. I do not own the City of Evil album yet which is ironically their most successful album, or at least the one that they are known for the most often. The Rev was a big part as to why they were so successful. He laid down drum tracks that would baffle anyone who's familiar with the metal core scene. He was so talented and was (from what magazine articles I've read and personal accounts from the band members) one of the nicest and genuine human beings. As a founding member he put his heart and soul into this band and I only hope they can do what the Rev would want them to keep doing. The hard part is, how not to insult someones memory? Do they get a replacement and keep touring? It would seem wrong to think that he could ever be replaceable. Do they stop altogether and live off of what they have made and get other jobs in the music industry in producing or something? The Rev wouldn't want his friends to stop doing what they loved because of him either.
As I was listening to the songs on shuffle I thought back to a tough time in my life when my family lived in a hotel for nine months. I bought the self titles during that time period and I cherished the calm it brought me and the steady beat it gave my discombobulated life. I thought back to youtube-ing the making of the album videos. The Rev always had the funniest little quips or jokes. (I also want to mention some fans keep referring to the Rev as Jimmy on the message boards and comment areas online. I have no problem with this personally. I feel that I did not know Jimmy however. I only knew Rev. Jimmy I think was someone only his wife, family, and close friends had the pleasure of knowing. I understand of wanting to be formal since the Rev was only a stage name he went by, I don't know just something I noticed) I had reached the part of mourning where the living becomes preoccupied with the memory or memories of the deceased person. I watched some of their really old music videos and thought about what his wife would do. He seemed so happy and normal in the recent magazine articles published and talking about their new album. I hardly knew what to think. I saw on one of their twitter pages that there was going to be a candle light vigil for him. I found this to be the right way for fans to come together and be with each other. After he was laid to rest on January 6th 2010 I found myself to be at the last stage of mourning and that my friends is acceptance. He couldn't be with us any longer and he was needed for something greater.
I can only give my deepest sympathies to his family, friends, and those close to him. As Jay from the band lost prophets tweeted, "Out of sight, not out of mind."