Bat Country

Avenged Sevenfold, 2005, from City of Evil. Solo by Synyster Gates.

Bat Country, named for a line from Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, features one of Synyster Gates's most celebrated solos. He blends neoclassical runs, fast sweeps and melodic phrases, often harmonized, into a solo that is flashy but still catchy. The tone is bright and saturated, typical of mid-2000s metal. The solo helped bring shred-style guitar back to mainstream rock radio. Gates's phrasing draws on 1980s metal but with a modern, polished edge. Listen for the harmonized passages, where two guitar lines play together in parallel, and for the dramatic run that caps the solo before the song crashes back in.

Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold is ranked #256 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Synyster Gates and the song was released in 2005. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #13 (Magazyn Gitarzysta).

In our lists

• The Most-Taught Solos — #11
• One and Only — #50
• The 25 Greatest Metal Guitar Solos — #25
• The 2000s — #17
• Best of the 21st Century — #16
• The Best Avenged Sevenfold Guitar Solos — #2

Sources

• Magazyn Gitarzysta: 100 solówek wszech czasów [100 solos of all time] — #13
• Guitar World: The greatest guitar solos of the 21st century... so far — #16
• Loudwire: The Best Metalcore Guitar Solos, According to Reddit