Death of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Nightmare (2009-present)

In January 2009, M. Shadows confirmed that the band was writing the follow-up to their self-titled fourth album within the upcoming months.^[30] They also announced that they will be playing at Rock on the Range, from May 16–17, 2009.^[31] On April 16, they performed a version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.^[32] M. Shadows was featured on Slash's debut solo album Slash in the song "Nothing to Say". They announced that they plan to start writing in June 2009 and recording in October 2009.
On December 28, 2009, drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead at his home at the age of 28.^[33] Autopsy results were inconclusive,^[34] but on June 9, 2010, the cause of death was revealed to have been an "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol".^[35] In a statement by the band, they expressed their grief over the passing of The Rev and asked that his family's privacy be respected^[36] Shown on Avenged Sevenfold's official website was a message from Sullivan's family which expressed their gratitude to his fans for their support.^[37]
On February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold stated that they had entered the studio, along with now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, to drum for the record, in place of the Rev. ^[38]
The single "Nightmare" was digitally released on May 18, 2010.^[39][40] A preview for the song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after for unknown reasons.^[40][41] Mixing for the album had been completed in New York City, and Nightmare was finally released worldwide on July 27, 2010.^[42] It met with mixed to positive reviews from music critics but was well received by the fans.Nightmare beat sales projections easily, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 163,000 units in its first week.^[43]
On December 16, 2010, Portnoy announced via Facebook that he would no longer be working with Avenged Sevenfold.^[44] The band posted a statement on their website on December 17, 2010 stating that Mike Portnoy will not be their replacement for The Rev. On January 20, 2011, Avenged Sevenfold announced via Facebook that former Confide drummer Arin Ilejay will tour with them starting this year.^[45][46]
Avenged Sevenfold will perform at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals on June 3–5, 2011 alongside other bands such as Alter Bridge, System of a Down, and In Flames.^[47] On April 2011, the band headlined the Golden God Awards held by Metal Hammer. The same night the band won three awards for "Best Vocalist" (M. Shadows), "Epiphone Best Guitarist(s)" (Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance) and "Affliction’s Album of The Year: " for Nightmare, while Mike Portnoy won the award for "Drum Workshop’s Best Drummer" for his work on the album.
In May 2011, it was confirmed that the band had written a new song to be included in the Escalation DLC pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops.^[48] The song is the first time developers Treyarch have commissioned an outside band to contribute a song since the franchise began in 2003. ^[49]