The Stage (song)

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"The Stage"
Single by Avenged Sevenfold
from the album The Stage
Released	October 13, 2016 (2016-10-13)
Recorded	2016
Genre	Progressive metal
Length	8:32
Label	Capitol
Songwriter(s)	Avenged Sevenfold
Producer(s)	Avenged Sevenfold Joe Barresi
Avenged Sevenfold singles chronology
"Shepherd of Fire" (2013) "The Stage" (2016) "God Damn" (2017)

"The Stage" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It was released on 13 October 2016, as the first single from their studio album of the same name.

"The Stage" is featured in the video game Rock Band 4's "More Metal Pack 01" downloadable content. The song was nominated at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards for the "Best Rock Song" category.^[1]

The official music video was released to YouTube on October 13, 2016. The video shows a puppet show, depicting humans throughout history killing each other, until the present day, which shows politicians as puppets pulling strings of the crowd. At the end of the video, a reaper-like creature is shown pulling the strings of politicians, and it presses a "reset button", going back to the beginning of mankind.

Avenged Sevenfold

• M. Shadows – lead vocals
• Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Synyster Gates – lead guitar, classical guitar, backing vocals
• Johnny Christ – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Brooks Wackerman – drums

Additional musician

• Jason Freese – keyboards