{"id":361940,"date":"2025-12-21T05:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T05:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/361940\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T05:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T05:51:09","slug":"guy-gilboa-dalal-meets-avenged-sevenfolds-m-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/361940\/","title":{"rendered":"Guy Gilboa-Dalal meets Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s M. Shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"

After saying that songs by the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold helped him endure captivity, Guy Gilboa-Dalal met the band\u2019s frontman, M. Shadows. \u201cI have no words to describe how unreal this meeting was for me,\u201d he wrote on social media.Barri: \u201cWhen I saw Nerdit\u2019s profile, I liked her right away and we started texting. At the time, I was working for a tech company and had relocated to Portland, in the U.S. I had planned to return to Israel after a year, but once I met Nerdit, everything changed. There was an instant connection between us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m addicted to music,\u201d said Gilboa-Dalal, who was released from captivity in Gaza last October after 738 days. \u201cFor me, music has always been something beyond words or sounds. Music accompanied me – and still accompanies me \u2014 at every moment of my life. It brings out the strongest emotions I\u2019ve ever felt. I feel a deep, personal connection to songs, and sometimes it feels like they understand me in the most accurate way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d2\u05d9\u05d0<\/a>\"\u05d2\u05d9\u05d0<\/p>\n

Guy Gilboa-Dalal and M. Shadows, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold\n<\/p>\n

(Screenshot, Instagram)<\/p>\n

\u201cI love so many genres of music, and each one fits exactly the vibe I\u2019m in at that moment,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhile I was in captivity, I thought about all the songs I love, analyzed the lyrics and their meanings, and from many of them I drew strength. But here is one band in particular \u2014 my favorite band since I was a little kid: Avenged Sevenfold.<\/p>\n

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\"\u05d4\u05e2\u05e6\u05e8\u05ea<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05e2\u05e6\u05e8\u05ea<\/p>\n

Guy Gilboa-Dalal at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv <\/p>\n

(Photo: Dana Kopel)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guitar sounds, the lyrics, the singer\u2019s voice and the drums \u2014 it\u2019s something else. In my hardest moments in Gaza, the music was always with me, in my head. But Avenged has the kind of songs that saved me. On the first night after I came back from captivity, I turned on a speaker and Avitar and I listened to Avenged. I was so emotional that I was shaking just hearing this music again. When I was 17, I was lucky enough to attend their first and only show in Israel. Today I met M. Shadows, the band\u2019s lead singer, and I have no words to describe how insane this meeting was for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Days after their release, Gilboa-Dalal and Avitar David received a moving video message from M. Shadows – the stage name of Matthew Charles Sanders – whom they both admire. In the video, he said: \u201cAvitar and Guy, we\u2019re so excited to hear that you\u2019re home today. We followed your story closely. We knew you were huge Avenged Sevenfold fans, and we appreciate that so much.<\/p>\n

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\"M.<\/a>\"M.<\/p>\n

M. Shadows, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold\n<\/p>\n

(Amy Harris, AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you went through \u2014 things that can\u2019t even be talked about \u2014 are horrible. We hope to see you soon. Be safe, spend time with your families, get some rest, and we\u2019ll see you soon. Welcome home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video, initiated by Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s Israeli fan club, was met with great emotion by Gilboa-Dalal at the time. \u201cIs he going to meet me?\u201d he is heard asking in a video response. \u201cYesterday we listened to one of their songs, and it was better than the two years I imagined it. I can\u2019t believe he made this video.\u201d Now, as promised, the meeting finally took place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After saying that songs by the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold helped him endure captivity, Guy Gilboa-Dalal met…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-361940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}