As Guy Gilboa-Dalal sat in the dark tunnels of Gaza two months ago, the 23-year-old could not imagine the warm welcome that would soon await him. He and his childhood best friend, Evyatar David, had been kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. After two brutal years in Hamas captivity, they were finally freed under the October cease-fire deal.
Mr. Gilboa-Dalal credits his survival in part to his love of music — especially the songs by an American heavy metal rock band, Avenged Sevenfold.
“While I was held hostage, I would think of all the songs I love. I’d analyze the words, their meanings, and from many songs, I got a lot of strength. But there is one specific band, my favorite band since I was a little boy, Avenged Sevenfold. The sounds of the guitar, their lyrics, the voice of the soloist and the sound of the drums — they are something else,” said Mr. Gilboa-Dalal, who grew up in Kfar Saba together with David.
“In my most difficult moments in Gaza, the music was always with me in my head but it was the songs of Avenged Sevenfold that saved me,” Mr. Gilboa-Dalal posted this weekend on Instagram.
Mr. Gilboa-Dalal has previously recounted the psychological and sexual abuse by his Hamas captors during his 738 days held in Gaza.
On the first night that Mr. Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David were safely back in Israel, they asked to hear Avenged Sevenfold. Mr. Gilboa-Dalal was so moved to finally hear the songs of his favorite band being played that he was trembling. “I felt like my soul was leaving my body. It was so much better than imagining hearing their songs for two years,” he said.
The next day, M. Shadows, the band’s soloist, sent Mr. Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, also an Avenged Sevenfold fan, a personal message welcoming them home.
“Evyatar and Guy, so excited to hear you guys are home today,” said M. Shadows in his video message to the two young men. “We’ve been following the story closely. We knew that you guys were A7X fans, and we appreciate it so much.”
“The things you guys have been through, just unspeakable, terrible … hopefully we see you guys soon. Be safe, spend time with your family, get rest,” concluded M. Shadows, whose real name is Matthew Charles Sanders.
Mr. Gilboa-Dalal was visibly shocked upon receiving the message. “Do you think he really wants to meet me?” he asked his brother, who was on hand as he viewed the heartfelt video from his favorite frontman following his release. The uplifting message was brought about thanks to the fan club of Avenged Sevenfold in Israel, who reached out to the heavy metal band in Huntington Beach, California, with the story of the two devoted Israeli fans.
During the Hanukkah holiday, Mr. Gilboa-Dalal got his wish and met the soloist of the band, M. Shadows, during his recent visit to America. He posted a photo of them together on his Instagram account, noting that he could not believe the meeting had actually taken place. “I don’t have the words to describe how insane this meeting was for me,” he posted.
Even though M. Shadows received backlash for his welcome home message to the two captivity survivors, he told the Rolling Stone magazine in October that it wasn’t something that he was going to worry about.
“I think you have to stick to your moral compass, but I’ve definitely heard it from both sides. To me, that video is just a human doing something for another human. It’s not making a political stance. It’s not sticking it in someone’s eye. It really is about two human beings that have been through hell. And if we can’t agree on that, it’s really hard to agree on anything.”
He also noted that two cousins the metal band had gotten to know when they performed in Israel in 2018 were murdered on October 7.
Avenged Sevenfold have more than 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify and have toured the world.
“If I just got released after two years, the last thing I would care about is a video from a singer of a band,” added M. Shadows. “But I was like, if you think it would help, of course I’ll do it. We know they care deeply about our band, and we wanted to do anything we could to give them some sort of reprieve, some sort of a relief, or some sort of joy.”
ANAV SILVERMAN PERETZ
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