Claim: Mike Portnoy plays heavy metal in bands.

Nightmare is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold . It was released on July 27 , 2010 through Warner Bros. . Records . It was produced by Mike Elizondo and mixed in New York City by noted engineer Andy Wallace . Nightmare is the first Avenged Sevenfold record without James `` The Rev '' Sullivan performing drums on all the songs due to his death in December 2009 ; however he did write parts that were used for the final recordings , making this the last album he would write on , The Rev 's vocals are still on the album as a tribute to him . This is the only album to feature ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy , who performed as the drummer for the album in his place , also played with the band for all their tours through the end of 2010 , due to his separation with Dream Theater . They then hired drummer Arin Ilejay , who played with the band for the next four years . The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA in the United States . The album debuted at number 1 in the Billboard 200 . As of May 2014 the album has sold 818,000 copies in the United States .