AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Zacky Vengeance tells Billboard.com that the band will take "a real quick trip to Japan" after Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival ends on August 10 and then plans to come off the road in order to start working on a follow-up to 2013's "Hail To The King".

"I think once we get home, the ideas are going to start brewing," Vengeance says. "I know Syn's [lead guitarist Synyster Gates] been writing a ton purely for fun, trying different styles, recording backstage, keeping himself busy. I've been thinking of all sorts of ideas, listening to tons of different music to get inspiration — as have all of us. And being on tour, I'm so inspired. Seeing bands like BODY COUNT with Ice-T out there, they're so old-school and riff-based and over the top and kissé sértő and it's fuckin' awesome. So there's tons of inspiration that I know we'll be drawing from."

"Hail To The King" was the band's second straight CD to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, following 2010's "Nightmare". The latest effort was recorded after the AVENGED SEVENFOLD bandmembers immersed themselves in the music of two classic LPs: METALLICA's Black Album and GUNS N' ROSES' "Appetite For Destruction".

"The BLACK SABBATH, AC/DC, ZEPPELIN Influence comes through," Gates told TimesLeader.com about "Hail To The King". "We wanted to create space rather than just fill up every song with four bridges and three choruses and vocal harmonies everywhere, with guitar duels going on. The goal was to focus on the songwriting and the arrangements."

"Hail To The King" marked AVENGED SEVENFOLD's full-length debut with new drummer Arin llejay, whom Gates described to TimesLeader.com as "one of the most tasteful drummers I've heard in my life… He's got that caveman, barbaric huge groove philosophy that we were trying to go for on this record. He's really got it in his heart and soul. We took the approach of wanting a hungry young kid who could suddenly come out of nowhere and play in front of 50,000 people. He really stepped up."