Zachary Baker, best known as Zacky Vengeance of Avenged Sevenfold, has released his debut solo album Dark Horse, out now.

Instead of leaning into the sound that made him known, Baker takes a hard turn here. Dark Horse strips things back and rebuilds them around alt-country and Americana influences, trading distortion for something quieter but no less direct.

The shift doesn’t feel like a gimmick. If anything, it comes across as someone stepping away from expectations and seeing what actually holds up without the weight of a full band behind it. Songs like “Lighthouse” and the title track “Dark Horse” lean into that approach, focusing more on storytelling than scale.

There’s a roughness to the album that works in its favor. It doesn’t try to clean everything up or present itself as a polished crossover release. Instead, it sits somewhere closer to outlaw country, built on imperfections and a sense of space that gives the writing room to breathe.

For listeners coming in from Avenged Sevenfold, the change might feel unexpected. But it also makes sense. Underneath the genre shift, the same instinct is still there, just pointed in a different direction.

Dark Horse is available now, marking a clear reset and a different kind of starting point for Baker as a solo artist.