It is the band's third single released without former drummer The Rev, who died of an accidental opioid overdose on December 28, 2009. In late March mentioned that the third single from the albumNightmare would be "So Far Away", scheduled to be played on the radio starting on April 5, 2011. This was the first Avenged Sevenfold songSynyster Gates wrote completely by himself since "I Won't See You Tonight Pt 1" on Waking the Fallen. During most concerts, the band performs the song as a tribute to the Rev by having the audience hold up their lighters or cell phones during the song as the stage background features a banner commemorating the Rev's legacy. This song was dedicated by Gates for the Belated James Owen "Jimmy" Sullivan on December 28, 2009. Avenged Sevenfold posted a countdown on their official website that showed the time until release for a new video for "So Far Away". When the video was released, the site crashed due to so many people attempting to watch the video at once. After a second failed attempt to release the video, they solved the problem by hosting the music video on YouTube.
Music video
The music video features the four remaining members of the band playing in a studio and also riding in a Chevrolet Impala through a neighborhood. Throughout the video, flashbacks of the four play. They are shown as children playing in a garage, then teens playing and hanging out, and stealing beer from a liquor store. There is a scene in the video in which a young Sullivan is depicted riding the handlebars of a bike being ridden by a young M. Shadows, kicking over a metal trash can on the street. Shadows referenced this when talking about Sullivan before playing So Far Away at Rock am Ring 2014.. During the bridge, a collection of photos and videos of the Rev play. It ends with a clip of the remaining band members embracing. This was the second video not to feature the current drummer for Avenged Sevenfold; the first being Nightmare. For this music video, Synyster Gates uses a custom Schecter guitar, similar to his usual black/silver pinstriped guitar. However instead of the inlays on the fretboard reading "SYN", it displays "REV". Johnny Christ also wore a guitar strap with the word "foREVer" written on it. As of May 2020, it has over 216 million views on YouTube.
Charts
The song reached number one on the BillboardHot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number 15 on the Alternative Songs chart. This is the band's first number-one single.
