Review Summary: August Burns Red pull of a Marty Mcfly and execute a perfect time travel back to 2011 by releasing Leveler 2.0 - a record that relies more on midtempo mainstream Metal riffing than on what has made them famous in the first place: memorable breakdowns.
As a preface, let me please state that I won't dabble into the AI art discussion here, join into the choral Premonition-bickering, or chime in with the fact that whoever did this tracklisting unfortunately put the best closer of the bands entire discography ("The Cleansing") in the beginning of the album. I am only a foreigner and this was originally a soundoff. But the site said it's too long and I should necessarily put it into a review. Therefore, I will cut straight to the chase.
So let's face it: August Burns Red is a Metalcore band. They are most possibly the last big legends of this genre that are still going strong. They started nearly twenty years ago with the involved staccato festival that was Thrill Seeker, which was laden with spoken words, breakdowns, and melody. ABR quickly became a staple with the fans, further cementing their legacy with breakdown masterpieces Messengers and Constellations in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Literally nobody could stop them back then...until they had to face themselves: Leveler in 2011 was a hard recording, leaving most of their identity behind and bringing in more riff-heavy mid-tempo tracks, essentially revolving around Metal only. Despite great sales numbers, this brought them mixed reviews from the press and many people, especially die hard fans of the first hour, thought that Metalcore-spearheads ABR could be dead: leaving the genre and repudiating most of their roots completely.
But beware, the critics fell silent when JB and the boys came back with a vengeance with their releases of Rescue and Restore in 2013 and Found in Far Away Places in 2015, finding their mojo of breakdowns again while also incorporating other sound bits of genres like for instance Heavy Metal, Salsa, Folk, Avant-garde, and more into their songs. The crowd loved them for their diversity back then. Also, with Phantom Anthem and Guardians in the years leading up to the pandemic, they completely went back to their roots, fulfulling all the oldschool fans' wishes by scratching most of the new musical styles, creative interludes and the like and going back to being full-on Metalcore. Chugging galore. Think Invisible Enemy or Defender, the two respective standout tracks by far. Who doesn't still remember a line like, "Who will...deliver the sentence"? It's basically an automatic nodding of the head. Virtually a headbang guarantee.
Having reached 2023, ABR has now returned to old sins, spawning another Leveler. Relying heavily on boring, unnecessary features; tracklong melodic interludes; and especially focussing on hymnic song structures as well as mid-tempo riffing accompanied by solos, Death Below feels like a clear step back to 2011 again. Yes, the technicality of their musicians is as brilliant as ever, the mix is crisp, the mastering kicks you in the balls, Jake is still improving hard aka constantly trying out new vocal styles, and of course, there are still occasional breakdowns to be found here and there, sprinkled in between all the blast beats and jamming. But at its core, if you're being completely honest with yourself, it becomes blatantly obvious that Death Below has way more Metal elements that cater towards the mainstream masses than all other ABR records so far combined, even counting in the original Leveler itself. Our favourite flip flop enthusiasts are running away from the Hardcore parts of their identity with full speed. No more crewshouts, no more twosteps, no more prog, no more junz...no more headaches from all the complicated zeros and ones. And this honestly is a sad thing for me personally because August Burns Red are once again veiling what they really are at heart - the kings of the sophisticated chug.
So why on this good earth, if I have finally reached this otherworldly status, should I release an album with only like half a chug every two to three songs, really? For the life of me, I cannot find a good reason.
In conclusion, Death Below is a definitely a good record in general and might even be a great Metal record overall, but it's definitely a mediocre Metalcore record from a genre purists' standpoint and therefore ultimately just not for me. There are just too many fresh contenders out there on the market right now that have similar technical capabilities but are not afraid to stand by their roots and stay true to their genre. If you are interested in who I am referring to, maybe listen to the newest singles of Currents, Novelists FR, Oceans Ate Alaska, Saviour, Polaris, Landmvrks, Breakdown of Sanity, and the like. Metalcore is not dead (as many people claim), it's very much alive and breathing. But ABR are drifting away from it and progressing, for better or for worse. Decide for yourself if you want another Parkway Drive-, Architects- or Northlane-situation here or if word of mouth can help August Burns Red to again include more in their next longplayer of what they know best and of what defined them in the first place: good, solid, down-to-earth chugs.
Brb spinning Up Against the Ropes on repeat.
