August Burns Red // Death Below
The kings of metalcore have returned! And to celebrate their 20-year anniversary, they’ve delivered another great record. Perhaps their best in a decade.
Over the last 10 years, I’ve been skeptical about the way ABR has explored progressive metalcore, especially on ‘Found In Far Away Places’ and ‘Phantom Anthem,’ because they didn’t seem to have a clear end-goal. There were too many interludes, few satisfying conclusions, and a general sense of aimlessness. On ‘Death Below,’ they’ve leaned further into their progressive tendencies, and it feels like the pay off has finally arrived. By doubling down and committing to the progressive elements, ABR is starting to define their own progressive identity.
Many songs have ABR’s classic, thunderous breakdowns, but they are no longer the driving force. ‘Death Below’ is more of an artistic effort, and although that may frustrate fans who were hoping for a straight forward sound, those who enjoy the journey of progressive metal will be delighted. The closest parallel I can give is Between The Buried And Me. After a first listen, it might be easy to conclude that there aren’t many stand out moments, but as with most progressive metal albums, there are plenty of gems, you just have to find them.
To be clear, this is a heavy album. Easily one of their darkest and most intense. But it’s a different type of intense. Instead of buildups and breakdowns, there are blast beats, darker atmospheres, and winding paths. Yes, it’s progressive and there is experimentation, but it’s fast and heavy.
Personally, I’m very happy with ‘Death Below.’ In recent years, ABR has tried to make their sound more accessible, but appealing to the masses limited their options. ABR is meant to be on the more extreme side of metalcore, and I’m glad they are back on the edge, pushing their boundaries again.
“Fools Gold In The Bear Trap” is the coolest ABR song I’ve heard in a long time – it doesn’t sound like a song they would ever make. The first half is a melodic death metal intro and the second half is basically black metal. This is the perfect song for people who say “all ABR songs sound the same.” You haven’t heard them do anything like this before.
Another favorite is “The Cleansing.” The opening drums also belong in a black metal album, Jake’s vocals are all over the place, and the instruments constantly shift and evolve. What a ruthless way to kick things off. Easily a top 15 ABR song of all time.
A lot of these songs seamlessly blend into each other. Throughout ‘Death Below,’ a couple songs purposely pick up where the last left off, making the album more cohesive. This is a major improvement because ABR’s overuse of interludes and spoken word passages on past albums killed their tempo/momentum. They keep things moving this time around – you probably won’t even realize when one song ends and another begins.
At the same time, ABR is continuing to incorporate more singing. I actually like what they did on “Deadbolt” quite a bit. However, I hate Jesse Leach’s singing on “Ancestry.” Weakest part of the album for sure. Meanwhile, Spencer Chamberlain’s singing on “Reckoning” was excellent – he fit the overall sound much better. JT Cavey was also superb on “The Abyss.” It’s super rare for ABR to have features, so it was cool to see them have four this time around.
In terms of the vocals, Dustin is involved quite a bit, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’ve never been a big fan of his high pitch screams. Jake has a ton of variety in his screams, but I kind of miss his standard mid range and deep lows. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m having a hard time understanding the lyrics on ‘Death Below.’ As cool as the progressive stuff is, I think the songs would hit a little harder if they were slightly easier to consume (like what they did on ‘Constellations’). I don’t know if it’s the layering or the mixing, but I think the indecipherable lyrics slightly hurt the catchiness of the songs.
Lastly, “The Cleansing” and “Reckoning” are super long at almost 8 minutes each, coming only behind “The Seventh Trumpet” off of ‘Thrill Seeker.’ You can clearly see the progressive influences in ABR’s approach to these longer tracks, and that is where I think they shine the most.
