Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for August Burns Red - Death Below (2023)

August Burns Red has one of the most solid discographies to come from a metalcore band. They've made great albums in their career, including the perfect Constellations. I've always wondered if there would ever be another August Burns Red that as much of a masterpiece as Constellations. Well I shall wonder no more with their new offering Death Below! And how is it as awesome it is?...

The album is a much further throwback with their fast pacing in songs that I can consider total bangers. Plus a few songs each have a guest appearance from a vocalist or guitarist of another well-known metalcore band, and that's often a grand treat. With that, you're gonna find the most exciting dynamics from August Burns Red in a long time!

The haunting spoken intro "Premonition" sets you up for the chaos that would soon come... "The Cleansing" clearly shows the band's relentless heaviness from their earlier days with drummer Matt Greiner firing away with blast-beat machinery. That's one of two nearly 8-minute epics in this album that are the band's longest, not including the closing epic of their 2005 debut, and it's full of stylistic transcendence. Landing in the first guest is "Ancestry" with Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach, whose cleans greatly complement the growling of Jake Luhrs. The song displays the album's main lyrical theme of struggle and resilience during the pandemic. "Tightrope" includes a wicked heavy guitar solo from Jason Richardson (of All That Remains, formerly of All Shall Perish, Born of Osiris, and Chelsea Grin).

"Fool’s Gold in the Bear Trap" starts as soft as a bunny in the first half, then switches as heavy as a bear in the second half. Bringing back memories of Messenger with the new album's first single, "Backfire" showcases the killer wonders of this album that you can't help but look back at in future generations. "Revival" is a brutal crusher similar to their earlier era. Also winning back some fans is innovative guitar work by JB Brubaker. "Sevink" is another interlude, this one being a instrumental break, sounding beautiful before the brutality bursts back in the next song...

"Dark Divide" puts the guitars at center, unleashing the band's rage at their heaviest. "Deadbolt", while staying brutal, has some classic metal-like sections to shout along to through dark loss. From the intro up, "The Abyss" (with Erra's JT Cavey) increases in intensity. Then it ends with the second 8-minute epic, "Reckoning". I know you metalcore fans wanna hear Underoath vocalist Spencer Chamberlain unleashing his vocals as furious as early Bring Me the Horizon. Those make the best moments of this album!

All in all, Death Below can show you how to overcome the dark struggles of this decade and look into the light, through heaviness and despair. August Burns Red's 10th album can very well be their greatest, most ambitious work yet!

Favorites: "The Cleansing", "Ancestry", "Backfire", "Revival", "Dark Divide", "Reckoning"