After recently celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Constellations album, August Burns Red return with all new songs in the form of their ninth studio album titled “Guardians”. It’s a more progressive juggernaut than ever before with their signature sound still intact as we found on listening to the album.
While predominantly known as a metalcore band, August Burns Red have really been injecting many more elements into their music in later albums which is quite honestly a breathe of fresh air from what I feel has become a stale genre that has long run it’s course, as new genres tend to do. While that sound can obviously still be heard in the band’s latest album “Guardians“, there’s more progressive and melodic elements found including a bit of that melo-death sound that has much more legs in it’s core sound.
“The Narrative” kicks things off in fashionable style, the main riff a real highlight to hear as it drives an almost atmospheric vibe in this solid opener. “Bones” follows swiftly, smashing straight out the gates to keep the momentum going and already things are starting out real strong here. “Paramount” is a galloping odyssey with huge riffs and flailing kick drums driving this melodic death metal number.
Sonically we can already see things click real nice and it is one aspect August Burns Red do well, production clearly being one of the focus points and something many modern bands completely miss. “Defender” was one of the first tracks we heard and while it’s a fairly good representation of the album, it’s a bit more one-sided compare to what the rest of the album offers like in “Ties That Bind” where tempo changes are abundant and the different directions really capture the essence of this album.
Moving down the tracklist and I definitely feel that the first half is a much stronger area than the second part. Songs like “Bloodletter” is signature August Burns Red with a real staccato element making it’s impact and “Extinct by Instinct” features moments of sheer brilliance but some of the other tracks kind of get a little lost in the mix and don’t hold as much weight as the others. It’s still a solid effort all around and there’s definitely more good than bad here for sure so I think August Burns Red fans will definitely get more out of this than others.
7/10
TRACKLIST
The Narrative
Bones
Paramount
Defender
Lighthouse
Dismembered Memory
Ties That Bind
Bloodletter
Extinct by Instinct
Moments of brilliance found here
Empty Heaven
Three Fountains
