August Burns Red - Constellations Review

August Burns Red - Constellations

Rating

RIYL

Misery Signals
Unearth
All That Remains

Release Date

07/14/2009

Label

Solid State

Tracklist

1. Thirty And Seven
2. Existence
3. Ocean Of Apathy
4. White Washed
5. Marianas Trench
6. The Escape Artist
7. Indonesia
8. Paradox
9. Meridian
10. Rationalist
11. Meddler
12. Crusades

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Besides the new Dredg album, the new August Burns Red album is one of the most anticipated releases of the year here at Decoy. Reviewers had to almost fight to review it, but no matter who ended up reviewing it would have come to the same conclusion - Constellations makes Messengers (a Decoy favourite) look silly.

The changes that August Burns Red have gone through since 2007 are not surprising. Die-hard fans needn't worry - the typical ABRisms are still there, just in less quantity to make room for the new stuff. What does that mean? Well, the heavy breakdowns that have become a signature part of the quintet's sound are still as crushing as ever, but instead of having two or three in a song on their new effort, there is usually only one. But what they have sacrificed in quantity, they more than make up for in quality. The breakdowns are better than ever, and often feature intricate guitar leads in addition to the pounding rhythms. Additionally, they have entirely new elements to their sound. There is sweep picking on tracks like "Indonesia" (which Between the Buried and Me's Tommy Roger lends his vocal cords too) and the Dragonforce influenced part of "Thirty and Seven", and there is the inclusion of a piano on one of the album's highlights, "The Escape Artist".

The two tracks release online (and first two tracks of the album), "Existence" and the previously mentioned "Thirty and Seven", are actually two of the weaker tracks on the album - good news if you were disappointed by that pair. Actually, the album's strongest track, "Ocean of Apathy", comes right after the introductory duo and eliminates any doubt they left in their wake. Oddly enough the song starts out fairly atypical for the band, but soon after breaks into the best riff the band has ever written. Seriously. That soon leads into the best breakdown the band has ever put to disc. Seriously. If this track is disappointing from an overall metal or hardcore perspective - not just an ABR fanboy - you best be getting your ears checked. The song ventures through a power metal tinged lead and an eerie clean guitar section, which is followed up with some more intricate guitar riffage.

Other notable tracks include the six-minute "Meridian", which is one of the quietest and least technical numbers the band has done, "Mariana's Trench", a track that is better than the band of the same name, and the closer "Crusades". Not surprisingly, all of these tracks feature some of that "new stuff" mentioned above. It is nice to see a band like August Burns Red experimenting, especially in a genre not known for being a hotbed for progression. Clearly ABR are a band that cares about maturing, something that few metalcore acts seem to acknowledge while releasing one virtually identical album after another. Ultimately, their desire to grow has produced their greatest album to date. Simply put, if you thought Messengers was good, you haven't heard anything yet.

--Logan Broger

Author

logan37

Last updated: 09/29/2009 09:04PM

Comments

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Nicholas Fritz

07/13/2009

08:29AM

Age: 30

Location
Quakertown, PA

cubine

Nicholas Fritz
Matthew Tsai
Bill Lohr
"there's definitely nothing original to their music." = being mediocre
Not necessarily. I'm sure if you look through your list of favorite bands, you'll find a lot of them weren't the pioneers of their genres, but are still great.
I see your point there; I'm with Bill on this one though. To me, metalcore is a medicore genre in general so excelling in it just makes you a bit above mediocre haha - Misery Signals being the exception. I agree ABR makes for an enjoyable and fun listen though, but many of the parts in their songs sound the same so I usually can't get through a whole album.
Really? I actually find Misery Signals to be a much blander band in general. They played with ABR on the As I Lay Dying tour last year and I thought ABR destroyed them. I didn't have much experience with either band and I walked away with Messengers in hand and a bad taste in my mouth from MS.
On the subject of them being cocky or not, I can't say anything about the guys playing strings, but I have met Jake Luhrs on 3 occassions (he wasn't in the band yet when you were gigging with them, it sounds like) and he has been probably the nicest guy from a band I've ever met. Same with Matt Greiner, I went to a drum clinic/lesson from him while they were in Seattle last year and he was really cool. Didn't try to be a show-off or anything, he just answered questions and gave tips.

As far as the whole album goes, I'm a little disappointed. I LOVED Messengers like it was the greatest thing that had ever happened. For 2 weeks I listened to it almost daily. But now, looking at Constellations and revisiting Messengers, they're both a little stale already. Nothing on Constellations is really new to metal, just to the band. Which is cool, I dig their sound in general, but there has to be more evolution if they want to move the whole genre forward.

It's interesting you prefer ABR over Misery Signals, I typically find it to be the other way around. I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right, because music affects everyone differently and different people like different bands for different reasons. I loved Misery Signals since I heard their initial EP six years ago. When their full length came out, I probably listened to it just about every day for the entire summer. Since then, I enjoyed the other two full lengths as well and thought they were killer live. Maybe Misery Signals had an off night when you saw them, which ultimately lead to not liking them as much. I haven't seen ABR since I played with them like five years so I can't really comment on their live show, I hear it's awesome though.

I agree with your comments on the last two ABR albums, they definitely start to lose their replay values quickly. I think it's because many of their songs are structured the exact same way so they all start to sound the same after awhile. That's why I prefer Misery Signals, since they tend to mix up the structures more on their albums.

elcielo

07/18/2009

08:47PM

Location
Seattle, WA

I kind of grew up listening to hardcore and turning a blind eye to metal in general. The first time I heard Misery Signals I literally stood motionless for the first song. It was like nothing else i've experienced. Since then I've started really jammin a lot more metal and love ABR. This album is sick, but I can agree with the repitition of structure. Its hard for me to even remember song titles for this band since most of the songs sound the same. But I love the songs! Metalcore is just more fun to listen to than hardcore for me. It retains the elements lacking in metal that hardcore gives and there's so much more to it than just breakdowns and 4 cord progressions.

As much as I love ABR, they will never compare to Misery Signals. Musicality cannot be traded for technicality.