August Burns Red
Messengers

THE REVIEW

I’m not usually one to cite numbers (despite having a degree in mathematics tucked away and the tons of sounds I absorb daily...), but when it comes to August Burns Red, it's worth pointing out how this Pennsylvania band is hitting right at the big target. And the proof of this comes from the sales figures of "Messengers": over 9,000 copies sold in the first week of exposure to the public, which is a slap in the face to those who live off downloading alone, who burn CDs from morning until night, who share any sound file that comes their way, even though the album was leaked online five days prior to its official release.
I'm glad that commercial numbers are proving August Burns Red right, because with their previous debut work, "Thrill Seeker", they had managed (despite an incredibly young average age) to establish themselves thanks to a sound not at all "digestible by the masses", but capable of perfectly blending metal-core with thrash and melodic death associations. And I’m further pleased to find out that even with the new album they haven’t taken the easy consensus route, but have focused on songwriting that’s even more rooted in substance and even more brutal. For clarity's sake, we’re often on the borderline with Relapse Records’ productions. Furthermore, they have increased the technical and structural component to the advantage of the tracks, which come out compact, complex, furious, incredibly precise (the breakdowns are lethal), visceral and explosive (the production by the master Tue Madsen can’t go unmentioned). Each track reveals an ultimate passion, as if each note played was born from desperate emotional fervor and where all this is used to write songs that attack you and don’t let go until they’ve torn you to pieces.